Page 319 of Power Play

“I know.”

“She couldn’t get it off the ring because her hands were shaking.” I dragged the heel of my palm across my face. “I took the whole fucking thing from her, ripped my key off, and gave the rest back.”

Briggs’s expression tightened.

“I made it ugly. I said shit I knew would make her feel dirty enough to stop romanticizing what we were.”

“Did you insult her?”

“No.”

“Threaten her?”

“No.”

“Put your hands on her?”

“She grabbed my arm.” Shame moved through me before I could stop it. “I ripped away and yelled at her to get her fucking hands off me.”

“Did you hurt her?”

My throat closed. “Yeah.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

“No. I didn’t fucking touch her.”

Briggs nodded once.

“I told her to leave my life, heart, and soul. I told her she killed me and to let me rest without her memory.”

His eyes closed briefly. “Did she understand?”

“She understood my face.”

“What happened after?”

“I opened the door.”

Briggs waited.

“I looked her in the eyes and made her walk out.”

My voice disappeared beneath the memory of Charm standing in the hallway with her keys pressed against her chest. Her knees weakened, and my hand moved before I stopped it.

“I almost caught her.”

Briggs didn’t speak.

“She looked like she was going to fall, and I almost reached for her.” I stared at my bleeding knuckles. “That’s why I know I’m done.”

“Because you wanted to catch her?”

“Because I didn’t.”

The rink hummed around us. Briggs’s hand slipped from my neck to my shoulder, his weight steady enough that I could feel it through the pads.

“I don’t want to be the man who doesn’t catch her,” I whispered.