Page 159 of Revenge Puck

“Juliette is beautiful inside and out.”Truly.“When she looks at me, Sutton, it’s so full of…”

Love.

“And you were going to break her heart. Onpurpose.”

I was.

I am an asshole.

“You’re in love with the sister of the guy who slept with your girlfriend,” Sutton says finally. “It’s written all over your dumb face.”

I crack a morose smile. “I’m not in love.”

Sutton laughs for the first time since answering my phone call. “Lies you tell yourself.” She nibbles her lip. “So, now what happens? How do you get yourself out of this mess?”

“I have no idea—she works for the Ice Wolves, so I was thinking that maybe I would…” I hook a finger through the strings of the decorative blanket on my couch and start pulling at them. “Speak to the human resources manager and let themknow, so she doesn’t have to sneak around. The last thing I want is for her to get in trouble because of me.”

“Oh, you’resoooconcerned about her getting in trouble.”

“Can you stop being sarcastic?”

She shrugs. “I’m having a super hard time wrapping my brain around all this—and I have to tell you, Aaron, I don’t actually think you deserve someone who puts you on a pedestal. You’ll walk all over her.”

I stiffen. “She doesn’t put me on a pedestal.”

“She works for the organization you play for,” Sutton counters. “There’s a built-in power imbalance whether you want to admit it or not.”

My sister has it so wrong. “She isn’t impressed with any of this—her brother is a player. She’s used to it.”

“That’s not the point.”

“You said I’d walk all over her,” I snap. “I wouldn’t.”

Sutton studies me.

“You literally already did,” she tells me with a frown. “What you’re doing is so gross.”

Does she have to keep reminding me?Christ.

“I haven’t gone through with anything, Sutton. I haven’t dumped her. There is nothing here to beg forgiveness for.”

She goes quiet. “So, there is no one who knows about this who could rat you out?”

Garrett Storm comes to mind.

And of course, there’s Declan himself, who has no trust for me.

“What happens when Declan comes for you? Or Bailey rats you out to the media? When you’re used to winning, you don’t always consider who you trample on the way there.”

I open my mouth to argue.

Then close it.

Because six months ago?

She’d be right.

“I’m not that guy,” I claim. “I have never trampled anyone.”