“That’s the real reason you stayed with this wanker for as long as you did, innit?” I said, indicating Dwayne.
“Hey!” Dwayne yelled.
But I pushed on with my point as if I didn’t hear him. “Because he was safe. Cos you thought he was some nice Missouri boy, and you were afraid of dating someone you felt something real for. Someone like me!
“You’rea coward when it comes to us. You have been from the start. You only fell in love with me cos you thought I was safe. That’s why I couldn’t tell ya. Cos I knew, when I did, this would be how it ended between us. And I was right.”
I pointed angrily at the floor. “You’re usin’ me being a pro athlete to do what you’ve been wantin’ to do from the start. Run! Run like the coward you are. Especially when it comes to us.”
She stared at me.
Then stared at me some more.
Then she slapped me so hard that my face turned sideways.
A great gasp went up all around us.
But, Kayla, who was usually so self-conscious, just ignored them and snatched her phone out of my hand.
“I’m not going to sue you,Andy,” she informed me, her voice low and harsh. “Because I never want to see or deal with you again.”
With that, she stormed past me toward the lobby doors.
“Wait—you can’t leave,” I called after her. “What ’bout your suitcase? It’s still in me room.”
“Keep it,” she said, swiping at her angry tears as she made her way to the lobby doors. “That’s what I should have said three days ago!”
She ran out of the hotel, then, and Dwayne followed.
“Kay! Kay! Wait up!” he called after her. “Where we goin’?”
It hadn’t gone as bad as I’d been imagining when I tried and failed to tell her the truth.
It’d gone even worse.
For several moments, all I could do was stand there. Then the voice screamed inside of me.
Go after her! Make her understand!
I tried to do that. I did.
But as soon as I stepped a foot outside the hotel, I was swarmed by paps and new Parisian fans seeking autographs.
They’d let Kayla by, but they surrounded me with demands and questions, making it impossible for me to get through them. It left me with no choice but to stand there, helpless and trapped, while Kayla hailed a cab and jumped in with Dwayne.
Speeding out of my life.
Forever.
CHAPTER20
Kayla
Despite my dramatic exit,I didn’t end up leaving everything behind in Paris.
Dwayne, however, was ditched soon after our taxi’s arrival at the Benton Budget.
“Are you serious?” He grabbed my arm after I thanked him for the information and tried to leave him behind on the curb in front of the hotel’s entrance.
