Page 290 of Power Play

Ryan’s chest heaved beneath his open collar. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face twisted around something too devastated to be simple anger. I had heard him furious, watched him fight, and seen him become dangerous for the people he loved.

I had never heard him sound destroyed.

The shock on my face seemed to reach him. His hands curled into fists at his sides before he deliberately opened them again. When he spoke, his voice had dropped into that terrible calm.

“Key.”

I stared at him. “What?”

He held out his palm. “My key.”

My entire body went cold. “No.”

“Give me the key, Charm.”

“Please don’t do this.”

“Key.”

“I’ll leave. I’ll give you space and let you calm down, but don’t take that from me.”

His jaw flexed. “You don’t get to keep access to my home after showing me I don’t have a place in yours.”

“That isn’t what happened.”

“It’s exactly what happened.”

“Ryan, please.” I dug through my purse with fingers that had stopped working correctly. My keys snagged against the lining as I dragged them out. The little silver key he had placed into my palm swung beneath the ring. “Can we talk tomorrow? I’ll come to Flint. I’ll tell you everything, and I’ll fix this. I swear I’ll fix it.”

“Give me the fucking key, Charm.”

The words came out flat.

I tried to pull the key from the ring, but my hands shook too badly to separate the metal. Ryan watched me struggle for several seconds before taking the entire ring from my fingers.

He didn’t touch my hand.

Ryan worked the key free with one sharp movement and dropped the rest into my palm. His apartment key remained between his thumb and forefinger.

Something so small shouldn’t have been able to hold an entire life.

“Get out.”

I shook my head. “I love you.”

“I don’t want it.”

“That’s a lie.”

His stare turned lethal. “You don’t get to call me a liar tonight.”

I pressed my keys against my chest as the sobs came harder. “Please don’t end us like this.”

“You ended us in that study with your eyes on the fucking floor.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“You did.” Ryan walked to the door and pulled it open. Cold air rushed into the apartment, stirring the papers on the small table beside it. “I’m just the one willing to say it out loud.”