love him.” She finds my hand where it’s wrapped around her waist and pulls it up to rest on her heart. “Because I’d already fallen for you.”
I force myself to breathe. If I hold my breath, she’ll know I heard her confession. If I squeeze her tighter, she’ll have to deal with her secret being out there. If I roll her under me and kiss her like every cell in my body is begging me to, she’ll know. But I didn’t realize until this moment how long I’ve been waiting to hear it. How much of me has been waiting since New Year’s Eve to know that the girl I love loves me back.
So I breathe and promise myself that soon I’ll find a way to tell Mia the truth without ruining Coach’s life.
I’ll find a way.
Part VI: Before
October, two and a half months before the accident
Mia
When I show up to the house party, half the people there are already drunk. I had to work late and I missed the game. Bad girlfriend. Bailey texted me updates at every time-out and between each quarter. The Blackhawks won in overtime. I didn’t think I’d even be able to make it to the party, but I wanted to surprise Brogan. He hates that I have to work so much, and he really hates when I miss his games.
Things haven’t been right between us since my birthday, and I can’t figure out if that’s my fault or his. Did my heart-to-heart with Arrow leave me looking for fault in Brogan, or has he really been more distant and moody since he came home from the wedding last weekend?
Keegan is in the kitchen, pouring a drink for a pretty, fragile-featured girl with dark pixie-cut hair. His eyes go wide when he sees me. “Mia. I thought you couldn’t come tonight.”
“I got off early. Have you seen Brogan?”
“Um.” His loud swallow gives him away. Keegan is a shitty liar. “I think he left?”
“He’s upstairs,” the girl says. “I saw him head up there with—” She stops speaking at Keegan’s hard glare. A weird sickness immediately fills my stomach at what she didn’t say. I’m already pushing past them to the stairs at the back of the house. He hasn’t just been moody. He’s been secretive.
“Mia,” Keegan calls. I hear him on the stairs behind me, but I rush forward anyway.
Don’t be that guy, Brogan. Don’t be that guy.
I throw open bedroom doors, one after another, until I find them.
Brogan’s sitting on the edge of the bed, one hand buried in the hair of the girl sucking him off.
“Brogan.” I don’t mean to speak. It just comes out. All my disappointment and heartbreak in that one word.
He’s slow to respond. He’s drunk, I tell myself. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. But God, it hurts. He’s drunk. He’s stressed. He’s upset that his girlfriend doesn’t show up to half his home games. My mind scrambles to pile on excuses—like putting pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding—but his betrayal bleeds through.
When he opens his eyes, the way the shock rolls over his face is almost comical. The way Trish snaps her head back, his dick popping out of her mouth, is almost comical.
“Mia.” Keegan’s hand closes around my shoulder, and I shake it off.
Brogan pushes Trish away, and in his haste to get his pants zipped, he catches his dick in the zipper. “Fuck,” he growls.
“Karma works quickly,” I say softly. Then I shake my head, because part of what I always loved about Brogan was that I trusted him. I believed he’d never hurt me. “I’m done. This is over.”
I don’t scream or shout or even shed a tear. It’s like I flip the switch I found after Mom left and shut all that off. I turn and push past Keegan, who looks so guilty you’d think he was the one caught with his pants down.
“Why’d you let her up here?” Brogan shouts at him.
“You’re an ass,” Keegan replies.
I don’t hear any more because I make a beeline for the door. I don’t bother with my car but keep walking until I get to the dorms. I’m not even sure what makes me go to Arrow, but that’s where I am before I can even think it through. He opens the door to his quad, and as soon as he sees my face, he knows.
“What did he do?” he asks, his voice deadly and low.