I stiffen, shocked by his solemn declaration. By no means am I shocked in a good way, rejoiced by the fact that my piece of shit, cheating ex-boyfriend wants me back. It’s the fact that he’sreally making himself look devastated. Or that he really wants me back. That’s hard to believe.
“I didn’t slash your tires, and you deserve the drink for being a dick,” I unapologetically say. “And get the idea of us out of your head because we’re done.”
I attempt to sidestep him, but again he blocks my path.
“Bry—”
“I’ll do anything, babe,” he desperately says.
I frown. “Don’t call me that, and get out of my way.”
“I don’t understand why you’re so quick to give up on us. I still love you and want us to work.”
I try to gather all the patience that’s rapidly slipping. “Let’s not do this. I’m tired and have a busy day tomorrow.”
“Busy day doing what? Teaching?” He rolls his eyes and stares at me with discontent. “I don’t understand why you gave up swimming. If your mom was here, she would be disappointed in you for giving up so easily. You’re the fucking best. Did you forget that at sixteen you won your first gold medal in the fucking Olympics? And look what you’ve done since then. Teaching kids isn’t going to get you anywhere.”
My patience maxes out and my frustration morphs into anger as it flows like raging lava through my system. “Don’t you dare speak about her. And lucky for me, I don’t give a fuck about what you think will benefit my life or career.”
“I’m just saying how it is. Don’t get mad. If your mom was here right now, she would be disappointed and you know it.”
I ball my fists so tight, my nails dig into the heels of my palm. The shard of glass returns, sitting in the middle of my throat, making it hard to swallow.
I can’t disagree with him because he’s not wrong. If she was here right now, she would have me back on the roster or would have disowned me.
Swimming was our only connection and without it, I was nothing to her.
I retreat into the darkness of my head, balling myself up and hiding behind my insecurities and loneliness. I want to detach myself from this conversation, but he insists on pushing, probably knowing he’s hit a nerve and has me where he wants me.
I want to move, to say something, but I feel stuck in the pitch-black corner of my brain.
“I know I shouldn’t have brought it up, but you need to think about your future. Think about us. We can still make this work. We’re good for each other. I know we’ve had issues, but we can move past them. If you want, we can pretend like they never happened. I know I have.” He takes a step forward, forcing himself into my space. “Just imagine what our futures together could look like. Me in the majors and you being a professional swimmer. You’re already established. I don’t understand why you’re willing to throw it all away.”
The blatant disregard to him cheating on me manages to help me step back. There are so many reasons why I’ll never take him back and I could point them out, but there’s no use. Not only do I not see a future with him, but I don’t see a future at all. But despite what happens tomorrow and every other day, I’d rather spend every ticking second alone than to be with him.
Looking at him dead in the eye, I ask, “What’s my favorite color?”
He laughs. “Blue, why?”
“It’s yellow.”
He wryly grins. “Is that why you won’t give me a chance?”
A string of Spanish curse words come to mind, but I decide to save my breath. “On top of you not knowing that, don’t act like you didn’t look at the camera when Amanda had your dick between her breasts.”
His grin slightly falls at the mention of her name. I guess he thought I’d never find out who she was. Probably thought I didn’t know about the intentional way he fucked her.
“Not only did you cheat on me, but you slept with your teammate’s girlfriend.”
Now his lips instantaneously fall. “What did Daniel tell you? It’s not?—”
“I’m bored and over this conversation.” This time I don’t let him block my path or cage me in, but at his words, I falter in my step.
“Are you fucking Daniel?”
“No, and even if I was, that?—”
“He still loves her. I lied about the ball. He punched me because of her on Monday. He saw us talking Friday night and it bothered him.”
