More tired.
“I don’t think you’re horrible.”
“Then what?”
“I think you’re trained.”
The words landed so hard I forgot to breathe.
He looked at me fully now.
“I think she says jump and some part of you still asks how high. I think she says prize and you don’t correct her because part of you has been taught that’s what men are. Status. Security. Proof. I think you hate it, but I think it’s in you. And your father is a nightmare of a different kind. Insecure. Makes petty jabs… I’m over fake dating you when I wanted it to be real.”
I flinched.
“And I think I stood there like an idiot waiting for you to say I wasn’t a prize to be bagged.”
My chin wobbled before I could stop it. His eyes flicked away like looking at me hurt.
“Drew.”
“No.” His voice cracked on the edge, then leveled out. “Now?”
I stepped closer.
He stepped back.
That broke something in me.
“Now you can tell me you want me?” he asked. “Now you can tell me all the things I would’ve believed months ago? Weeks ago? Hell, even a few nights ago?”
“I do want you.”
He laughed once.
Quiet.
Destroyed.
“Yeah. I know you want me.”
The heat that usually sparked between us at that word was gone.
There was nothing sexy in it now.
Only accusation.
“That was never the part I doubted.”
My tears spilled then.
I hated them.
Hated that my body betrayed me when my mouth still couldn’t catch up to the truth.
“I don’t know how to do this,” I whispered.
Drew’s face twisted for half a second before he hid it. His voice got rougher. “I wanted you for so long, Isa. Before you looked at me. Before Vale fucked it up. Before the fake dating. Before the jersey. Before your mother found out my father’s name and decided I was a better investment than the basketball prince.”
