Page 297 of Power Play

“I knew what I was.” My eyes went wet, and that pissed me off even more. “I had hockey, Flint, and you assholes. I knew how much of myself I could give people and still walk away whole. Then she got inside everything. My apartment, my fucking books, my heart. Every plan I made had her standing in the middle of it, and now I can’t rip her out without taking half of myself with her.”

Cade breathed slowly through his nose. I could picture him behind the wheel with one hand wrapped around Bliss’s while Briggs sat wedged into the back seat with his knees shoved against the passenger seat.

“You don’t have to be whole tonight,” Cade said.

I laughed, but the sound came out empty. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means we know you aren’t.”

My eyes burned, and I blinked hard enough to clear them.

“You don’t have to sell us the survivor shit,” he continued. “We already know you’ll survive. That doesn’t mean this isn’t allowed to destroy you first.”

“I don’t need permission to feel this ugly.”

“No. You need permission to stop pretending you don’t.”

My temper sparked. “I called you back, didn’t I?”

“I called you.”

“And I answered.”

“On the fourth try.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’m not fighting with you, Ryan.”

“Then stop trying to tell me how to feel.”

“I’m not.” Cade’s voice remained maddeningly level. “I’m telling you I understand why you’re done.”

The anger faltered before I could catch it.

“I would be too,” Briggs said.

“Briggs,” Bliss warned sharply.

“What? She fucked up, Bliss.”

“I know she did.”

“Then don’t say my name like I’m kicking her while she’s down. Ryan is the one bleeding right now, and your girl held the fucking knife.”

I closed my eyes for half a second. “Keep me out of whatever the fuck is happening in that car.”

“Nothing is happening,” Cade said.

“Briggs is being an asshole,” Bliss muttered.

“I’m the asshole for calling it like it is? I’ll pick a fucking side, Bliss.”

“You can support Ryan without turning Charm into the enemy.”

“She made herself the enemy tonight.”

“Enough,” Cade ordered.