Page 128 of False Play
I shook my head with a deep sigh of defeat. “Your father is not a kind man. He’s out to ruin both of our careers. Which is why I’m telling Anthony it was all my idea.”
“But that’s a lie?—”
“I don’t care if it’s a lie. I got you into this mess.” I let out a short, humorless laugh, the kind that came from somewhere deep and exhausted. “You think I don’t know you were thinking of me when you came up with this idea?” I looked at him, my chest aching. “You forget I know you now. I know how selfless and kind you are. I know you’d be willing to risk everything for the people you care about. And don’t tell me you did this because you cared about your reputation, because we both know it isn’t true.”
The silence was so thick and deafening, it was suffocating me. Burning my lungs as I held my breath, bracing for impact.
His sigh was heavy. Resigned. “At the beginning, maybe, yeah. But eventually, I wanted to take advantage of it, too,” he said, taking two steps closer. “You can’t take the whole blame. This is not how it works.”
I took two steps back. I couldn’t let him touch me—I couldn’t even meet his eyes, because if I did, I’d break. I’d cave. “I’m not going to make you choose between me and your career. You’ve worked so hard, you’ve?—”
“And you haven’t?” he snapped, his voice louder now, raw with frustration as he raked both hands through his hair. “Jesus, Kennedy.”
The room echoed with his words, but it was otherwise empty. No staff. No background noise. Just us, standing in the middle of a night that was supposed to be a milestone in my career. Now it felt like the undoing of everything.
He took a step toward me, his jaw clenched. “What aboutyou? Everything you’ve done to get here? If you think I’m going to stand here and let you throw that away forme, then you don’t know me at all.”
“This is an impossible situation your father put me in. He can ruin both of us. Don’t you get that? And I’d rather go down for it.” My throat bobbed, and it felt like I was gulping thick pieces of broken glass. I wanted him to understand me, but even if he didn’t, it wasn’t going to stop me. This was probably the most selfless thing I’d ever done for someone. But it was the right thing to do. When you love someone with every piece of your soul, when that person shows you there’s more to you than you ever thought possible, it’s easy to let go of the things that, in the grand scheme, didn’t matter.
I could build a career somewhere else. That wasn’t the problem. But what Henry and I had—that was one in a million. I felt it in my gut. I felt it in my bones. It took being in a long relationship, planning a whole wedding with a man I thought I loved, and breaking my own heart to finally understand what real love was really like. The universe, God—whatever force was out there—put me through those experiences for a reason. To shape me. To prepare me. Because something better, something truer, was waiting for me on the other side.
And now that I had it, I wasn’t going to let it go. Not without a fight.
“Then maybe we give him what he wants,” he whispered.
My heart sank. It was like the ground dropped from beneath me. Everything around me blurred. The chandelier above us, the fading murmur of voices in the hall, even the way Henry was looking at me. It all disappeared beneath the sting of those words. Tears stung my eyes so fast I didn’t have time to stop them. My lungs tightened like they’d forgotten how to work.
“What?” My voice trembled, barely audible over the rush in my ears.
“I’m not going to let you sacrifice your career for me.” There was a crack in his composure, a flicker of guilt in his eyes that told me this wasn’t what he wanted. Like he was convincing himself it was the only way.
Henry Anderson—always the protector. Always trying to be fucking noble.
“You don’t get to decide what I do withmy”—I jabbed a finger against my chest—“life. I’m not a problem for you to fix. I am an adult capable of making my own decisions.”
“It’s just for the meantime,” he replied weakly.
“No.”
“Kennedy,” his voice cracked. “Please. I am only trying to help.”
“And you think breaking up is the solution?” My voice rose, brittle and sharp as glass. My chest was heaving now, the anger mixing with the inevitable heartbreak in a way that made it hard to breathe.
He flinched but didn’t look away. “I think it’ll keep you safe.”
“Safe?” I let out a breathless, humorless laugh. “God, Henry. You don’t get it. Do you?”
“Get what, Kennedy? That my father is insane? Believe me, I understand?—”
“That I would do anything for you, because I love you, you idiot!” The words tumbled out of me, raw and furious and terrified all at once. I shook my head as my shoulders sagged. “I love you so much it makes me selfish. It makes me willing to give up everything just so you don’t have to suffer anymore at the hands ofhim.”
Everything happened in a blur. In the next second, he moved. Three long strides, and he was in front of me. His hands cradled my face with a kind of desperation that stole the breath right from my chest, and before I could even blink, his mouth was on mine in a fierce kiss. It wasn’t gentle or careful. His lips moved against mine like it was the only way he knew how to say all the things he couldn’t voice. The kiss was every bit consuming, like he’d lost the last shred of self-control and decided that if we were going to burn, we’d do it together—tongue, teeth, heartbreak, and all.
When he pulled back, I gasped for air. My brain was dizzy. My body hummed with euphoria. Every nerve ending sparked beneath his touch, overwhelmed by his presence.
His forehead came to rest against mine, and his breath was sharp before he whispered, voice rough, “I love you so damn much it fucking terrifies me. Which is why we’re going to figure something out—together.” His eyes searched mine, glimmering with quiet desperation and fierce determination. “You don’t have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders anymore, because I’m here, okay? I’m fucking here, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m sorry I even suggested it.”
Tears ran down my cheeks, but he wiped them with his thumbs, holding me like I was something precious. “I understand why you had that reaction. Trust me, I do. But we can’t let him break us apart. I can find another job with another team. Honestly, it doesn’t even have to be sports. I’ll beokay.”
