Page 74 of Courtside

“Come on, Lefty,” he pleaded, leaning forward like he was going to get up from the couch. Like maybe he was going to reach for her. “You’re upset, and I hate that I don’t know what’s hurting you.”

Her phone buzzed in her back pocket.

She gave David one last look, and the obvious devastation in his eyes almost brought her to her knees.

It would be so easy to stay. Most of herwantedto stay. But then her feet were moving and the automatic door slid open, the cold air immediately sending shivers up her bare arms.

She walked right up to the black SUV that was parked on the other side of the brightly lit unloading area, pulling open the passenger door and climbing in.

She glanced over at Evan, who sat in the driver’s seat, reclined to the point where she had no idea how he was able to drive safely. He sent an easy smile her way, and then put the car into gear.

Neither of them said anything. Music played, softly enough that she wasn’t sure if it was a song that she recognized or not. The seat warmer was turned on, and she shifted as heat seeped through her jeans.

She wanted to make a joke about how she felt like she’d pissed herself, but she didn’t.

That wasn’t who she was with him.

They drove for a few more minutes before Evan pulled into an empty retail parking lot, easing his car into a spot in a back corner tucked under a tree. Yet another thing that felt familiar.

With the car in park, Evan shifted, turning toward her and leaning over the console. Again, one of his hands found the back of her neck, and he pulled her toward him. “I’ve missed you, sweetheart,” he murmured, his breath hot against her mouth.Cinnamon. He still chewed cinnamon gum. His lips brushed hers once. “It hasn’t been the same without you.”

And then he was kissing her.

She hated herself.

She hated the feeling of his mouth, and the wrongness of him touching her made her eyes well up with tears. She tried to pull away from him but he chased her, his tongue pressing against her lips even as she kept her mouth tightly closed.

Evan’s phone buzzing in the cup-holder between them finally interrupted his onslaught. Sage twisted her face away, glancing down at the phone.

Her entire body went cold. There, illuminated on the screen, was a photo of Evan and a beautiful woman.

A beautiful woman in a strapless wedding dress with her arms wrapped around Evan, who was wearing a tux. The same woman who Evan had been dating eight years ago when she first met him. The same woman who Evan had told Sage repeatedly meant nothing to him. The woman he’d promised to leave as soon as Sage turned eighteen.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Sage’s voice echoed in the car, too loud and too strong. But whatever lingering part of her that had wanted to climb into the car with Evan White was gone. Crushed. Obliterated.

“What is wrong with you?” A harsh laugh combined with a sob burst from her. “Why, when you have her —” she pointed down at the image still illuminated on the phone — “are you here? What did I ever do to you? Fuck, what didsheever do to you?”

Evan watched her, his mouth tight.

“You knew how much power you had over me back then, didn’t you?” Rage filled her, burning away any other emotion that tried to gain traction. “You knew that you’d never choose me. You fuckingknewand yet you still picked me, stringing me along and molding me into something I never wanted to be.”

There was so much that she wanted to say to him. Years of lingering doubts that she hadn’t faced head-on, insecurities that all went back tohim. But, as she tried to catch her breath, her cheeks wet with the tears that just wouldn’t stop, she realized that he didn’t deserve it.

He didn’t deserve to know how he’d shaped her. He had no right to hear how he’d haunted her life, even years after he walked away. How he’d taken up residence in her head until it was his voice that whispered uncertainties every time she’d taken a step forward.

He wasn’t worth any more of her breath.

How had it taken her so long to realize that she was whole and complete as she was? That the person that she was outside of this car, the woman she’d become in the years since this man had left her behind was stronger than she’d ever been able to imagine?

“What the fuck am I doing here,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “Take me back.”

Evan inhaled sharply. “Come on, Sage.”

“Now, Evan.”

She looked right at him. She straightened her shoulders, gathering the pieces of herself that he’d torn through so easily. Silently, she began to put herself back together.

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