LAURIE

The door swung open and the air left my lungs. “Kyle?” I croaked out. “But w- what—”

“Tell me it’s not true.”

“What?” My brows knitted together. I was so surprised to see him given he wasn’t supposed to get in until tonight. And even then, I hadn’t anticipated seeing him. We hadn’t talked in almost a week.

“Tell me you weren’t with Jared Teller at The Shack?”

My mouth hung open, disbelief radiating through every inch of me. “You were spying on me?”

The muscle in his jaw pulsated as he made a grunting sound in his throat. “No, I wasn’t spying on you. It’s a public diner. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”

“I wasn’t at The Shack with Jared, Kyle.” I stood taller, overcome with irritation. How dare he—after everything—come here accusing me, of what? Dating Jared in his absence? It would be laughable, if it wasn’t so sad that this is what our relationship had become. Secrets wrapped up in lies neatly tied with a string of doubt.

“So, it wasn’t you?” His brow arched, accusation lingering in his voice.

“Yes. No.” I sighed, hating that I sounded guilty. Clearing my throat, I drew in a calming breath and continued, “I mean, I was there, but we weren’t together. It wasn’t like that.”

“Fuck.” He raked his hair, pulling the ends in frustration. “Five days, I was away five days and he—”

“Don’t make this about Jared, Kyle. This has nothing to do with him.”

“It doesn’t?” he barked hysterically, and I glanced around hoping my neighbors weren’t tending their garden or spying on us out of the window—it wouldn’t have been the first time. The last thing I needed was them reporting back to my parents.

“Come inside and we can talk.” I pulled the door wider and moved to the side. Kyle’s eyes darted around my face and then the fight left his body, his shoulders visibly sagging. Without so much as a word he came inside, the click of the door cutting through the tension swirling around us like a knife.

“I went to a bonfire with Autumn,” I explained. “Jared hangs out with Liam and Devon. It wasn’t a date. We weren’t there together. Nothing happened.”

At least, nothing with Jared.

Kyle stared at me like he didn’t recognize me, and it killed me. “He wants you, Laurie. You know he does. So what I can’t figure out is why? Why put yourself in that situation, unless...” His unspoken accusation hung between us, pushing us further away, creating more distance than there already was.

“You think I like this?” I said softly. “You think it’s fun for me, watching you self-destruct, standing by while you ruin us?”

“Ruin us?” he scoffed. “You think I’m the one ruining us? I’m trying to protect us.” His voice rose an octave, heavy with frustration. “From the vultures, from the blood sucking leeches. Why can’t you get that? Why can’t you just...”

Kyle swallowed whatever it was he’d been about to say and stepped closer, taking the air with him. I should have moved. Everything in me was telling me to move but when he reached for me, I leaned in. Magnets unable to resist the pull. His hand curled into my hair and around my neck, drawing me in. And then I was in his arms, surrounded by his smell, his familiarity.

“God, I’ve missed you,” he whispered against my hair. “I thought I was going to lose my mind and then Trent texted me saying he’d heard you went out with Jared. I lost it. Completely lost it. Coach had to rip me off another player. I got benched.”

“Kyle.” I pulled away to stare up at him. “You can’t keep losing your temper. It isn’t you. You don’t let your emotions get the better of you like that.”

“I can’t help it, babe. When I think I might lose you, I see red. Just the thought of it slays me, Laurie.” He leaned down, ghosting his lips over mine.

And I let him.

Because we needed this—he needed this—and I didn’t have it in me to say no.

“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. But you have to trust me, you have to know that I’m doing this all for you. For us. For our future.”

“I know.”

I hadn’t known if I was going to confront him until this very moment. Part of me didn’t want to bring it up, yet he seemed so devastated, so unhinged. And I didn’t want any more secrets between us.

He relaxed against me and I realized he thought I was accepting his apology. Sucking in a shaky breath, I repeated my words, leaving nothing to chance this time. “No, Kyle, I mean I know about your sister.” I blinked up at him. “About your mom.”

The color drained from his face as his whole body went rigid. “What did you say?” he asked in a cool tone.

“I saw her, at The Shack again. I- I went after her.”

His arms slipped away, and he stepped back, putting an ocean between us. “You went after her? After I told you she was no one? That she didn’t matter?” The sting of betrayal glittered in his eyes.

“I had to know who she was. It would have driven me crazy otherwise.”

“But I asked you to let me handle it, I asked...” Kyle ran a hand over his hair and clutched his neck. “You didn’t trust me.”

The defeat in his voice hurt so much that, for a second, I questioned my actions. Had I done a bad thing, going after Kiera, pushing her for the truth? But I wasn’t in the wrong. She’d been watching us, watching Kyle.

I loved him. And when you loved someone, you did whatever was necessary to help them.

Didn’t you?

“It’s not about trust, don’t you see that?” I said softly. “It’s about having something between us. You lied, Kyle. It wasn’t going away. It was only going to get worse. To spiral into something neither of us could fix. So, I made a choice. That’s why I was with Jared, he—”

“He was there? He knows?” Fear and anger flashed in his wide eyes and I shrunk into myself, knowing how it sounded. Wishing I could spin it another way. But the truth was, Jared had been there. He’d been the one to comfort me that night.

It didn’t mean I wanted him though.

“He came to see if I was okay.” I stared at Kyle, willing him to believe me. “Kiera, your sister, she got angry and said some things.”

He started pacing, rubbing his face. “I told her not to come around again. I told her to leave me alone. She should have listened, she should have...” His words were laced with so much panic and confusion that I rushed to him. But when I reached out and tried to comfort him, he flinched, backing away from my touch. “You spoke to her?”

I nodded slowly, my hands hanging limply at my side. He was hurting; I’d tried to comfort him, but he rejected me.

What did that say about us?

“She was so angry, Kyle. I wanted to help. I wanted to—”

“I- I can’t do this right now. I told you to forget her. I told you not to worry.” I was sure I saw moisture forming in the corner of his eyes, but I had to be mistaken. Kyle didn’t cry. He wore his heart on his sleeve and was more sensitive than most guys, but I’d never seen him cry before.

“Kyle, please,” I begged. “Let’s talk about this. About your mo—”

“You think I want to talk about her? You have no fucking idea what I want.” Pain radiated from him like a forcefield, repelling me. Pushing me away. “I have to go.” He started moving for the door and I cried, “Wait, please. Don’t leave like this. We can talk... I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to talk to her, I should have trusted you—”

He glanced back at me and his cold glare cut me to the bone stealing the air from my lungs, the words from my tongue. “I can’t do this anymore, Laurie. I just can’t.” Kyle yanked the door open and left.

Taking my heart with him.

~

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?” Lo whisper-hissed over the line and I sagged against my headboard.

“What do you mean?” I played dumb. Kyle had been so angry, so disappointed, I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire. He hadn’t given me chance to ask why he’d lied about his mom. And for as much as I wanted to talk to Lo about everything, it wasn’t my story to tell.

I owed him that much.

“Was Kyle okay when he stopped by?”

“How do you know he stopped by?” I tested the waters.

Lo sighed. “So he didn’t come to see you?

When I didn’t answer she pressed. “Laurie, what aren’t you telling me?”

“We got into another fight.”

“And let me guess, you’re not going to tell me why?”

“Hmm-mm.”

“For the love of ...” She exhaled a frustrated breath. “You two are almost as bad as each other. Kyle completely lost it, Laurie. He came back to the house and trashed his room. Maverick had to restrain him. I’ve never seen him like that, ever.”

“Oh my God,” I breathed out.

This was bad. Very bad.

“So, I’m going to ask you again, are you sure you don’t want to tell me what happened?”

“You really should ask Kyle.”

“We did!” she shrieked, and I moved the phone from my ear letting her calm down. When she spoke again her voice was quieter. “He wouldn’t tell us anything. Not a damn thing. Maverick is still over at the house trying to talk him around before Rebecca and Gentry get home. I’ve never seen him like this before. He was... well, let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.”

I blinked back the tears. I hated this—hated everything about it.

“Laurie, are you still there?”

“I’m here,” I breathed out.

“Just tell me one thing... how bad is it?”

“Bad.” My eyes squeezed shut. “It’s really bad, Lo.”

“Crap, okay. I’m going to go see if I can help calm him down. I’ll text you later.”

“Please. And I’m sorry. If I could tell you, I would.”

“I know,” she said before hanging up.

I don’t know how long I sat there, biting back the tears and the urge to go over to the Stone-Prince’s house and try to reason with Kyle. But I knew my presence wouldn’t help. He didn’t want to see me.

God.

What had I done?

My cell vibrated in my hand cutting through the silence and I flinched, expecting to see Lo’s name. She wouldn’t quit until I told her something. But it wasn’t Lo. It was my mom. With a heavy sigh, I swiped the screen.

Mom: Don’t forget the gala’s in two weeks. We should be home by the twentieth but in case we’re not, I called ahead and ordered your dress in a four so avoid too much junk food while we’re gone. And I’ve spoken to the Teasons. Nathaniel would love to be your chaperone for the evening. Isn’t that exciting? Love and kisses, Mom.

She had no clue. No idea I was home alone, hurting and lost. She hadn’t even asked how I was; if everything was okay at the house. I contemplated texting back, telling her how sucky things were right now, but I didn’t. She and Dad would love nothing more than to learn things with me and Kyle were on rocky ground. And the last thing I needed was to arm them with more ammunition against him. Not when part of me still believed we could get through this.

Even if the other part wasn’t so sure anymore.