Page 116 of Nothing to Win

“I love you,” she admitted, a tear slipping from her eye as she sought his mouth.“There’s no other word for what I feel.I know I wasn’t supposed to, that it wasn’t supposed to be this way.I’m sorry I was too weak to fight it.I can’t look at you or be anywhere near you without feeling this way, it’s love that’s… that’s all it can be.I love you.”

“Irish, you can’t—”

“Take care of him, Julius,” she said, forcing her hand out of Brogan’s though he tried to hold on.Turning her back on them, she snagged her purse, doing her best to offer the dumbstruck Jenna a smile, and went to her family.“Let’s go.”

“Gia,” Brogan called as she, her brother and father headed for the door.“Baby, you don’t have to do this!”She pulled her case from beside Brogan’s and Bram held the door open for her.“Irish, get your ass back here!Fight this!”

That was the last thing she heard before the door closed.Flanked by her brother and father, she tried to hold it together.Another tear slipped from her eye.Admitting how she felt about Brogan was a big deal and she’d done it in front of those closest to them.

Love.

It didn’t matter how much she loved him.They could never be together.She’d known that from the minute this started.They both knew their relationship was temporary.Not just because of the deal but because their lives, their families, were incompatible.

Stefan Spurn would’ve understood.Like father like son?Not yet.Brogan would come to understand.He would, right?He’d accept that it was over.Over.And there would be no going back this time.

THIRTY-SIX

THERE WASN’T ENOUGH air in the world.Gia didn’t sit with her brother and father on the plane, which saved her from talking.There weren’t enough words in the world either.The time away from her sibling and parent let her absorb this reality.

No more Brogan.

Not because she didn’t love him or he didn’t care for her, because she’d made a choice.Both factions had better things to do with their time than battle each other over her.That was egotistical, on the Sear side anyway, it wasn’t about her.They just needed to win.

Well done.

Congratulations.

The Sears were the victors.

Some of them anyway.

Not her.

She’d never won and never would.

Late, in the dark, the car pulled up to the Sear house and the door was opened.She didn’t wait or acknowledge Twyla and went straight upstairs to her room.Was she mad?Sure.That wasn’t the emotion that kept her mouth clamped shut until she was sitting alone on the floor of her shower with water battering down upon her.

She didn’t want to let the tears out.That would be an admission of her fate.What would be the point of considering what to say to Brogan or how to explain?When, in truth… she may never get the chance.

The only reason she forced herself out of the spray was because she desperately wanted to hear from him.How could she think in one moment she’d never see him again, then in the next pray her phone would ring?

Nothing.She heard nothing.Maybe the bathroom was too far from the purse she’d thrown on the bed.

Or that’s what she thought.

Her purse was there, yes, but her cellphone wasn’t inside.Had she been so out of it…?It wasn’t in the dock on her nightstand either.

If it wasn’t there… maybe if it rang… it could’ve vibrated off the nightstand.She dropped to all fours, scrambling around the floor searching for it.

Nothing.

Sitting up, slumped against the side of the bed, heart pounding in her chest, she held in a scream.Only her father or Bram could have taken her phone.Much as she wanted to seek them out and argue for it back, she was too tired for another fight.

And what would it change?

Crawling up into her bed, heartache overwhelmed her.Brogan would call and when he did, if whoever had taken it answered, they’d be in for a real surprise.

This would take time for all of them.Time.For the pain to fade.Please don’t let it take too long.