Finally, he turned, his gaze clashing with hers, and she was hit by the same thing she always was when she saw him.
Love. Calm. Peace.
“Hey.” She took a step toward him, only to stop when he stepped back.
Why had he done that?
She studied his face, noticing for the first time how pale he was. And his eyes…they were angry, but there was also something else there. Fear? No, that couldn’t be it. Lock was never scared.
She frowned. “Lock, what’s wrong?”
A long second ticked by, and no one spoke. The silence was so thick it sent a chill over her skin.
“Lock—” Another step forward by her. He didn’t step back this time, but the thick muscles in his arms visibly tensed.
What was going on? Did he already know?
No. That wasn’t possible. She hadn’t told anyone. Not her father, not even her best friend, Aspen.
“Hey…talk to me.” Her words were quiet. She felt almost as if, by speaking too loud, she’d scare him away.
His gaze shifted to the window before flicking back to her. “We can’t do this.”
Her lips parted, confusion muddling her thoughts. “Do what?”
He ran his fingers through his hair, a look she’d never seen before crossing his face. A look she couldn’t even begin to describe.
“We need to take a break.”
Three times. She had to repeat those words in her head three times before she was able to make sense of them. And the second they did, she wanted to be sick. Bile churned in her gut, crawling up her throat.
“A break?”
“There’s stuff going on with the team, and I…we can’t date right now. And we can’t be seen together.” Again, his focus flicked to the window.
“You’re breaking up with me because something’s going on with your team?”
She wanted him to tell her no. To give her something, anything, that made this comprehensible. But he just stood there staring at her like he was in a house he didn’t want to be in. With a woman he didn’t want to be with.
No. She was not just going to accept this. “I need more information from you. I need to know why you’re doing this, and then maybe we can fix the problem. We spoke last week, and everything was great.” Heck, they’d talked about buying a freaking house together!
Finally, a crack of emotion passed over his face. Pain.
He looked out the window for a third time like he was searching for someone. “I…”
Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the ringing of his phone. He looked down, agony darkening his eyes.
“Antwan.” His teammate’s name was almost a whisper. When he glanced up, his features were harder, his expression closed off. God, he looked like a stranger. “I need to go, Callie. Don’t contact me.”
His words felt like a slap in the face. She might have actually flinched, she wasn’t sure. Everything was a haze. A nightmare she couldn’t escape.
He stepped around her.
She turned to watch him walk into the bedroom. She wanted to follow. To yell at him. Scream that she loved him and he couldn’t do this. But her feet wouldn’t move. All she could do was stand there, disbelief making her limbs heavy.
He stepped out of the bedroom, bag in hand.
Oh God. He was really doing it. He was really leaving.
