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“What’s the matter, Kitten?” He furrowed his brows, two lines forming between them.
“Nothing,” I lied.
“I know you better than that, Cass. What is it?”
“I just wanted to ask you something. ”
“Anything,” he said, his tone sincere.
I hesitated, unsure if I wanted to broach this subject already. He had just gotten here. I had just taken him back. But my mind was relentless. It wouldn’t stop with the constant demand for answers, and I knew I’d never fully be content until I had them. “What happened after I left California to come to New York?”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on, Jack. It took you six months to get here. Six months!” My tone sounded harsher than I intended, and I watched as he shifted his gaze away from mine. He exhaled slowly and ran his hands through his dark hair.
“I’m sorry, Jack. I just need to talk about this, or I’ll bury it inside me and eventually explode. ”
He looked at me, a small, rueful smile on his face. “No, you’re right. You deserve answers. ”
“Do we have time? I mean, do you have to go the field today?” After all, he was a professional baseball player, and the season was in full swing.
“The team’s on the road. They flew me here to get settled instead of flying me there. I have to report in tomorrow morning at ten. ”
“OK. So, we can talk about this now then?” My pulse raced as nerves filled my body. Jack was here, with me, in my bed. He loved me, and he’d never stopped. So, why was I so nervous?
“What happened after I left for New York?”
“Do you want a play-by-play for the entire six months? I might end up boring you back to sleep. ”
I rolled my eyes, and he frowned. “Just tell me the good parts. ”
“If this were a story filled with good parts, Kitten, I would have been here a long time ago,” he teased, reaching out to caress my cheek with his thumb.
I leaned into his hand and closed my eyes, lost in the comfort his touch provided. “I meant the parts that made you take so long. Give me the CliffsNotes version,” I asked softly, unsure of what words would follow.
Jack snuggled me against him, and began to tell me the story.
And just like that, she was gone. But not before saying the two fucking words that plagued my nightmares. This girl always asked me to “prove it,” to prove my love and devotion for her. I deserved it after everything I put her through. She didn’t trust me anymore.
I wouldn’t trust me either.
It’s ironic though, right? That I was the one left standing all alone in a parking lot that time. I swear if my heart could have leaped out of my chest and into my hands, it would have. I imagined that for a moment… the blood trickling through my fingertips, splashing onto the concrete below as I watched it slowly pound out its last beats before stopping altogether.
Fuck.
My life does not make sense without this girl. And now she’s gone.
Again.
How is it that I’m always losing her?
I unbuttoned my game jersey and let it fall around the top of my uniform’s sliding pants. I glanced behind me toward the apartment door at the top of the stairs and slowly started to make my way there, my cleats clanging loudly on the pavement with each step. I wasn’t ready to go back to the hotel with my team. Not right then. They’d be celebrating the night’s win, and I needed to grieve the night’s loss.
The vision of Cassie disappearing from view in that taxi played over and over again in my mind. I closed my eyes, willing the hateful image to disappear. The sound of feminine laughter and my brother’s familiar voi
ce woke me from my Cassie-filled daze.
“Oh shit. Jack?” Melissa’s sympathy came through loud and clear, both in her eyes and in her tone.
