Page 179 of Rebound
It feels odd to call this my apartment when I’ve spent most nights with Roman for the last month. His apartment feels more like mine than any place ever has.
“Okay, stay there. I’m coming to get you.” I hear rushing footsteps on his side.
“Wait, what’s going on?” I ask. I look back at Jules, and the blood’s drained from her face.
“Just don’t leave the apartment. I’m going to be there in twenty minutes. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I get out before he hangs up.
I look at Jules, who still looks like she saw a ghost. And then the panic goes haywire.
“Is it my parents? The grandmothers? Aunt Constance? Drew? Has something happened to my family?” I don’t know how I’ll be able to survive without them. I’m too sensitive to even think about it. It makes me cry even when I’m not panicking.
Finally, Jules looks at me. She’s not panicking anymore. The look of horror is gone and replaced with anger.
“Your family is fine. It’s Josh.”
“Okay, I don’t know why we’re panicking if something happened to Josh? Obviously, I don’t mean him any harm, but we don’t like him.”
Jules reaches across the table for my hands. She squeezes them tightly, her gaze never wavering from mine.
“Babe, Josh went on Dave Matthews podcast and talked shit about you,” she says. “And I don’t mean bullshit like she’s not a good partner. He went on the podcast and said that he left you at the altar because it was an abusive relationship, and he was the victim.”
I’m sittingon my parent’s couch with my head buried in my hands. Roman sits beside me, his arm wrapped around me. When he picked me up, I threw myself at him because I needed to feel safe. There are only two places I feel safe in this world, his arms and my parent’s house.
My parents, grandmothers, great aunt, Drew, Jules, and the guys are all here. It’s like a morbid listening party. Because we’re listening to the death of my reputation. Everything I’ve struggled so hard to build, Josh knocks down thoughtlessly with a few cruel words.
He’s going to ruin you. Josh said that the night the Titans lost to the Falcons.
The cruel irony is, Josh is the one who’s ruining me.
“You don’t realize when you’re in that situation,” Josh is saying. “It’s like you’ve completely turned yourself off to anything that’s happening around you. It wasn’t until the night before my wedding that I realized the kind of person I was marrying. She looks so innocent, and she’s built this reputationof being the good girl, but there’s a cruelty behind her pretty face that no one sees.”
“She’s now married to your old teammate. Don’t you find that odd?” Dave Matthews asks.
“I think she did it to keep a hold of me. So she can keep showing up to games and distracting me. I’m never going to have a moment’s peace with her around. If anything, her being married to Roman Maddox proves my point. What kind of self-proclaimed good girl marries a guy whose nickname is The Brutalizer?”
Tears drip down my face, staining the white blanket over my lap. I was so stupid to think everything was going to be fine. It makes me laugh, thinking that I decided to stay married to Roman to protect my reputation and now it’s being shattered to smithereens anyway.
“Can we please turn this bullshit off?” My brother says, voice laced with anger. “Why the fuck do we have to listen to this guy talk shit?”
I know it’s bad when mom doesn’t even call him out for cussing in front of our grandmothers and great aunt. Josh is midway through talking about how I used to taunt him when no one was looking when someone pauses the podcast. In the absence of his voice, silence fills the room.
I turn, burying my face in Roman’s chest to hide my tears. These are my friends and family, I’m not afraid to let them see my tears. I don’t want to look up and see even a hint of doubt in their eyes.
“Baby, please, we’re going to fix this. Please don’t cry over this asshole,” Roman whispers, so I’m the only one who hears him.
“Now would be a good time to contact your witch,” Drew says.
“What a pathetic loser,” Aunt Constance says.
“I don’t understand why he did this,” I say, my voice choked with tears.
“He’s a narcissist,” Jules is the one who speaks up. “He only wanted you while he could control you. He always needs to have the upper hand, and he realized that you’re better off without him so he needs to diminish you and make you feel small.”
I’m so angry at myself for not seeing it earlier. I was with this man for two years and he took advantage of my mental health, when I was at my lowest point. I used to wonder why he never wanted to talk to me about hockey or about my career. And now I realize it’s because he couldn’t stand to not be the center of attention. He needed to have the upper hand even if he had to break me down.
“No one is going to believe this,” Kai says, his voice calm and steady.
