Page 314 of Wrong Pucking Player

I stop myself from trying to argue against him, noticing he’s actually upset.

“You have every right to be mad. Fuck, I’m mad FOR YOU. Do you think I’m happy about this? You’re exactly right. Forty-eight hours ago, everything was fucking perfect. We were in a relationship with Kenzie, with our friends knowing and teammates approving. Life was chaotic, but having each other down to the intimate level was everything. I don’t enjoy seeing this. Seeing the anger in Kenzie’s eyes. Seeing the horror and sadness in yours. Now that we know you’re the little boy who protected Kenzie when she was four… this is difficult for everyone but is the hardest for you.”

He takes a deep breath and lets it out.

“Despite that, I won’t let you give up. I won’t let you leave this hospital. You leaving will make it seem like you don’t truly care about her or the relationship you guys shared. She may not want to acknowledge your efforts right now, but that doesn’t mean she won’t notice you’re around,” he elaborates. “We have pictures. Videos. There’s evidence that you’re in her life. It’s not like your existence has been completely wiped from the world.”

He’s right.

I know he’s right.

But this…

This hurts so fucking much.

“If we need to start over again, we will,” he whispers to me as he grips my shoulders. “We just have to warm her up to the idea again. She will fall in love with you again. Even if that means it’ll take another three, six, twelve months to do so, so be it.”

“What… what if she doesn’t love me anymore?” I speak out my ultimate fear. “That no matter what I do… it won’t be enough to make her fall for me again.”

He stares into my eyes before he lets go of my shoulders so he can cup my wet cheeks.

“You protected her when she was four, and you two were pulled in separate directions until we all met again when Mikayla invited her into the Heartbreaker Crew. You guys broke up, went separate paths for five years, and came back again, only to fall in love a second time,” he explains. “I have no doubt in my mind that you two will fall for one another a third time, Wyatt. You know what she likes. What she loves. What makes her happy, sad, or frustrated. This isn’t like you’re starting from scratch with a new deck of cards. You know how to love our girl. Whether she’s Mackenzie Andrews or Sofiya Androsov.”

He presses his forehead against mine, and I let my eyes close while my tears spill down my cheeks.

“Her mind may have forgotten, but the body doesn’t forget. Give her a chance to recover, and slowly, we’ll get through this. Okay?”

“Okay,” I whisper before he pulls me into a hug. He pats my back as I end up sobbing into his shoulder. It makes me feel like I’m mourning the loss of the solid relationship we finally had.

She finally understood me.

She got why I was acting the way I was for so long.

Now I’m starting from all over again where she knows nothing…

How do I even compete when my canvas is blank, and Armani’s is full of vibrant memories in color?

Pulling back, Oscar wipes away my tears before he looks into my eyes.

“You need to keep in mind, I’m not your competitor,” he reminds. “I know it’s hard, especially when she remembers me and not you, but I’m not here to steal Kenzie away from you, Understood?”

“Understood,” I whisper.

He sighs and ruffles his messy locks.

“C’mon.” He offers his hand. “Let’s go back and see if the Doc made an assessment.”

I nod and take his hand without much delay, the two of us going back to the doorway of the room to see Xandra’s actually awake again and being talked to by Chief DeCosta and Officer Melody.

“So, you remember Fernandez was in the home, upstairs?”

“Yes,” she has a conflicted look on her face as she tries to recall the events. “He’d been talking to me about something. Like… all of this was orchestrated perfectly for him. He… brought up Winchester. Like… he was happy Karma was getting back at him.”

“Do you believe Winchester worked together with Fernandez?”

She frowns at that.

“I don’t think so. It wouldn’t make sense. Fernandez had a deeper reason for being there. He said this was payback.”

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