Page 10 of Fool Me Once

I try like hell to keep my eyes looking down, but eventually, they betray me and lift to look at him. He searches my face, but I’m not sure what for, and when he opens his mouth to speak, I’m scared of what he’s going to say.

“If someone—ifhe—hurt you, I need you to tell me,” he rasps, yet there’s an unmistakable hint of rage in his tone. “Please, Gem, tell me. Did he fucking do this to you? Your fiancé?”

I stare blankly at him, wondering if I can trust him the way I used to. If maybe, just maybe, I could tell him the truth and get it off my chest. His sister knows, but with Smith, it’s different. His sister is my best friend and my soulmate. But I’ve always found a sort of comfort in Smith that I have never found anywhere else.

But before the words slip from my mouth, I remind myself that he left me—he left and didn’t even look back. He’s the reason I threw myself at the first man who told me he loved me. I was so desperate to fill that void that I wound up with a monster.

“I told you,” I say through gritted teeth, “I was in a car accident.” My eyes flash to the door for a split second, almost as a plea or maybe a threat. “Now, move out of my way. Because the last place I want to be right now isanywherewith you.”

It takes him some seconds, but finally, he drops his hand down and steps to the side. Just as I bolt, pushing the door open and almost making it out, his hand grabs my wrist with little force, but enough to anchor me still.

“You can come to me anytime, Firefly. I’ll always be here.” His voice is gruff now. “You know that.”

I keep my eyes straight ahead, and after a few moments of nothing, he sighs.

“Gemma, if I find out that your fiancé did this, you can forget about ever seeing him again. Because he’ll be fucking dead.”

The moment his hand releases me, even though part of my body doesn’t want to, I scram from the bathroom and away from him.

When I’m alone in the bathroom, my body throbs with a combination of anger, sadness, and guilt.

Once Gemma left the room, it took every bit of willpower I had not to chase after her and follow her around like a puppy dog, simply because whatever she’d endured … I didn’t want it to ever happen again.

I’d broken Gemma’s trust long ago, and while I’d thought I was doing her a favor—letting her go the way that I did so that she could chase down her dreams—now, I feel sick, thinking that I pushed her into the arms of a monster. Because in my gut and with everything that I am, I know that those bruises aren’t from a car wreck. I just fucking know it.

After hearing the cry that escaped her mouth when I touched her ribs, I debated not pushing it further. After all, it was pretty fucking clear that she’d been through something horrific. But I had to see for myself, and when I tugged just enough of her shirt up to see her stomach was bruised, I wanted to throw up, murder the man who had done it, and drop to my knees and press a kiss to each of them and promise her I’d never let anyone hurt her again, all at the same time.

She hates me now though. She really, really fucking hates me.

She’s always been feisty and smart-mouthed. But she’s forever had a kind way about her. Now, it seems like that part of her might be gone because all I see is a harsh exterior.

I might be high profile as a professional athlete for one of New England’s beloved hockey teams, but that isn’t going to stop me from going after Richie—or whoever the fuck it was that did this to her.

Gemma might not realize it, but despite what she thinks, she took my heart when we were kids. I never got it back.

For years, I’ve wished I could go back to the day I left herbehind and change the course. And for all those years, I’ve resented her father for making me do what I did.

She might hate me, but she’s here now. And whether she wants to admit it or not, she needs me.

And I sure as hell need her.

Pulling in every bit of air that my lungs will hold, I slowly let it out before manning up, pushing the door open, and heading out of the bathroom.

The closer I get to the living room, the louder this place is. But before I can make it back to the center of the house, I see my sister and Gemma putting their coats on near the door.

Gemma sees me coming first and quickly averts her gaze toward the ground. I know I fucked up all those years ago, leaving her behind the cold way that I did, but how she’s acting? It’s not just me she’s being strange with. It’s everyone in the room.

When they first got here tonight, some of the guys from my team introduced themselves, and she was polite, but it was clear as day she was uneasy about the encounter. She kept fidgeting, wringing her fingers together, and wouldn’t look any of them in the eye.

She’s anxious. And I really, really fucking hate it.

“You’re leaving?” I call out, but even I’m not sure if I’m asking Gemma or Saylor.

Gemma ignores me, but Saylor nods once and turns her body to face mine.

“Yeah, we’re going to get going.”

“But you’ve been drinking,” rushes from my mouth before I look past her and at Gemma. “Has Gem been drinking too?”

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