door. I was almost free. Realizing it, Vaughn rushed the distance I’d put between us and slammed the door shut. I’d just turned to go when he trapped me inside the gym with him. My lips parted from shock, and then I was frozen in place. Vaughn loomed over me with one hand, keeping the door closed. I’d never felt so small and helpless.
“You’re not leaving.”
“That’s funny,” I mocked, a sob stuck in my throat. The dam holding my tears back began splintering down the middle. “You couldn’t wait to get rid of me a second ago.” I tried to sidestep him, but he turned me to face him, his left hand joining his right until I was caged in. His green eyes glittered when our gazes met, and I willed myself not to fall into them. Not again. Never again.
“I’m not done with you.”
“But I’m done with you.” I rested my head against the door since it was the only space I could put between us. He seemed to read my mind when he stepped closer, taking back the distance I’d gained. I was burning up from the heat of his bare chest so close and wondered if his heart was beating as fast as mine.
Probably not.
It was becoming clear to me that Vaughn Rees had no heart.
He closed his eyes and didn’t open them even after he spoke. “Tyra.”
His tone when he uttered my name suggested he was the one losing his patience, and that he was the one who’d given everything and gotten nothing in return. I could have kneed him in the balls, but I didn’t. I couldn’t move once I heard the words that fell from his lips next.
“My father threatened to kill me if I didn’t give up football.” His whisper had stolen the air from my lungs, but he kept speaking as if what he said was perfectly normal. “I kept playing because it was my dream. It was the only thing I had to give my heart and soul to.” Finally, he opened his eyes, and what I found in their depths rendered me speechless. “Until you.” Without a shred of mercy, Vaughn wrapped his hand around my neck, and then he was pulling me away from the door I’d tried to escape through. “So what makes you think,” he continued slowly, “that I’d ever let you walk away from me?” His fingers tightened when I tried to pull away, much like the hold he had on my heart. “I won’t. Not now, not ever.”
Vaughn must have seen the defiance in my gaze because he loosened his hold enough for me to speak. It took me a second longer to manage it. During that short time, I swore I hated him. “It’s,” I struggled to speak between pants, “not up…to you.”
He looked amused at that. “You’re confused and tired,” he said, sounding like a condescending pig. “Go home and get some sleep.”
“Fuck you.”
Releasing me, he opened the gym door and waited for me to walk through. I did, even though my legs threatened to give. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he said as if the last hundred and twenty seconds hadn’t happened.
“If you come near me, I swear to God—”
Grabbing me, he pressed a tender kiss to my lips that contradicted the force he’d used to bend me to his will. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he repeated. “Now get out.” And then he smiled gently before slamming the door in my face.
RINGING THE DOORBELL, I STOOD back and cursed myself for not stopping and picking up those flowers Tyra liked. Last night had gotten out of hand. I tossed and turned the entire night over the way I treated her. It was as if I had two personalities, and they were at war with one another. I knew she’d be pissed well before five minutes of ringing the bell passed and no one came to the door. I wasn’t sorry for staking my claim, but I regretted the seemingly insurmountable wall it put between us.
Giving up, I rounded the side of the house and peered into the small window built into the two-car garage. Her Honda wasn’t parked inside.
I was heading back down the driveway to my car parked on the street when I heard the front door open behind me. Spinning around, I barely held back a groan when I saw Selena standing there instead of Tyra. The only fucking thing she wore was a towel. Her wild