Page 141 of Desperate Pucker
“Uh, hey,” Sergei mutters.
Ryker doesn’t say anything. He just nods at him.
Sergei crosses his arms over his chest and looks back over at me. “I’m surprised that you’d want to come to something like this after the way you handled the Olympics.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
He shrugs. “I just figured you’d want to keep to yourself. Stay away from the public. I mean, what you went through was kind of embarrassing.”
Irritation swoops through me. “It was embarrassing. But that was your fault.”
He leans back, like he’s surprised at what I’ve said.
“Wait, you think your breakdown is my fault?” he asks.
I let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, Sergei. The fact that I had a breakdown on international television is partly your fault. Remember how you were cheating on me with Natalia? Remember how I found out about it a week before I competed? Did you really think that wouldn’t affect me?”
He stammers for a second, but I keep talking before he can say anything more.
“I was going through so much crap then, Sergei. I wasn’t eating enough. I was training on a broken ankle. My whole body was in pain. And on top of all that, I find out you were cheating on me.”
My irritation morphs into frustration at how surprised he looks. He really has no clue how much I was suffering. Or he did and just didn’t care.
But he knows now. I’m making it very clear to him in this moment what an asshole he was—he still is.
And that’s all I have the energy for. He’s not my problem anymore.
A resigned feeling settles inside of me. It’s not good or bad. It just is what it is.
“You know, I used to think there was something wrong with me because you always seemed kind of distant. Nothing I did ever made you all that happy,” I say to Sergei. “But I realize now that I wasn’t the problem. You were. I can’t believe I wasted all those years and feelings on you. All that for a guy who wasn’t worth my time. Who never cared about me.”
I turn around to Ryker, who’s gazing at me with a watchfulness in his bourbon eyes that sends warmth throughout my entire body. That frustration inside of me fades.
Ryker cares. He cares about me so much.
Sergei shakes his head. “Jesus, Madeline. I can’t believe you’re still mad about that. That was two years ago. Yeah, there was overlap with you and Natalia, but it’s in the past.”
I look up right as his fiancée, Natalia, appears from around the corner, a sick look on her face as she walks up to him. She must have overheard us.
“Wait, you were still with her when you started up with me?” Her tone is shrill. And surprised. And very, very pissed.
Sergei’s blue eyes go wide. He looks like he’s been kicked in the stomach.
He says something in Russian, but before he can finish, Natalia, rips off her engagement ring and throws it at him, then storms off.
“Natalia, wait!”
She spins around and glares at him. “Don’t you even think about coming after me, you cheating bastard.”
When she sees me, her face softens. She looks so sad. “I didn’t know you were together back then. When he asked me out, he said you were broken up. He said the only reason he still hung out with you was because you were clingy and he was just trying to be nice.”
I look over at Sergei, whose panicked gaze is darting between me and Natalia.
I face her again. “He lied to you, Natalia. The truth is this: Sergei and I were together until a week before the last Winter Olympics. I broke up with him when I saw the texts between you two on his phone.”
I take in the stricken look on her face, the tears pooling in her eyes. All the jealousy I harbored for her those years ago fades away instantly. Because now I realize I had nothing to be jealous of. Sergei was a selfish jerk. He was awful to both of us.
“I’m so sorry,” she says in a sad voice.
