Page 34 of Heart Checked By the Hockey Heartthrob

I don’t answer. Just zip the kit and fold my arms.

“I saw Ryan show up last night,” he says, carefully. “Didn’t want to interrupt.”

My laugh is bitter. “That why you vanished?”

He shrugs. “Felt like the smart play.”

“Funny. You disappearing always seems to feel smart toyou.”

His jaw tightens. “That’s not fair.”

I step closer. “Isn’t it? Because from where I stood last night, it felt familiar. You left. Again. Without a word. Like you always do.”

He rubs the back of his neck. “I didn’t want to make things harder.”

I stare at him. “You already did.”

He shifts his weight. “I told you—I thought I was protecting you.”

“No,” I snap. “Youwatchedme fall apart andstillleft. You didn’t protect me, Wes. You abandoned me.”

He flinches.

Good.

I keep going.

“Remember the night you got hurt in Chicago? Concussion. Elbow to the temple. You don’t remember the locker room, but I do. I was there. I was on the floor of that ER locker room, crying like the world had ended. You walked past me. Yousawme. And then three days later, you left.”

His face pales. “You were there?”

“Yes,” I say, voice shaking. “And you didn’t even say goodbye.”

He swallows hard. “I didn’t know what to say. I thought… if I told you how bad it really was, you’d feel trapped.”

“I was already in it,” I whisper. “With you. I was already yours. You didn’t even give me the chance to decide if I wanted to stay.”

“I was scared.”

I nod slowly. “So was I. But I didn’t get to run.”

Silence stretches between us.

He steps closer. “Quinn. I’m not asking you to forgive me. Not yet. But I need you to know—I see it now. What I did. How much I hurt you.”

His voice cracks. “I thought disappearing would make it easier. For both of us. But all it did was make me realize how much I lost.”

I blink fast, but a tear still escapes. “I can’t go through that again.”

“You won’t have to,” he says softly.

“I don’t know if I believe that.”

“I’ll earn it,” he says. “Every day. Every word. Every second.”

I stare at him for a long moment, heart splintering under the weight of every emotion I’ve been holding back.

And then I walk past him.

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