Page 28 of Fractured Faceoff

The townhouse loomed ahead, dark and silent. I parked the car and sat there for a moment, staring at my own reflection in the rearview mirror. Anger and determination hardened my features.

Enough was enough. Ava deserved someone who genuinely cared for her, someone who wouldn't break her heart.

Someone like me.

With that thought burning in my mind, I climbed out of the car and headed inside, ready to face whatever came next.

The fact that Ava hadn’t told me hurt like hell. If she didn’t want me, why not just say so? Why lead me on?

I stepped inside my townhouse, slamming the door behind me. The place was still unfamiliar, a temporary home I’d rented a month ago after leaving the old place and moving here to be closer to Ava. It was sparsely furnished, with only the essentials—a couch, a small dining table, a bed in the next room. The walls were bare, save for a single painting I'd found at a thrift store, a splash of color against the otherwise dull beige.

Isla's voice floated in my mind, pissing me off even further. “She likes having power over you,” she'd said, her tone matter-of-fact.

Not because she meant to hurt me, but because, deep down, I knew she was right.

I dropped my keys on the counter and paced the small living room. The hardwood floors creaked under my weight. The kitchen was visible from where I stood, cluttered with takeout containers and half-empty coffee mugs. I hadn't bothered to unpack much; everything felt too temporary.

And I was focused on Ava, on our future.

She had always had this effect on me—making me feel like I was constantly teetering on the edge of something big and uncertain. But now? Now it felt like I’d been shoved off that edge without warning.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and stared at the screen—no new messages from Ava. Of course not.

I dropped onto the couch and buried my face in my hands. Ava’s smile flashed before me again, and it made my heart ache with an intensity that left me breathless. She had always known how to keep me hanging by a thread—just enough hope to keep me coming back for more.

I lifted my head and stared at the blank TV screen across from me. The silence of the townhouse pressed in around me like a suffocating blanket.

I needed to talk to Ava, to get some clarity. And I needed to do it now.

I grabbed my phone, my fingers trembling with rage. Ava's name glared back at me from the screen. I hit call, my heart pounding in my chest. The ringingfelt like it went on forever before it went to voicemail. I tried again, and again, and again.

Still nothing.

My frustration built with each unanswered call. The room seemed to close in on me; the silence pressing down like a heavy weight.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she picked up.

"I can't talk now," her voice came through, tense and clipped.

"Ava," I ground out through clenched teeth. "You will talk. I gave up everything just to be here, to be with you, just like you said. And you go and get engaged?"

"I never promised you anything, Jared."

"Bullshit," I snapped, pacing the room now, the phone pressed hard against my ear. "You led me on for years! All those late-night talks, the way you looked at me... Don't tell me that meant nothing."

"You read too much into it," she shot back, her voice wavering but resolute. "I never asked you to give up anything."

"That's a lie and you know it," I growled. "You said you couldn't be with me because of Kash. That if things were different?—"

"Things aren't different!" she interrupted, her tone rising with exasperation. "Did you honestly think we could have been together? You're a hockey player. You travel everywhere. I'd be left alone. And you got injured. And that fight you and Weston Cole got into over Hazel? I can't… You're unpredictable!"

I stopped pacing, her words hitting me like a physical blow. "So that's it? You just used me?"

"No," she said through a sigh, softer now but still firm. "I didn't use you. I cared about you?—"

"You don't do this to people you care about," I interrupted.

"I never promised you anything," she repeated, quieter this time.

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