Page 88 of Cold Front
Hope you haven’t forgotten who really knows you.
The air left my lungs on a sharp exhale. My fingers curled against the counter’s edge as a wave of nausea rolled through me.
How did he get my address?
We’d stopped sharing locations when we broke up. I’d sworn my family to secrecy. I’d blocked him. I’d done everything right.
I should call the police. Report… something. But what would I even say? That my ex sent me a picture? That he was messing with my head?
There wasn’t a charge for that.
And the worst part? I wasn’t afraid of him. Not like that.
Chase had never been violent. But he hadn’t needed to be. He got in my head in quieter ways. Twisting, needling, making me believe that loving anyone but him was a betrayal. That every glance, every laugh, every moment of warmth I shared with someone else was proof I didn’t care about him enough.
That if I wasn’t his, I had to be someone else’s.
And if I was someone else’s, I was?—
The front door swung open.
I flinched at the rush of cool air.
Niall stepped inside, letting the door close behind him. His gaze flicked to me, then to the open box on the counter.
His jaw tightened.
“What’s wrong?”
CHAPTER32
ELI
“Aren’t you supposed to be at practice still?” I asked, my voice coming out steadier than I expected. Anything to deflect from the way my stomach had twisted into knots at Niall’s question.
Niall dropped his bag onto the floor by the couch and rolled his shoulders, stretching his leg out slightly. “Felt some tightness in my hamstring. It’s nothing serious. The trainer said no full-contact practice today, just get a full night’s rest. It’s the best way for my body to repair itself.”
Relief washed through me. “Anything I can do to help?”
“Yeah.” His gaze sharpened on me. “You can tell me what’s wrong.”
So much for deflecting.
I swallowed, my grip tightening around the edge of the package. “Just got this from my ex, Chase.”
Niall didn’t say anything at first. Just waited. Giving me space to keep going.
I exhaled sharply, my pulse pounding in my ears. “It’s a photo of us. And a note.” My jaw clenched as I repeated the words I’d already read.Hope you haven’t forgotten who really knows you.My laugh came out brittle. “Classic Chase. Always so sure of himself. Always so sure ofme.”
Niall’s expression didn’t change, but I caught the way his fingers curled into his palm before he flexed them out again. “What does he want?”
“To remind me he still exists? That he had some kind of claim on me once?” My throat tightened, and I forced out a rough breath. “Or maybe just to fuck with my head for the hell of it.” I pushed off the counter and walked to the couch, sinking into it as the weight of old memories pressed down on me.
Niall sat beside me—not too close, not too far. Just there. Solid. “You mentioned him before, but you didn’t give me all the details,” he said. “And I didn’t want to pry.”
My throat tightened. I hadn’t talked about this, not really. But I think Niall needed to know. I needed him to understand.
“I loved him,” I started, the words bitter on my tongue. “Or I thought I did. I was all in, you know? And maybe I should’ve seen the kind of person he really was early on, but I didn’t. Maybe I didn’t want to. Because slowly, bit by bit, he chipped away at me. At who I was. At how I saw myself.”
