Page 22 of The Retaliation You Deliver
My eyes lock on his jersey-covered chest once we’re face to face, but it takes me a couple of seconds to lift my eyes to his.
I hope like hell that by the time our gazes connect, I’ve found the strength I need to put his worry to bed.
I think it might be wishful thinking.
The second his concerned hazel eyes come into view, my own fills with tears and I can’t help but allow my bottom lip to tremble.
“Shit, Mace.”
He pulls me into his arms, holding me tight as I silently cry into his chest.
Most of it is for Leon and everything that happened, but some of the tears are just from pure frustration at how badly I’m handling all of this.
I shouldn’t care.
I knew he was going to pull the rug from under my feet at some point. I should have been prepared for this.
But instead, here I am sobbing like a baby.
Maybe it would have been different if he just got bored of me. If he cheated with a jersey chaser even.
I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the reality. For how painful, brutal, horrifying our truths really were.
“I-I’m o-okay,” I stutter against his chest as his hands rub up and down my back.
His body tenses at my lie.
“Jace, could you—”
“Yeah, I’m heading out anyway. Shall I tell the guys you’re not gonna make it?”
“Thanks, man,” he says, twisting me into his side and guiding me over to the couch.
“Y-you should go. You don’t have to stay and babysit me. I’m a big girl.”
“It’s okay,” he assures. “I’d rather make sure you’re okay than work out again.”
“Okay,” I breathe, knowing that I’m not going to win no matter how much I might protest.
He gently lowers me to the seat before returning to the kitchen for my coffee, preparing it for me, and bringing it over.
By the time he’s sitting beside me on the couch, Jace has left and the dorm has fallen silent.
I’ve got no idea where Charlie is. Sleeping probably, I guess the question is… in whose bed?
“I need to kick his ass, don’t I?”
I can’t help but burst out laughing at the serious expression on Nate’s face.
“No, Nate, you don’t.”
Leon’s been through enough. I don’t think having an angry basketball player on his back over this is what he really needs right now.
“Don’t protect him, Macie.”
“I’m not… I— It’s complicated.”
“I’ve got all day,” he says, resting back, getting comfortable with the story he thinks I’m going to tell.
