Page 121 of The Heart Breaker

“I felt helpless all the time when I was a kid. So I started boxing because I was sick of feeling like that. Sick of feeling weak and unable to protect Soph.”

She turns to face me, holding my gaze while I talk.

“The first time I punched my dad, I thought I’d finally won.” A short, humorless laugh leaves me. “But he got right back up and came at me swinging. Same as always.”

“I’m sorry,” she says softly, her brows drawing together.

I shake my head and lower the pad. “Nothing to apologize for, baby.”

Her cheeks go pink, and she glances away, and it pulls a smile out of me before I can stop it. Never thought I’d be calling Aurora Prescott anything butViper.

She’s quiet for a second before she lets out a slow breath and looks back up at me.

“I used to wonder what it would’ve been like, having a dad around. Teaching me how to ride a bike. Taking me for ice cream after school. Putting me on his shoulders. I was so jealous of the other girls,” she admits.

Something in my chest pulls tight at the image of Aurora as a kid, pretending she didn’t care while she watched everyone else have what she was missing.

Her mouth twists. “I never really let myself think that maybe he might have been a terrible person.”

I set the pad down on the floor and drag the back of my hand across my forehead.

“Did you ever ask her?” I say.

Aurora shakes her head. “She won’t talk about him. The second she found out I knew who he was and wanted to meet him, she started yelling and told me he wanted nothing to do with us.” Her brows pull together. “But I can’t believe that. I can’t have come all this way getting into Colton U just to end up with nothing.”

My brows shoot up. “Wait… he goes here?” I ask.

Her eyes flick up to mine, and she nods. “That’s why I came here. I found some old pictures of him, did way too much digging, and figured out he lived nearby.” She lets out a shaky breath. “I just… wanted to know him. Or at least see what he was like.”

“Have you talked to him?”

“Yeah. A few times,” she says, her throat moving when she swallows. “But I haven’t told him who I am.”

My brows pull together, seeing the pain coursing through her face. I’ve always hated my dad, wished I didn’t have one. But I never realized what that would be like for someone who doesn’t even know half of herself.

“Do you want to tell him?” I ask her.

She lifts her head and nods slowly. “Yeah. I think I do.” Her lips twist, and she looks away for a second before sighing. “But I’m scared.”

“Why?”

She shakes her head. “What if he doesn’t even remember me? What if he’d never thought of me? What if my mom was right?”

I set the pad aside and reach for her wrists, peeling the gloves off one at a time.

“Then I’ll kick his ass.”

Her eyes snap to mine. “You can’t keep getting arrested for me.”

My jaw tightens.

I already got arrested for her.

Twice.

And I’d do it again without even thinking about it.

“I can’t help it,” I say, holding her gaze. “I protect the people I?—”