Page 87 of Heartbreaker
“You guys done?” Brooks asks, his eyes still on our friend.
“I don’t know about these two, but I’m calling it a night. I gotta get home.” Bennett has become somewhat of a homebody when he’s not working. I barely convinced him to join us for our annual New Year’s Eve trip at my parents’ ranch a few months ago. Since his divorce from Harper last year, Raelynn and I have both expressed concern about his level of self-isolation, and I’m starting to think we need to do something. It doesn’t help that he has to see her face at work, but rumor has it she won’t be re-signing when her contract expires in June.
Rae and I share a look as he climbs out of the ring, patting Brooks on the back. They share a quick word before the latter rolls his eyes and pushes Bennett away, who laughs the whole way to the locker room.
“Should I leave, too?” Raelynn asks without even trying to hide her smirk. She is the only person who knows the truth about what happened. I told her a month or two after I left, and after she heard me out, she told me I was wrong for what I did. She thinks I’m holding on to something I shouldn’t be.It’s not like he went through with it, she said back then. While that might be true, it didn’t make the sting hurt any less.
How was I supposed to feel knowing that a stupid bet was the reason he’d gotten off his ass and finally asked me out? Raelynn would remind me of two things: one, I had told Brooks not to ask me out, and two, Brody was part of the whole fiasco, too, but I’d forgiven him. Each time, I’d remind her that Brody wasn’t my almost fiancé.
“That’s not necessary,” Brooks says. “I was just coming to offer Savannah a ride—”
Almost like a moment straight from one of those classic rom-com movies, Raelynn takes a drink of water at the exact moment he says it, practically choking on the sip.
This is goingsowell. I pinch the bridge of my nose and take a deep breath.
“Sorry, I just—” Raelynn clears her throat. “Water went down the wrong pipe.” Her cheeks are redder than a ripe tomato.
“—to New York,” Brooks finishes his sentence. His gaze is almost unreadable when it turns back on me, and I know he’s putting up the wall to keep things professional and maintain a less-than-comfortable distance between us. It’s exactly what I hoped would happen, but now that it’s happening…my heart longs for the way he used to look at me.
Raelynn’s head whips toward me. “New York?”
“I’m good,” I say, ignoring her.
“Sure about that?” Brooks asks.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I’d rather sit in a crowded seat in the back of a plane than be stuck in a claustrophobic tube with no escape next to him.
He chuckles when I don’t back down, shaking his head. “Suit yourself, but I’m leaving at six if you change your mind. Rae”—he glances her way—“careful with that water, huh?”
Her brown eyes widen, and the blush returns to her cheeks. She opens and closes her mouth a few times, grasping at straws for a response before she decides on a simple nod.
“Oh, and Savannah.” His words pull my attention back to him. “You look good out there, but you watch your bumps. Few of those looked a little rough.”
The words bounce around my mind. My breath catches and my stomach drops.Watch your bumps. The same thing he’d said after my debut.
“Footwork could use a little work, too.”
My jaw sets. Is he really giving me advice? Sure, I’ve always had a bad habit of using the opposite leading foot, and it’s something he worked relentlessly to break me of…I guess that’s another thing I lost when I lost him.
The corners of his lips pull up briefly. Heknowswhat those words do to me. Without another word, I watch him return the way he came, shoulders pulled taut beneath the blue Henley, maintaining that stereotypicalBrooks Taylorfaçade—the one he never put up around me until now.
It’s for the best, I remind myself.You’re just here to help finish this story and leave. That was only partially true; I hadn’t decided what I was going to do yet.
“I am so sorry,” Raelynn says. “I didn’t mean to—He just said, and I-I’m sorry.”
When the doors finally close behind him, I glance at her with a raised brow, and it sends us into a fit of giggles. “I cannot believe you did that!”
“He said it!” she argues, still giggling. “Why are they sending you to New York with him, anyway?”
“United front and all that.” I shrug, pulling my knees into my chest. While I wasn’t looking forward to spending so much alone time with my ex-boyfriend, I knew this was coming.
Amos had made it very clear at our initial meeting what he wanted upon my return. “I don’t care what happened all those years ago, Savannah. This is business. I need to know if you can handle this. I can’t have you running off halfway through the match,” he said that day in his office.
“Have I ever done that, Amos?” I asked, sounding more confident than I felt.
“I just want to make sure. I don’t know, and I don’t want to know, but what Ineedto know is if you can put your differences aside for the sake of the story. I need the fearsome duo ofBrooks TaylorandSavvy Skyeuntil Wrestlefest.”
“And you’ll have it.”
