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“Harper.” It was more insistent now, and my eyelids fluttered open as I made myself focus.
“What’s wrong?” I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt. But this was… it was perfect.
“We can’t.”
“C-can’t?” I crashed down to earth with a resounding thud, my heart sinking into oblivion. “What do you mean? We already—”
“And it was good.” He untangled my arms from his neck, shoving me away a little. Leaving me cold. “But… fuck. I didn’t—”
“Mason?” My brows knitted as I tried to process what he was saying.
Good. He thought our night together was… good. That wasn’t exactly the word I’d have chosen, but he was a guy. They tended to downplay things.
“This can’t ever happen again.”
“What?” My chest tightened, confusion slamming into me. “I don’t understand. You kissed me. You were kissing me.”
I hadn’t dreamt it. I’d felt it. I’d been right there, kissing him back.
“It was a mistake.” He glanced away, and that one small action hurt far more than the confusing words coming out of his mouth.
He couldn’t even look at me.
“I see.” My voice shook with barely restrained hurt. “And Sunday night? What was that?”
He ran a hand over his face, still refusing to look at me.
“Mason,” I snapped, trying to stay calm and keep it together when really, I was breaking apart at his words.
Finally, he gave me his eyes—eyes cooler than the ice on Ellet Arena’s rink—and I wish he’d never looked at me.
“It was… a mistake.”
A bitter laugh bubbled up my throat. “Wow.”
“Look, we had a good time. But that’s all it was. You knew that going into it. You’re my coach’s daughter. It’s not—”
“Do not make this about him.” Anger spewed inside me like a volcano, my body trembling with frustration and bitter disappointment. “You knew exactly who I was when you took me to your bed.”
“And you knew the deal. One night. No promises.”
“I did.” Damn him. “But I also didn’t expect… this.”
Because there was something between us. Bubbling. Simmering. Making itself known.
“This was nothing.” The words landed like knives, cutting down any hopes I had of getting through to him. “As I said before, it was a mistake.”
“You don’t want me. You don’t want… this?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Well, then…” I blinked, desperately trying to pull myself together, to rein in the rush of tears clawing their way up my throat.
“Harper, I’m not—”
“Forget it,” I said, shifting on the seat and grabbing the door handle again. I needed to escape before I did something foolish like cry in front of him. “You’re right. This was a mistake. It won’t happen again.”
I wouldn’t ever give him the chance to hurt me again.
