“Yes.”
“Fine,” she said, wrenching herself away from him. “If that is what you want so badly, then maybe that’s what I will do.”
She recognized the hurt in his expression, but he nodded.
She backed up toward the door, wanting so badly for him to chase after her, to tell her that he had been wrong, that she needed to stay with him and be his, that they were perfect together and that it would kill him to see her with another.
“I’m leaving then.”
“I will see you home,” he said in a low, hard voice.
“I’ll be just fine.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I cannot let you go alone.”
“But you’re perfectly fine to let me go into a marriage without love,” she said bitterly.
He didn’t answer as he put on his jacket and led her out the door. “Time to go,” was all he said.
It was the last either of them spoke until he left her at her back door.
He had made it very clear. Whatever was between them was finished.
Whether she liked it or not.
Chapter Twenty
Jonny was miserable.
Pushing Ada away had been the hardest thing he had ever had to do. Heshouldhave told her that he didn’t care for her. It would have been the easiest way to convince her to leave and not harbor any additional feelings toward him, but he just couldn’t find it within himself to say the words aloud.
So, he had told the truth.
Which she had somewhat accepted, as angry as it had made her.
Manchester Central had played an exhibition match tonight, and he had played like shit. Afterward, he hadn’t even been able to look his teammates in the eye – not that many of them were particularly interested in speaking to him – as he had been the reason they had lost the game.
They had been tied right up until the final few minutes, when Jonny had passed the ball right to the other team. Had basically set up the goal as he had put it in the forward’s feet, and the man had gone right to the net and scored against Hardy.
Jonny had intended to slip away before anyone even noticed he was gone, but Tommy had practically dragged him to the King’s Head.
“You want to be a part of this team, Jonny?” he had said as they stood near the door of the changing house. “Then come and be a part of the team.”
Jonny took a seat at the end of the table, as far away from the other players as possible, with Tommy sitting between them. Jonny rubbed his brow. Tommy was the most loyal friend a man could ask for, and yet sometimes he just wanted to be left alone.
“What’s going on?” Tommy asked him in a low voice, as Jonny sat staring at the ale in front of him.
“Nothing,” he muttered, wishing Tommy would just drop it as he lifted his cup and took a sip. Jonny actually wasn’t one to drink more than he should, but tonight he didn’t overly care. Perhaps it would be better to forget everything that was happening to him, to accept that this was his life now.
To be alone.
Forever.
“Come on, Jon,” Tommy said, elbowing him. “At some point, you have to let someone in or you’ll drive yourself mad.”
Jonny lifted his eyes to him, knowing they were likely bloodshot from his lack of sleep, for when he closed his eyes, all he saw was Ada.
It was easier to keep them open and distracted.
