Page 77 of Heartbreaker
“Rae,whathappened?”
“I don’t—I don’t know.” I can imagine her pushing a hand through her long black hair, tugging at the roots. She’ll take the thirty steps from the front of the bus to the back, and then do it again. “Brody said it was supposed to be a clinic, nothing major, nothing that would cause any issues, but Drake fucked up. He dropped Brooks…They were doing a spot at the announcer’s table, and it looked like he landed wrong. He couldn’t put much weight on his left arm when he got back up, but they kept going.”
Of course, they did. Of course,hedid.
“The left side of his chest was starting to discolor by the end of it. Mike couldn’t even lift his arm for the win.”
This is bad. This is really bad. He probably tore something, and what could have been only a few months out has turned into possibly a year or more, because he wouldn’t stop the fucking match.
“Brody’s inside trying to find out what’s going on, but there isn’t much Doc is going to be able to do here. They’ll probably send him to the hospital.”
And he’s going to hate that.
“I’ll call you back.” I end the call without waiting for a goodbye.
My feet move on their own, carrying me out of the gym, down the stairs, to the bottom floor of the barn. My finger hovers over the name, but a commotion from the other end of the hall catches my attention. I come face-to-face with my second-oldest brother. Nash stands at the end of the hall, panting. His hair sticks to his face, clothes like another layer of skin, water pooling beneath him with every step he takes. Clearly, he just ran through the early spring storm outside.
“Savannah.” Breath. “There you…are.” Breath. “Fuck, I’ve been looking for you.” Breath. “SJ, it’s Brooks, he’s—”
“Injured, I know.”
In my attempt to move past my brother, he catches my arm. “Where are you going? I just said—”
“To pack a fucking bag, Nash!” My chest heaves with each breath, trying to hold it together a little longer.
His grip loosens. “You’re going?”
“Of course, I’m fucking going. John is hurt and...” I notice a slow smile spread across his lips, and it infuriates me. “What are you smiling about?”
The empty suitcase on my bed stares back at me with a knowing grin. The same one my brother had when he said, “I knew you still loved him.” Everything in me screams to pack the bag and run, but Nash’s words hit me like a damn freight train.I knew you still loved him.
“I thought you’d be gone by now,” Papá says from the doorway. His arms are crossed over his broad chest, one brow raised. “You shouldn’t be driving in this. It’s only getting worse. Get your stuff together, and I’ll drive you down to the airport. You goin’ to Austin or is he sending the—”
“I-I’m not going.”
My words shock me, but they seem to shock my father even more. The space between his brow crinkles, and his stare forces me to look away.
“You’re not going?” he asks.
I close my eyes to fight back the tears that have started to gather and swallow the lump in my throat. “I can’t, Pa.”
“Ten minutes ago, you were rushing out the door, and now youcan’t?”
“If I go—if I see him—I know I’ll never be able to walk away again.”
“Who says you have to?” Papá takes a cautious step inside.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“You’re right, I don’t understand. I still don’t even know why you left in the first place. None of this makes any sense, Savannah. One minute, you’re both happy, and the next, you show up here with all your stuff, asking if you can move in here. If you ask me, it sure sounds to me like you’re runnin’ from something.”
“I’m not running! Things just got…complicated, and I had to leave. I had to.”
“Do you or do you not love that man?” he asks. I take a deep breath, but don’t answer. “Savannah Josephine, you need to decide what you want. What you really want. You’re messin’ with real people and real feelings. That comes with real consequences. You don’t get to choose to love him one second and not the next.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“I wouldn’t know, because you refuse to talk to me.” Papá scoffs, shaking his head. “You don’t wanna talk? Fine. Don’t talk. But the way you’ve reacted tonight tells me you still love him, and you’ve been given the chance to work this out. You just have to make the choice, SJ. You either pack that bag and get on the plane, and you don’t look back, or…”
