AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The dickhead is right. I destroyed the best thing that ever happened to me with one stupid lie.
Chapter 8
Harley
It was silly of me to think that running away to Arizona would solve all of my problems. Even when I’m back home, I can’t forget our perfect time together. I sit and stare for hours, going over everything we did. All the laughter, the whispered conversations while we cuddled in between the bouts of mind blowing sex. It’s silly to think my heart’s broken, isn’t it? But it feels like it is. It even hurts to chew when I can force myself to eat.
Worst of all, it wasn’t real. I gave my virginity to him, thinking he might be my forever. Now, I just feel like an idiot. He must have really wanted to get in my pants to lie like that. Just another trophy. How long would he have kept it up, continuing to take what he wanted from me?
Sniffling, I reach for another tissue and then hoist myself out of my chair. Enough staring at the wall. Scott may have lied, but I wanted everything he offered and even begged for more.
I drag myself to my part-time job at the local historical society, getting through the hours with a pretend smile pasted on my face so no one worries. Working helps, otherwise I would have too much spare time to stew in my heartache. Too much time to wish I hadn’t taken the semester off. Reconnecting with my dad was a bust, and I got taken for a ride by a world-class player to boot. It should have been sweet revenge when Kenny texted me that my dad kicked Scott off the team, but it only left me feeling emptier. So now we both have to suffer, I guess. As much as I should hate him, I don’t. It pains me that he might also be miserable. Pathetic, I know.
As my workday ends, I step out the museum doors and out into the bright sunlight. Campus is so close by that there are signs directing me toward the student union. I stop for a moment and stare. Maybe school is just what I need to get my mind off of Scott and my life back to normal. It’s possible I might be able to get into some classes as a late entry or at least audit them to stay busy, so instead of going home to mope, I walk toward the campus registrar’s office.
As I pass through the quad to get to the registration building, I see a crowd of people gathered around someone. A celebrity at our little college? Desperate for anything to get my mind off of Scott, I take a detour to check it out.
But at the center of the crowd is the very person I’ve been so desperate to forget. For a moment I think I’m dreaming, because when I can fall asleep, he’s always there waiting for me, tormenting me with what might have been.
No, I’m awake. Scott Delany is here, posing for selfies with his adoring fans and signing autographs. He must be a big deal if people so far from New Hampshire know about him. I have to leave; run before I toss myself at him like the idiot I am.
As if my panic alerts him, he turns and sees me before I can duck behind a tree. His deep blue eyes lock with mine and he won’t let me turn away. His smile melts my heart, even though it’s aimed at his fans, as he extricates himself and makes his way over to me.
Taking me by the arm, he leads me toward the library on the other side of the quad. Like a docile lamb, I let him. Until I remember his lie. I jerk my arm away, but his grip tightens as he pulls me through the doors to the study rooms at the back.
“No. You’re talking to me,” he demands. “And listening,” he adds.
Inside a small, dimly lit study cube, he shuts the door and leans against it, barring my escape. As if I want to escape. I stiffen my spine and stand up to his bossiness, at the same time hating myself for loving every second.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, arms crossed, chin raised.
“I’m looking for you,” he says, as if it’s obvious.
“Well, you must be a pretty good hockey player if people here know who you are,” I say bitterly.
He shrugs. “I’m not a hockey player anymore.”
I scowl at him and snort. “Only because my dad kicked you off the team.” It wasn’t his choice.
“It doesn’t work like that,” he says. “I have already been drafted. Pro teams have been after me since sophomore year, but it’s always been important for me to finish my degree, so I put them off. But now I’m putting them off permanently. I’m out, Harley.”
My mind reels. “What? Why? What will you do for the rest of your life?”
He shrugs. “I’ll put my sports medicine degree to good use instead.”
He honestly looks like he doesn’t care that he gave up fame and fortune and the game he loves. “But why?” The heat in his eyes makes my head spin and my knees weak.
“Because the girl I’m going to marry hates pro athletes,” he says, rubbing his hands soothingly over my arms and drilling me into place with his gaze.
“Wait, what? What did you just say?” I have to be dreaming.
He smiles, slow and wicked, and turns me so my back is against the door. He cages me in with his arms and leans down, his mouth a breath away from mine. “You’re the girl I’m marrying, Harley. You’re my number one choice, always. Got it?”
I shake my head, clinging to my pain. “But you lied. I can’t move past that so easily.”
His head drops to mine. “I’m so sorry.” His voice is low and harsh. “But I couldn’t let you slip away, so I let you believe I wasn’t on the team. It went too far, but those few days were the best of my life. They made me realize that can’t lose you. I would do anything to be with you, get to know you. That was the only lie. Everything else I showed you is the real me.”
I push him back so I can see his eyes and there’s nothing but honesty and a hint of fear there. He really wants me back. And oh my God, I want him so badly I’m shaking. He came so far for me, gave up so much.
