Page 29 of Haven

“I talk plenty, just not to you,” he fires back, and there’s something about the tone in his voice that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“Ouch. That hurts.” And it really does. More than it should.

“That’s not what I meant.” He tries desperately to pull his words back, but it’s too late.

They’re already out there.

“Sure, it’s not.” I scoot away from him. Guess I got a little too comfortable.

I forgot...

“Ashlyn.Stop. I don’t talk to you because you’re—” He cuts himself off and pinches the bridge of his nose. “You’re you. You’re aKingston. You’re high society and fancy dinners. You’re my fucking boss, if you want to get technical. You’re the girl who got away, and then I had to watch you marry the owner of my fucking team,” he yells.

I stand up and step away from him.

I don’t do well being yelled at.

Haven’t for a long damn time.

Shitty elevator forgotten, I spin on him. “Are you saying you don’t talk to me because you don’t like me?”

“Jesus Christ. No.” He stands and throws his hands in the air, exasperated. “I don’t talk to you because you live in a different world than I do.” His voice grows softer. “A different...league.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I hiss back.

“You curse?” He looks at me, shocked.

“Yes, I fucking curse. You’ve heard me curse, you ass. And I’m not from a different world or a different league. Or whatever other bullshit you just spewed.” I push him back with a shove to his chest.His very hard chest.“First of all, you’re a professional football player, Brandon. A pro-bowler. An all-pro. A first team all-league player. A goddamn captain. You’ve got endorsement deals with one of the biggest brands in the world and God knows how many others. You’re not some guy off the streets who’s begging for change on the corner of the Ben Franklin Parkway. Believe it or not, you’re wealth far exceeds mine.”

“I didn’t know you knew that much about football,” he mumbles, and I want to scream.

Scream.

“I’ve only missed a handful of home games in over a decade.Yes, I know a lot about football. But like I’ve told you before, I don’t own the team. I’m not your boss. My daughter and her siblings own it, smartass. I just hold her proxy so I had to learn as I went. And you want to know what else? I’ve talked to Maddie plenty over the last few years.”

I step into his space, spitting fire.

But the funny thing is, I’m not insulted for myself.

I’m insulted for him.

“Want to know what your sister told me?” I don’t bother waiting for him to answer. “Turns out, we didn’t grow up so differently. She was just luckier than me. She had you to protect her. I had a mom who realized I could skate and exploited that as much as she could. Then when she couldn’t get anything else out of me, she basically sold me to the first coach who was interested in getting to the Olympics. And he was one step above a fucking animal. Dogs have been kinder than that son of a bitch. I didn’t have anyone to protect me. I had to figure out how to do that myself. And let me tell you something else...”

Somewhere deep down, I know I’m yelling, and he doesn’t deserve it.

But I’m on a roll now, and there’s no stopping it.

“He would have killed me, Brandon. My coach would have killed me when Nina died. He didn’t get his gold. He didn’t have his daughter. He’d put me through hell for years. Physical hell. Mental hell. He had more power over me than I ever should have given him, and John offered me a way out. You’re right. I’m a Kingston. Mydaughteris a Kingston. My family, the only one I have, are Kingstons. So I do what I have to do for her and for them.I do what’s expected.And if that means you won’t talk to me, then that’s your loss, big guy.”

I take one step backward, then another. So fucking angry. At him. At myself. At the unbelievably cruel world I grew up in. One I swore I’d never put my daughter in. But damn, if she didn’t beg to learn how to skate from the time she could walk.

Brandon stands in front of me, fighting an internal war.

One I’m all too familiar with.

Then the look on his face changes.

Smooths out.

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