I’m still staring at her, my wrist draped over the steering wheel with my body angled toward her. A horn sounds from the car behind us. “Fuck,” I mutter, glancing in my rearview mirror before grabbing the wheel with both hands.
I turn it to the right, onto a street I didn’t plan on going down, pulling my car into the parking lot at the park right down the road from the stadium.
“What are you doing?” Jade’s eyebrows draw together and she looks fucking pissed as she turns to look at me. “Take me home, Matteo.”
“No,” I say, putting the car in park and killing the engine. I turn to look at her. “Not until you tell me what is wrong.”
“Oh my gosh,” she breathes, rolling her eyes as she shakes her head. “You’re acting like such a spoiled little brat.” She sets her jaw, turning to look at me. “Didn’t get your way so you’re throwing a temper tantrum?”
What the hell? Where is this even coming from?
“No, it’s not a temper tantrum, Sunny,” I huff, shaking my head at her. “This is what it looks like when someone fucking cares. When someone knows something is wrong and they want to know what it is so they can fix it.”
She stares back at me, blinking. “What?”
“Everything was fine before the game and now… you’re icing me out.” My face contorts, my stomach rolling. “What’s going on?”
Her throat bobs as she swallows hard. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
My stomach falls to the fucking floor. “What do you mean?”
“This!” She waves her arms, frustration and hurt laced in her voice. “You were right when you said things would change after we slept together. They did and I don’t like it.”
I stare at her, a heaviness settling on my chest. “You don’t like it.”
She blows out a breath. “I don’t like being another name on your list. People saw us in public and now I just look like a goddamn fool, falling for your shit like every other woman you get involved with.”
I drag a hand down my face. “What the hell are you talking about, Sunny? You are not another name on my list.”
“You just like the chase,” she says, her voice monotone as if the words are rehearsed. “As soon as things start to feel real, you bail.”
My breath catches. “You think I’m going to bail? You think I fucked you and that was enough for me?” My chest expands. “Sunny baby,” I murmur, reaching for her. She doesn’t stop me as I cup the side of her face. Instead, she leans into me, her eyes falling shut. “I don’t think that was ever going to be enough.”
Her eyelids flutter open and they grow wide as she stares back at me. “What?”
“I’m fucked,” I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what we’re doing. All I know is I don’t want to keep pretending that I don’t want this with you.”
I can’t say the words. If I speak them out loud, that makes them real. And once they’re out in the open, there’s no way I can take them back.
She stares back at me, gazing directly into my soul. That’s where she resides now. There was me before her and this is me after. I’ll never be the same, not when I know that my heart belongs to her.
“What are you saying?” she whispers, her eyes slowly searching mine.
“I broke the one rule we had.” I give her an apologetic smile. Her nostrils flare. “I caught feelings.”
“I—” She pauses, the words failing on her lips. “Don’t say things you don’t mean, Matteo.”
I tilt my head, giving it a swift shake as I purse my lips. “Why do you think I don’t mean it? Why would I say it to you if I didn’t?”
She rolls her lips between her teeth. “There was a group of women at the bar tonight.” She swallows audibly. “I overheard them talking about you.”
I inhale deeply, straightening my head as I close my eyes for a second. “What were they saying?”
“How you’re such a player. How you’re with different women all the time.” She lets out a sigh. “One of them saw us at the charity gala and said I’ll be gone in a week.”
Anger pricks my skin. “Who were these women?”
Jade shrugs. “Fans, I guess.”
