Page 42 of Break

I muster a smile. “I hope he gets better. He’s a good player.”

The words leave a foul taste in my mouth as they used to be the truth, but now, with what he tried, I can never look at him the same. He will always be the person I thought I could trust and who ended up stabbing me in the back. I don’t even want to be in the same building as him anymore.

I guess Knox did me a favor by making sure Jared can’t play football this season.

“I don’t think he will. I’ve been on the phone the entire morning, and they think he’ll never play again.”

My shoulders slump as relief tremors deep in my chest. Right next to my guilt. I shouldn’t wish for anyone’s downfall, but how many people have tried to cause my own? “Oh…”

He turns and looks around. “Did you… redecorate?” he asks with a furrowed brow.

I tilt my head. “Does it look like I did?” I joke.

He laughs. “No, still the same but also different somehow.”

I clear my throat. “I was in a cleaning mode yesterday, that’s all,” I lie.

At least I disposed of some garbage last night. Well, the guys did for me.

He hums. “Well, it looks nice.”

He smiles down at me and with a last nod, he leaves the office.

I dare to breathe when he takes the last step out of my office. I never lied to him like this. Yes, I kept secrets from my past. Yes, I didn’t tell him what I truly thought about the nightmares he brought on the team.

But this feels different.

But not… wrong.

DIMITRI

I did what was needed and brought her inside, not giving in to her questions, and hurried back to the apartment complex.

We failed. We let someone else touch her. Touch what is ours. And now I have to leave her alone again.

Because this isn’t over.

We broke her all those years ago, tore her apart, and the scars are still there. But we have to put her together, fix her in the image we want. She only needs to give us a tiny opening. Just a sliver of something.

Patience is running out. It slips away, uncontrollable and wild.

I knock two times on Jared’s apartment door, the one next to Hope’s, and Jaxon opens up. I slip inside and lock the door again.

“Find any more?” I ask Jaxon.

He nods. “Knox is losing it.”

“Fuck,” I mumble and step past him.

We’re so blind. We were blind when it came to her father, and we were blind when it came to our teammate, her neighbor.

We’re so hyper-focused on her that it’s putting her in danger. When will we learn to look around her too? At her surroundings. At the people she keeps closest. At ourselves.

If we keep fucking up, we’re really going to lose her.

I step into the spare bedroom and a chill races up my spine as I stare at the wall.

Pictures of Hope. Sleeping, showering, when she’s pleasuring herself, getting dressed, staring out the window, cooking.

---