Page 212 of Skate the Line

Not hers.

“I want you gone first thing in the morning.”

“Rhodes.”

Focusing on the door, I walk over to it like it’s my lifeline. Get me the fuck out of here.

“Can I at least say bye to Ellie? Explain it to her?” she asks.

I turn and glare at her over her shoulder. “Explain what? How you broke your promise?”

Her face falls. “My promise?”

“You promised me you wouldn’t leave her.” I shake my head with disappointment. “And look at you…leaving.”

That hurt her.

She winces.

It says something that her hurting hurts me, but I pretend it doesn’t.

“I promised you I wouldn’t fall in love with you.” I dig the knife in a little further because it’s the only way I’ll let her go. “Looks like I’m the only one who knows how to keep a promise these days.”

A line of hurt appears in between her eyebrows. I clench my teeth together to keep myself from telling her the truth, because let’s face it. Not loving her is the biggest lie I’ve ever told.

I don’t even want to speak.

Sunny was gone the next morning, her belongings all fitting into the two bags she showed up with. I deleted the footage fromthe cameras, not trusting myself to keep from watching them over and over again.

Ellie is pretending to be fine, but she’s back to being quiet and reserved.

I hate it.

I hate it because I’m partly to blame.

We got too invested. I trusted myself to let Sunny into our lives. I even allowed her to move in, knowingdamn wellthat she was hard to resist.

I skated the line, crossed the line, and then erased the entire thing altogether.

Now look at me.

Angry, resentful, hurt, and full of guilt.

“I meet the new nanny in a few days, Printsessa. But Marco is going to stay with you until I get back from my games, okay?”

Two away games, back to back. What shitty timing.

Marco is still a little sore from the crash, but he insisted he stay with Ellie to help me out.

Ellie glances at me from her bowl of cereal but says nothing. I see her fiddling with something in her lap. When she goes back to eating, I slowly walk around the island and glance to see what’s in her hand.

My stomach falls.

Shit.

It’s the little clay Pascal figurine that Sunny made her. The little clay trinkets were all over the house, and I quickly threw them into a box and hid them on a top shelf in the garage the day she left. I should have thrown them out, but I didn’t have it in me to do so, and I clearly forgot to get the ones out of Ellie’s room.

“What’s that?” I nod to Ellie’s lap, already knowing what it is.

---