Page 197 of Hard Pass

I look back forward and meet her eyes. “How?”

“You stop running from the things that created the fear.”

My jaw flexes. “You mean my friend.”

“And your father.”

I freeze. Swallow. “Yeah, that’s gonna be a problem.”

“It usually is.” She gives me a second to digest all this before continuing. “Your body learned survival techniques. Strategies. Now you have to unlearn it. Recondition it.”

I grip the arms of the chair, my body tensing. I need to do the one thing I’ve avoided my entire life.

Fucking hell.

My nod is subtle but still there. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Her brows lift slightly. “You’re not going to argue with me on this?”

“I want to,” I say, “but I want to fix this more. Have to.”

“Why?”

Her question hangs in the air, but my answer is clear. For me. For Dublin. For any shot I have at getting back to fearless Cole Valor, QB1, again.

“Because I’m done letting other people control how I play and how I live.” I shake my head slowly. “And I’m really fucking tired of being silent all the time. Of taking it and then walking away instead of fighting back.”

“That’s an excellent start.” She writes something on her notepad. “Do you need to walk through what that entails for you?”

I shove up from the chair, needing to move again. My hands fist and then relax before I drag one over the back of my neck. “I need to confront my father.”

“And tell him what?”

“I’m working on that.”

“Okay.”

“And then when my friend gets back to town, I need to tackle that.”

“That’s the start of a sound plan. I’m here if you need to talk through anything.”

“Thanks.” I move toward the door and then stop. “Are we done here?”

She smiles. “That’s your call.”

“Yeah. We’re done.”

“And Cole?” she says. I glance over my shoulder. “I’m proud of you for asking for help. There’s no shame in it.”

I step out in the hallway, clicking the door shut behind me, and rather than feeling as though everything’s closing in on me, I feel . . . equipped.

That doesn’t make what I have to do next any easier though.

But at least I have a plan.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Cole