And the air in my lungs felt heavier for it.
I rubbed the back of my neck, exhaling slow. “She say when she’s coming back?”
“No.”
Of course not.
“She looked…” Jay hesitated, then dropped his gaze for the first time. “Tired. She said she’d remember.”
That made no sense.
But it sounded exactly like her.
I ran a hand down my face, thinking.
Remember what? To take care of herself.
This wasn’t how she handled stress. She didn’t bolt. She worked—gritted her teeth, filed statements, steamrolled press, kept the world from spinning out.Leavingwas not her default.
Unless something was wrong.
Reallywrong.
I didn’t say any of that.
Instead, I asked, “Rhett know yet?”
Jay snorted softly. “Would we still be standing here if he did?”
Fair.
I stared at the empty hallway behind Jay. At the space where sheshouldhave been. Where I’d planned to find her—to talk to her. Not about boundaries or rules or any of the hundred reasons I kept my distance.
Just to ask if she was okay.
Now it was too late.
And the worst part?
I wasn’t sure shewantedany of us to follow.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said instead of the myriad of other thoughts I had.
“What about Rhett?” Were we going to tell him? That was what he really meant.
“Not tonight.” Mostly because I didn’t want to deal with him. “If he does something stupid?—”
“When,” Jay corrected unhelpfully and I barely managed to restrain a glare. Jay wasn’t being combative, just honest.Normally, his steady personality and vibe were more than enough to soothe me at my worst.
Not today.
Not growling, I said, “When he does something stupid, we’ll have to manage the fallout and him.”
“You’re not in the mood.” Without a hint of irony, he nailed it with one sentence, so I just nodded. We walked in silence back to the locker room. Rhett was on the phone, but when I glared he mouthed “my brother” and I blew out a breath.
Talking to his family was fine. If I caught him talking to the press, I might break his phone then his jaw. The rising tide of fury threatened to boil me inside out. I grabbed my gear from the locker before jerking my thumb at the door.
Jay nodded with a flick of a look at Rhett. He was gonna keep an eye on him for us. Good.
