Page 110 of The Heart Breaker

“Why would I?” He yanks the sweats up over his hips, still refusing to look at me. “It’s not like we’re dating. We’re just fucking. You can do whatever you want.”

We’re just fucking.

The words feel like a knife to the chest, which is humiliating, because it’s not as if he said anything I didn’t already know. But standing here half dressed in his apartment, still feeling him between my thighs, it feels as if every stupid little hope I let myself build over the last two days has just been crushed right in front of me.

“Right,” I say, swallowing around the lump in my throat, looking away from him.

I can only blame myself for getting too comfortable with Cole. For staying over. For falling asleep on his chest. For telling him about my dad and letting myself act as if any of that meant something outside my own delusional brain.

He reaches for a piece of gum off the nightstand, tossing it into his mouth, and I walk out of the apartment with my heart lodged in my stomach.

The door swings open, and there he is, leaning against the frame in his Westbrook hoodie, his mouth tugged into that same practiced smile I was stupid enough to fall for.

“You look good,” he says, stepping back to let me in. “I’ve missed you, Rory.”

God. I always hated when he called me that.

I roll my eyes and fold my arms across my chest. “Just give me my stuff so I can leave.”

His smile falters a little, disappointed I didn’t come here to hear him out.

“It’s everything you left at my place,” he says. “Figured you’d want it back.”

I step inside, because the alternative is standing in the hallway while he drags this out, and I’d rather get this over with.

He closes the door behind him, watching me as I look around the room, my gaze landing on the bag with my stuff inside, tossed on top of the unmade bed.

“My life’s been a mess since you left,” he blurts out.

I turn my head slowly and look at him. “I didn’t leave you,” I say. “You cheated on me.”

“It was a mistake,” he says. “I didn’t mean to?—”

A laugh breaks out of me before I can stop it. “Right. Because you just accidentally slipped and fell inside someone else.”

He drags a hand through his hair, frustrated that I’m not making this easy for him. That he can’t manipulate me.

“What do you want me to say here, Aurora?” he asks. “I messed up, alright. What do you want from me?”

“Nothing,” I tell him. “I don’t want a single thing from you. I came here because you wouldn’t stop texting me. I’m getting my stuff, and then I’m done with you once and for all.”

I turn toward the bed and reach for the bag, ready to get my stuff and get the hell out.

“I know you fucked Cole.”

My hand tightens around the strap as the words repeat themselves in my head.

I turn slowly. “Excuse me?”

His jaw is tight, and his eyes have gone dark in a way I’ve never seen before. “He told me during the last game,” Chase says. “Right before he lost his shit and dropped me on the ice. I thought he was just spewing bullshit, then I saw you in his jacket.”

I always wondered why he called me a slut that night.

Now I know.

“How could you let that psycho touch you after what he did?” he spits.

I swallow hard as the memory slams into me.