“I wish you’d told me.” My voice reveals my disappointment.
“We both knew I was leaving anyway.”
“I know, but I didn’t know when.” My jaw pops.
I’m imagining living my life without Mae. I can literally feel the colour draining from the world around me, leaving it grey and lifeless. Everything will feel wrong. Everything in my life will shift, and knowing I can’t stop it… there’s a dead weight in my chest.
I don’t want to go back to the way things were before. She’s shown me Icanbe happy.
“We signed contracts, Nathan. We never should have started this in the first place—not when we both knew I’d be leaving and there was a chance we’d get caught.”
I crouch down to her level, eyes lasering into hers. “But we did, Mae, okay? We fucking did, and we can’t take it back.”
She shakes her head, dropping her pom-poms to the ground. “I won’t allow you to lose the Storks.”
“But in turn, I lose you.” It’s a punch in the gut. Everything is blowing up in my face, and I don’t know how to handle it. My chest feels hollow, and I raise my eyebrows at Mae, waiting for her to say something.
I’m going to fucking kill my father.
I roll my lips together painfully.
She’s worked so hard to get where she wants to be. She’s been through so much. The last thing she needs is to have her name blemished. Once the tabloids know you, that’s it. There’s no escaping.
Her fingers pick at her lips, and I reach forwards and stop her. Even if I am angry right now, I don’t want her hurting herself.
I don’t hold onto her hand, though. Instead, I place it back by her side, fingers skimming her wrist.
“I can’t let this ruin your career. It’s not worth it. You’ve spent years trying to win this for your mom, Nathan. So, after the season ends, I’ll leave, and we won’t contact each other again.”
My heart practically turns to ash in my chest. “You want that?”
Mae’s fingers press into her temples, and she rubs, sighing. “No, of course not, but it’s no longer about whatwewant. It’s more complicated than that.”
“It’s very complicated,” I say. “Complicated because I’ve allowed myself to develop feelings for you. Feelings I can’t stop or take back.”
Mae’s eyes fill with tears, but she blinks them away. “Me too.” She shakes her head, allowing her palm to cup my cheek one last time before she drops it as if she’s been burned, stepping past me.
She turns and walks away, and I swear I can hear my heart cracking inside my chest. I watch with dark eyes as she turns down the corridor, taking my love with her. Because it’s not until now that I realise I love her. Ineedher.
And yet, it’s not enough.
“Are you sad?” Leo asks me as he squashes my face together, gaining a groan from me.
“No, Leo,” I respond, gently prying his hands from my cheeks. “I’m not sad.”
I’m fucking heartbroken.
The media likes to paint the Storks as heartbreakers.
And I guess it’s true.
I’m a heartbreaker, alright. But it’s not anyone else’s heart I’ve broken. It’s my own.
“Ease up, Leo,” Evan orders his son, taking him into his arms and planting a quick kiss on the side of his head.
“Uncle Nathan isn’t sad.” Evan’s stormy grey eyes flicker to mine. “He’s…”
“Miserable? Mournful? Troubled?” Bennet chimes in from the couch, tilting his head to me while he lays there as if he owns it.
