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“Seriously, Mick. Are you okay?” Ethan asks again.
“No.” My voice quakes, and I swear if I cry right now, in front of all these guys, I’m gonna end myself.
Snatching the basketball off Asher, I throw it down with a loud roar. It hits the concrete with a sharp slap, then bounces high, swooping over my head as I walk away from the guys.
“Mikayla,” Ethan tries to call me back, but I shake my head, raising my hand to stop him when he walks after me.
“Give me a second.” I spin to face him, walking backward and shaking my head. “Just… please.” And then I take off before he can reach me. Sprinting off the court, I turn left, not even sure where this path leads.
I just need to find somewhere private.
The tears are building, ugly sobs making my stomach convulse as I try to keep them in.
Mom’s words ring inside my head, a deafening gong that reverberates through my body.
She doesn’t care if I’m not part of her family anymore.
She’s putting her stupid fiancé before her own flesh and blood… which means my time at Nolan U is about to expire.
And once again life proves me right—good things never last for me. And it’s all thanks to the people who are supposed to love me in spite of everything. Why are they the ones who are always the first to walk away?
CHAPTER48
ETHAN
I give Mikayla five full minutes before going to find her.
It’s agony. The guys stand there, silently supporting me as I try to reconcile that the horrible bitch who slapped Mikayla is also the woman who birthed her. It doesn’t seem possible that my lil’ mouse could come from something so hideous.
“How could she slap her own kid? I mean, what the actual fuck!” I shouted at the guys.
They all nodded their agreement, Asher looking pretty dark over the whole thing.
“That bitch,” he muttered while Casey murmured his agreement.
Liam stood silent, crossing his arms with a worried frown. I shared a quick glance with him and felt that chill run through me.
As far as I’m aware, he’s never told anyone but me about the house he grew up in. He knows what it’s like to get knocked around by a person you should be able to trust. Someone who’s supposed to love and protect you.
Shit, I’ve been so lucky. I may have lost my mother way too soon, but when she was alive, she loved me. And my dad… he’s given me everything I could ever need.
My heart hurts for Mikayla as I walk the fence line, following the path she took and soon finding her standing by a tree and punching the trunk.
“Hey, stop.” I rush over to her, quickly grabbing her wrist before she can plow her knuckles into the rough bark again. Lightly kissing her grazed skin, I murmur, “No more tree punching, okay? You’re hurting my girl.”
She sniffs, letting out a watery laugh as she obviously tries to rein in her tears. “I told you anger makes me stupid.”
I give her a pained frown, then pull her into my arms. As soon as her cheek hits my chest, it’s like a switch goes off. A sob punches out of her—a deep sound that feels like it’s being yanked from the center of her body. She starts to tremble, her arms looping around me and clinging tight while she quakes and cries against me.
I stand there, holding her in a protective cocoon, trying to be stoic. Trying not to let those tears rip me in half. My shirt is soon smeared with her snot, but I don’t move an inch, not until her tears start to ebb.
As her cries turn to soft whimpers, I loosen my grip enough to sit with my back against the tree. I pull her down between my legs and nestle her against me.
She wipes her face with the back of her hand, sniffing and hiccupping a few more times before managing to rasp, “Shit, I hate crying so much.”
“You needed to.” I press my lips to the back of her head. “It’s okay.”
Leaning around her, I check her cheek, relieved there’s no red mark. It must have been a stinging, hard slap, but the pain would have died down already, and now she’s just left with these internal wounds which cut so much deeper.
