“It’s a shit reason. And I’ve done nothing but regret it.”
He sounded so sincere. Could she trust him? Could she hand him her heart and rely on him to protect it? If her mother had finally found a man she could trust, then maybe Polly could.
Like God himself heard and laughed, the door burst open and her mother rushed in, eyes red-rimmed and tear stains down her cheeks.
Oh no…
“Mom.” She stepped around Joel.
Her mother closed the distance between them and threw her arms around Polly. “It’s over, Pols! Jonah and I are over.”
What was this? A month and a half? It had to be a new record.
Joel slammedthe truck door closed, the hinges rattling with the impact. He was angry. So fucking angry that he could barely think or breathe or do any of the shit he needed to do to function.
He should have told her. He should have taken the hit early on and shared everything about his fucked-up family and the deal his parents had made with the Simmonses. Innotdoing so, he’d broken the fragile trust he’d worked so hard to build with Polly.
He stepped inside the base. Ethan, Connor, and Ryan looked up from the tech table.
Ryan straightened. “Everything okay?”
“No.” They didn’t need to hear that he’d been close, so damn close, to getting a fraction of that trust back this morning, only to have Olivia Mack step in with her drama, making Polly yank it back.
He went straight to the locker room and dumped his pack.
Footsteps sounded in the hall, then Connor appeared, arms crossed over his wide chest. “Wanna talk about it?”
“I’m going for a run.” Joel grabbed his earbuds from his locker and was about to step into the hall when Connor took off his sweatshirt and grabbed his own earbuds. “What are you doing?”
“A run sounds pretty perfect to me.”
“It’s about to rain.”
“Even better. It’ll keep us cool.”
Joel shook his head. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Never said you did.”
“Fine.” He stormed down the hall, past Ethan and Ryan, who were back to looking at him, before stepping outside. The second his feet hit dirt, he started moving. Pounding the soles of his shoes against the earth, letting cool air whip over his face and arms.
Connor easily kept pace behind him.
He pushed his body so hard that air tore in and out of his lungs, making his chest burn.
He should have been firmer with his parents. He should have gone back down to Houston and told them in person to leave him the hell alone. Hell, he should have gone to see Bronte as well. Her parents. Let them all know that there was no scenario in which he’d ever marry her.
But he hadn’t done that. He’d buried his head in the sand, ignored his parents’ calls, hadn’t even attempted to reach Bronte, and just expected it all to go away.
Stupid. So fucking stupid.
Gray clouds hung above the trees, darkening the path ahead.
So many scenarios played in his head, and every one of them ended differently. In some, Polly forgave him. She took him back and they rebuilt their trust. And in others…
He lost her.
A muscle ticked in his jaw, the burning of his legs a welcome distraction.
