"Smart choice." He brushed past me. Paused at the door. Looked back over his shoulder. "By the way? She tastes the same as she did before. Just in case you were wondering."
Then he walked out. Left me standing there. Hands shaking. Heart hammering. Blood roaring in my ears.
I wanted to chase him. Wanted to drag him back and finish what I'd started. But my feet stayed rooted to the floor. Because Nate might have walked away like he was still in control. But he wasn't.
Not anymore.
I'd seen the fear in his eyes when I grabbed him. Felt the way his breath hitched when I slammed him into that wall.
He knew I was done playing by his rules. And that terrified him more than anything I could have said.
I found her in the equipment closet. Doors pulled half-shut. Shoulders hunched like she was trying to disappear into the shadows. She didn't look up when I walked in. Just kept staring at the tape rolls lined up on the shelf like they held answers she couldn't find anywhere else.
"Did he touch you?"
The question came out harder than I meant it to. Sharp enough that she flinched.
I tried again. Softer this time. "Billie."
She finally looked at me. Those eyes — God, those eyes — guarded and exhausted and barely holding on. "He tried to."
My jaw clenched so hard I heard my teeth grind. Fists curled at my sides. Every cell in my body lit up with the need to go back out there. Find him. Finish what I'd started.
"You can't go back to him."
"Ihaveto." Her voice cracked. "You basically told him everything by busting in?—"
"I don't give a flying fuck." The words exploded out of me. "You're?—"
I stopped. Caught myself before I said something I couldn't take back. Before I crossed a line we'd both been pretending still existed.
She stared at me. Waiting. Daring me to finish the sentence.
You're mine.
That was what I wanted to say. What every cell in my body was screaming.
You're mine and I'm done pretending I can watch him put his hands on you without losing my mind.
But I couldn't. Because saying it out loud made it real. Made it something neither of us could walk away from.
"You're my player," I said instead. Forced the words out through clenched teeth. "And I'm not letting him hurt you."
"He won't." She looked away. Voice flat. Empty. "I handled it."
"By letting him kiss you in front of cameras?"
"By doing what I had to do to keep you safe." She turned back. Fire in her eyes now. Anger replacing exhaustion. "You think Iwantthis? You think I like playing his girlfriend while he?—"
She cut herself off. Swallowed hard.
I took a step closer. Couldn't help it. "While he what?"
"Nothing."
"Billie."
"It's handled, Calder." She moved past me. Shoulder brushing mine. "Just… stay away from him. Please."
