“Rochelle..” I try to plead with her, but she turns her back to me and refuses to listen. I stand there for a moment, trying to figure out a way to win this battle, but anything I could say right now just won’t be right. Turning, I put my hand on the doorknob, knowing I need to put some space between us. I need to just step outside for a moment to breathe, to think, to find a way to help her make this right.
“Momma was right,” she whispers. A sick feeling forms in the pit of my stomach. “I should have never let you steal my heart.”
Sad. Confused. Defeated. I ask, “And why is that, Rochelle?”
“Because you always planned on leaving me. Because when we get to be too much you always let me walk away first. Well this time, I’ll beat you to it. Leave, Hunter, and take your lies with you.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Hunter
I throw my bag on the floor beneath my locker and look up. A picture of Rochelle, along with every single fucking memento of our damn relationship stares back at me. A relationship now ruined forever because she won’t believe a damn thing I said more than a week ago when I left her at her house. When I had stepped out on the front porch, I called Melissa at the salon, and waited until she got there before taking off.
I couldn’t fight that battle any longer. I was destined to lose, no matter what I said.
Grabbing her picture from my locker, I bitterly shove it in my bag. I try to tell myself that I will be alright, that I can get through this, but the truth is, I’m full of shit. Looking up, I grab every damn thing off the shelf that reminds me of her and throw it to the ground.
I sense the stares of my other teammates, but they don't stop me from stomping on one thing, after another, until every last piece of our love is crushed under my foot. It doesn’t bring me the satisfaction I thought it would, and so I grab the metal door of my locker, swing it open, and kick it violently. Grabbing my bag, I throw it at my locker. It crashes to the floor and my heart falls with it.
“Hunter,” coach yells behind me, but I’m not done. I pick up my glove next and throw it at a nearby mirror. It smashes the glass which quickly shatters to the floor.
Lies?
How can she think for one second that any damn thing I told her was a fucking lie!
I loved her more than life itself. Now that she’s gone, I’ll never get the chance to feel the way she made me feel again.
Alive. Immortal. Like everything was mine for the taking as long as she stood by my side.
I kick at the bag at my feet, before punching at the damn metal door again until my knuckles bleed.
“Hunter,” a second voice yells.
I spin around, determined to put whoever it is on their ass. Right now, I just need one fucking reason to finish unleashing the hell her absence has damned me with. Whoever won’t stop fucking pestering me is about to be on the other side of my wrath. Heaven help him, because losing my Angel has made me embrace the demons of hell.
I’m not surprised to see my coach, but the two gentlemen standing behind him make me take a step back in disbelief.
Edward, I recognize. But hell, he hasn’t come to a game since I was in Little League. And with Victoria in the hospital, I’m surprised he made the trip now. Although, the man beside him, I’ve never seen a day in my life. It strikes me as odd because Edward is always surrounded by the same people. Edward Cunningham is all about trust. And Edward doesn’t just trust anyone.
The coach yells for the rest of the players to take the field. Walking up to me, he keeps his voice low and says, “Normally, I’d bench your ass after that little stunt, kid. You make one more wrong move, and I won’t hesitate to make good on that threat, even if your whole damn future does ride on this game tonight. You hear me?”
“Yes, sir!” I hiss back through gritted teeth, still attempting to catch my breath from the anger I just unleashed on the locker room.
“Get your damn head right,” coach says. “You’ve got ten minutes. Whatever you do with them, make sure your head is in the game when you take the field.”
He turns and leaves me alone with Edward and the man I have never met before.
Walking over to my locker, I pick up a few of the broken items on the floor and let out a deep breath. Footsteps sound behind me. Edward watches with disappointment as I bend down and try to clean up the mess I’ve just made.
“Want to tell me what that was all about?” he asks, disapprovingly. “Tell me, Hunter, what’s so important you’re willing to risk tonight’s game, and your future on something that could probably easily be fixed?”
I roll my eyes, turn back to my locker, and put a few of the smashed items back up on the shelf.
“Is there a reason for your unannounced visit, Edward?” I snap. “Or is it just to point out, once again, all my faults and how I don’t live up to your fucking standards?” I attempt to put back together a trinket from Rochelle and my first date, but fail as it crumbles in my hands. Shaking my head, I set it delicately on the shelf and pick up another crushed item. “Because if so, you know where the damn door is. We’ve been over this before, and frankly I am getting really fucking tired of repeating myself.”
“I’d like you to meet someone,” Edward says, making me stop what I’m doing and pay attention. He gestures to the man at his side. I look over him harshly, judging him when I have no right to.
“This is Jackson,” Edward explains. “Jackson Knight. He’s the only person I trust more than myself in this whole rotten world.”
