Page 99 of Beautiful When He Breaks

“I didn’t do anything yet because my brain is still buffering.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Brendon says.

“Of course it is,” I say. “But I still need you to say some more words immediately.”

He groans again. “I had nowhere else to go!”

“That part I understand,” I say quickly, because despite the absurdity, I do. God, I do. Money gets real very fast when parents weaponize it. “I’m not judging you for that. I’m judging you for making me drag this out one horrifying detail at a time. Who is he?”

There’s more silence before he lets out a tiny exhale that feels loaded.

“Brendon.”

“I’m thinking.”

“You’re stalling.”

“Yes.” Another pause. Then, in the most sheepish voice I have ever heard from my cousin in my life, he says, “Dominic Volkov.”

Julian coughs abruptly into his fist, and I know for a fact he’s hiding a laugh. Luca doesn’t even bother hiding his when he says, “fucking knew it”. I’m too stunned to do anything but gape.

“Dominic… Volkov,” I repeat. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I’m not,” Brendon says miserably.

“As in Lakehaven Dominic Volkov?”

“Yes.”

“As in Dominic Volkov who went pro last season, Dominic Volkov?”

“Yes, Eli, how many Dominic Volkovs do you know?”

What a fucking whiplash of a damn conversation. “Brendon Lane—preacher’s son, law student—is living with Dominic Volkov and calling himself a sugar baby.”

He scoffs, sounding scandalized. “That is a grotesque oversimplification.”

“That sounds weirdly specific for somebody denying it.”

On the other end, I hear the low rumble of Dominic’s voice again, too muffled to make out words, and Brendon’s immediate hissed, “Stop laughing, you asshole,” which only makes this funnier.

I can’t even process this in a straight line, and not only the fact that Brendon curses openly now, holy shit.

Because no. Absolutely the fuck not. Dominic Volkov is a name every Blackthorne athlete knows even if they’ve never met him. Star player. Talent for days. The kind of man people talk about with equal parts respect and caution. And apparently my cousin, who got outed by video and cut off by his parents, is now living with him as a so-called sugar baby.

I can’t help it—a laugh bursts out of me, half shocked and half hysterical. My life has officially gone past reasonable plot twists and into something that feels scripted by a drunk lunatic.

Julian finally loses the battle and laughs properly, the sound warm and a little shocked, and even I can’t stay wrecked through that.

Brendon makes a deeply offended noise. “Are there other people there?”

“I have you on speaker with Luca and Jules,” I say.

“Great. Fantastic. Love that for me. Hi, guys.”

Luca leans in just enough to be heard and says, “Tell Volkov I’m impressed and disturbed.”

Brendon groans. “I hate all of you.”