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“All I wanted to tell you is if something happens”—his eyes drop to my stomach as pity moves over his face—“you don’t have to do it alone this time.”
“You’re fucking kidding me. That’s your big worry right now?” I can’t help but laugh as I shake my head, my fingers pressing to my temples for a few seconds before I can look at him. When I do, his expression is sad, which makes me want to get the fuck out of this room. He was supposed to be pissed, angry, indignant. Not this shit.
Stepping in front of him, I say, “I don’t need you.”
His bright response is “I don’t doubt that at all. But I need you.”
In this moment, I decide against walking away and actually tell him, “The girl I was years ago would have fallen at your knees after hearing that. The bitch I am today doesn’t have the fucking time to listen to your miserable ass, because everything out of your mouth is bullshit. All of it.”
When I start to leave, he holds up my dress to me. “No, it’s not. That’s why you keep running.”
My eyes drop to the dress he has extended to me. The one I allowed him to take off my body last night. And the one he’s giving me permission to wear out of this room now. Meeting his eyes, I tell him, “The best thing you ever did was leave. You’re always going to be a worthless tool. Even your own mother knew she was better off without you. Thanks for reminding me.” I pull the door open and somehow he’s moved behind me, his palm shutting it as he shoves my dress to my chest. “Take the damn dress.”
I hold it out to him before releasing it to drop on the floor. “Just keep it. That way you’ll have something to wipe your fucking tears with.”
He doesn’t try to stop me this time when I open the door and leave his room. It didn’t have to be this way. I didn’t have to be so goddamn mean. But he asked for it. I want nothing from him. And he keeps trying to act like he’ll give me the world.
Fuck that.
Fuck him.
20
MORGAN
“What the hell are you doing still in bed?” I open my eyes to find my brother standing at the end of my bed. So much for sleeping. Even though I packed all my shit and came to my house, which wasn’t something I’d been looking forward to, I wanted to try and sleep. Needed to get away from that stupid quarterback who caught feelings too fucking easy.
“Sleeping.” I pull the pillow over my head as I feel the bed dip. When I move the pillow to look at Ryder, he’s sitting beside me, eyes looking straight ahead. “What happened?”
His eyes drop to his lap where his hands are resting. “Everything is perfect. I told Harrison everything. And he understood and didn’t look at me with pity.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“We haven’t been together that long. I mean, I can’t love him. That would be crazy. But I think I might be starting to more than just like him.”
Fuck. I should be happy for him, but I can’t be. Not when I know where those feelings can lead when you put your happiness in someone else’s hands. “I’m not the person to have this discussion with.”
“I think you’re the perfect person to have it with.” He gets a strange look, and I’m sure I won’t like his reasoning. “Because you know what it’s like. Even if y’all aren’t flashing light signals to each other in the dark, it’s obvious there was and is still something there.”
I should’ve rented a room in some other hotel where no one could find me. “Did you drink Cade’s crazy juice? Because both of you are out of your minds. Wanting to fuck someone doesn’t equal love.”
Ryder plugs his ear with his fingers. “La, la, la. I don’t want to hear this.”
“Oh my God,” I mutter. This isn’t helping at all. Throwing the covers off me, I pull on a pair of tennis shoes and twist my hair into a messy bun, then wait for Ryder to stop sayingla, la, laand remove his fingers. “Are you finished now?”
“If you’re done talking about things I don’t want to hear.”
I know he’s referring to Cade, but I’m about to tell him something different that he probably doesn’t want to hear either. “Just be careful, Ryder. Make sure you’re not basing your life around him, like where he goes to school and stuff.” When my brother breaks eye contact, I read he’s already there, planning for the future with Harrison in mind. “Plan your future and let him fit in it somewhere, but don’t build your world around him. That gives him the power to crush it.”
Ryder gets off the bed and walks over to me. He places a hand on each of my shoulders as he looks to me. “People make mistakes, Morgan. He’s only human.”
I step back so his hands fall from my shoulders. “I’m happy for you, I am. But don’t. You don’t know what happened between us, and it doesn’t matter at this point. It’s all done. All of it.”
I can hurt Cade from afar. I don’t have to be in his bed. And I sure as fuck don’t want him in my immediate orbit. Especially since I’m still wondering if he sent my brother in here to talk to me about all this love BS. But that’s all it is. Bullshit.
“Where are you going?” he asks when I get to the doorway.
To put an end to all this shit.“Out.”
