Page 160 of The Illicit Play
“Teah, he hurt you.”
“No, he didn’t!” Her voice pitches.
“Teah—”
“No, stop!” She squeezes her eyes shut, her facescrunching in obvious pain before she whispers, “I need Mac.”
“Okay. Okay,” I soothe her, gently rubbing her arm. “Just stay calm. Rest. We’ll… find him.” I have to grit out the last two words, hating that he’s the only comfort she wants.
Sucking in a shaky breath, she rests her head back and blinks at the ceiling. A slow tear trickles out of the side of her eye, and I suddenly feel like I don’t belong here. I shouldn’t have come. Who am I in her life now?
No one.
I’m the ex.
She doesn’t want me, she wantshim.
Slumping back in my seat, I play with my bottom lip as I stare at her. I should go look for her man, but I just need a second.
This request will cause an argument with her parents. I’ll have to battle through that, then find him.
Shit, poor Blake. Should I just send her back to Football Frat, or will she want to help me scour Nolan for the man Teah truly wants?
“I’m sorry.”
The soft statement has me sitting up with a jolt. What the hell is she apologizing for?
Teah’s head slowly turns on the pillow. “It’s nice that you came to check on me. I should be saying thank you, not demanding someone else.”
I flick my hand through the air, silently forgiving her.
“I could always rely on you, Grady Newman.”
I stand so that I can inch a little closer to her. Resting my arm on the back of her bed, I lean over her and give her a closed-mouth smile. “I’m a reliable guy.”
Reliable and boring.
“Yeah, you are.” Her voice is so weak, her eyes glassy with exhaustion.
“But I’m not the one you want.”
She gazes up at me, her expression crumpling with remorse. “I know you’re the sensible choice. My parents couldn’t believe it when I broke it off. They thought I was going to marry you.”
I swallow and, for some reason, admit, “I thought that too.”
Her lips pull into a pained smile. “I never meant to hurt you.”
I want to tell her that she didn’t, but that would be a lie. Instead, I settle for “You were ready to move on.”
“I shouldn’t have called you boring.” Her weak voices trembles. “That was mean.”
Clearing my throat, I force another closed-mouth smile when she glances up at me.
“I felt really bad about our breakup, and I felt kind of guilty for… falling for Mac so fast.”
Working my jaw to the side, I lean back. She can still see me, but I need a little distance between us.
“I can’t even explain it.” Her voice is wispy, and I can see sleep tugging at her again, but she seems determined to keep going. “It’s like this cosmic energy. Our eyes connected, and I was… gone. I couldn’t get him out of my head no matter how hard I tried.”
