Page 31 of The Hockey Player and the Tutor
She avoids meeting my eyes as I rush toward her, reaching out for her hand, but she sidesteps me.
“I’ve decided to go with my mother now. I called Lola and she’ll be here in a few minutes. You should go, Preston.”
What the hell?
I have no clue what’s going through her mind right now or why this sudden change of heart, but I don’t like it. I hate the way her mother is controlling Brin’s decision to stay.
Brin crouches down to grab her purse on the floor and when she stands, she slips the strap over her shoulder. Turning back to me, she looks me straight in the eye and says, “Goodbye, Preston.”
My brows furrow and I gasp like I’ve been slugged in the stomach. Brinly stops in front of me and places a kiss on my cheek that is whisper soft. Only a brush of her lips, but the impact is something I know I’ll feel forever.
Ms. Davis coughs from just outside the door and Brinly turns on her heels and follows behind her like a pet on a leash. She doesn’t even glance over her shoulder one last time.
“Wait…Brin. Don’t go.” I reach for her, but she’s too far away to make contact.
I have no leverage to keep Brinly here. Her mother holds all the cards.
Apparently, our connection isn’t as strong as I thought it was and I don’t mean as much to Brin as she does to me.
I fumble with one last chance to hopefully make her change her mind and stay here with me. To not let her walk away like this under these circumstances.
“Please, Brin. I love you.”
My heart skips a beat when Brin stops at the threshold of the door. Yes! That did it. Admitting to those three words is the key to making her stay.
But then she walks off and I guess they’re not enough for a guy like me to hold on to a girl like Brin.
ChapterFifteen
Brinly
My trust fund will be made available to me when I turn twenty-one.
Four days from now.
My mother knows it and I know it. It’s the only reason I left school last week without a fight and walked away from Preston.
At the time, it was the only way to quietly resolve the situation without any further theatrics or threats from my mother. I knew without a doubt that her clout could’ve been used against Preston and gotten him into hot water, no matter if her assertion wasn’t the truth.
This way, my mother could feel like she still had the control over me she desperately needs one last time. Truth is, we both know it’s short-lived.
I took a leave of absence from Bayside for the rest of the semester, which my mother ensured was approved by the appropriate school personnel. I’m sure she paid them off—no doubt in the form of a generous donation—in hopes that the time away from school would help me “reprioritize my life choices.”
What she fails to understand is that I’m an adult now. I’ve been making my own decisions for the last two years since I’ve been away at school and had the sorely needed distance for me to learn a valuable lesson on standing up for myself. I may have played the meek and obedient daughter all my life, but I’m no longer my mother’s puppet.
And in less than a week from now, I will be on my own entirely. I can walk away holding my head up high with a belief in myself that I am my own person.
I just hope it’s not too late to repair things with Preston.
I love you.
Oh, my God, hearing those words wrecked me.
My heart leaped out of my chest and was left bleeding across the floor of that room when I forced myself to keep walking. Without exception, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
When he said he loved me, I felt a pain so raw that I really thought I’d been stabbed in the heart. That ache hasn’t diminished one iota and continues to fester as I cry myself to sleep every night. I cry for Preston. I cry for my life with my mother. I cry for having to leave the school and the sorority I love.
But most of all, I cry for the irreparable damage in my relationship with my mother. It will never be the same again.
