Page 352 of Power Play

“You could’ve said you needed to go. You didn’t have to make me sound selfish for asking my fiancé to stay beside me.”

“I’m not saying you’re selfish.”

“You compared my wanting you here to abandoning Ryan in hell.”

“That is what it feels like.”

Tears gathered in Bliss’s eyes. “You aren’t the only person who loves him.”

“I know.”

“I love him too.”

“Then understand why I have to go.”

“Understanding doesn’t stop it from hurting.”

Cade lowered his bag and reached for her, but Bliss stepped away.

The divide became something I could see.

The guys stood around the wreckage Ryan carried from Kimball Falls, furious because they knew what it cost him to let me into his life. Bliss and Aura stood beside me, angry because protecting Ryan had started to look like punishing everyone who refused to abandon me.

I had built that divide without any of them knowing it was happening.

Every secret became another piece of the wall rising between people who loved one another. Beneath those secrets lived the parts of myself I continued hiding—the food I refused, the measurements I memorized, the panic I disguised, and the hatred I turned against my own body whenever I couldn’t control anything else.

Nobody knew how deep any of it went.

Rider struck the cue ball harder than necessary. It missed the pocket, rebounded from the rail, and rolled across the table before stopping near his hand.

“All of you need to shut the fuck up.”

Every head turned toward him.

Rider set the cue across the table. “The guys go calm Ryan down. You two calm Charm down. We try to get him back here so you guys can have your men, and you dumb fucks can have your women.”

“That is the worst mediation I have ever heard,” Aura said.

“It’s also the only one happening.” Rider pointed toward Easton. “You stop yelling at her like you want to spend the weekend sleeping in my room.”

Easton’s mouth tightened.

Rider pointed at Aura. “You stop forbidding a grown man from supporting his friend because that shit sounded insane the second it left your mouth.”

Aura folded her arms. “I know.”

“Good.”

He looked toward Cade and Bliss. “You two are disgustingly in love. You’ll survive sleeping in separate buildings for one night.”

Bliss wiped beneath her eyes.

Finally, Rider turned toward me.

His face wasn’t angry, which made what followed harder to hear.

“You have two choices. Suck it up or leave.”