Page 111 of Forecheck
Berkley heaved a sigh so large her shoulders rose and fell comically. Then she swiveled to face me and said, “You had no right.”
“It’s my money.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”
“I think that’s exactly what you mean. You think I haven’t seen you balk every time I whip out my credit card to pay for something for you? You think I missed the irritation in your eyes, the discomfort, every second of that weekend in Vegas? This has been a point of contention from the beginning.”
“In case you’ve forgotten,” she said, “after you surprised me and Lexie with that Vegas trip, I specifically asked you to run this shit by me. I would’ve been pleased to have my family here had you only given me the courtesy of being included in the decision!”
I hadn’t entirely forgotten, but I’ll admit…selective amnesia had been at play when I made the decision. “I wanted to surprise you,” I said simply.
“You know I hate surprises. Instead of doing shit that makes me angry with you, Brent, you could always…I don’t know…justnot spend thousands of dollars on chartered flights to bring my family to your playoff game without telling me!”
She leaped out of her seat, her voice rising until it echoed off the walls.
Even with her on flat feet and me seated, I still towered over her, this tiny ball of fire.
Who’d suddenly turned that heat on me.
I hadn’t seen her this angry since New Year’s Eve. That night, I’d vowed I’d never piss her off like that again.
I guess some promises were harder to keep than others.
“I love that you want to do nice things for me, Brent,” she said, voice softening. “I really do. But going behind my back with something like this was bullshit. You knew I’d react this way.”
“I truly don’t see what the big deal is,” I said, exasperation rising. “I have more money than I’ll ever know what to do with. You’re my girl, Berk. The love of my life. I really can’t think of any better way to spend that wealth than on you.”
I expected her to come to me with my words, to fall into my arms, but her body stiffened further. Blinking in surprise, I recycled my words in my mind, trying to figure out where I’d gone wrong.
“I don’t need you to spend your wealth on me. I don’t want it. I never have. I’m not Ashley.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t need you to buy my love. We’ve had this conversation, Brent! I’ve let a man keep me dependent on him by using his money to hold me there, and I’m not going to do it again.”
“That’s not what I’m trying to do at all, and if you really think that, then I don’t know what the fuck we’re doing here.”
Berkley stumbled back a step as though I’d dealt her a physical blow, and the regret coursing through me almost made me feel like I had.
I’d known from the beginning how important her independence was to her. It was the one thing she’d always stood firm on, the one thing she refused to give up. And truth be told, I didn’t want her to. I loved that she wanted to take care of herself—and that she could. I appreciated that she was the exact opposite of Ashley in every way. She was the woman I’d spent my whole life searching for.
But I realized something about her in that moment that I wasn’t entirely sure she knew about herself.
Sometimes, you had toletpeople take care of you. And her opinion on the matter was surely born of years being told shewas strong and capable and didn’t need a man to do the things she was perfectly able to do herself. I’m sure being cheated on, and all the other shit that Lee bastard had done to her, had only exacerbated that particular facet of her personality. I knew it was difficult for her to rely on anyone—even me. Though I knew she loved me, I also understood that she didn’t like asking me for help.
So, okay, flying her family in for the game without running it by her first was admittedly a dick move. But I wouldn’t apologize for it. Not if it had led us to this moment. I didn’t like fighting with her, but if it got her to finally open up about just how deeply this particular root of who she was ran, if it got her to finally trust me more, I’d fight with her all day and night.
Well, except when I had to be on the road for a game. We didn’t have all day and night. We barely had half a minute before I absolutely needed to be out the door.
I rose from my seat and approached her slowly, like a hunter closing in on its prey. No, that was a bad analogy. I didn’t want to cage her. I wanted to set her free from the things that weighed her down.
Clasping her face in my hands, I tipped her head back until she was forced to look me dead in the eye.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” I told her. “I know exactly what we’re doing here. That was a heat of the moment thing, and I didn’t mean it. I also know that you don’tneedme to buy your affection or do anything for you at all, Berk. But that’s the kind of man I am. I like spending my money on the people I care about. I like giving small, inconsequential tokens of my affection. Those things make me happy. And since you are the most important person in the world to me, I like making you happy most of all.”
All the fight left her, and I caught her as her body sagged against mine.
“I want you to be happy,” she said softly, voice barely above a whisper. “But not at my expense.”
