Chapter 47

forty-seven

ISLA

The rest of the weekend with Maddox went by with no issues. We ended up having a good time on our romantic date in, even though I never quite shook off the niggling sense of unease that seemed to cling to my skin. But I spent the night at his house and he woke me up with breakfast in bed and a couple of very nice orgasms. Then we spent all day Sunday together. Things felt normal. Mostly.

Now, here I am, almost halfway through my Monday. The team leaves tonight for three away games that will have them gone until Friday, and as my students race out of my classroom with the bell and I pull out my lunch, I can't ignore this growing sense of dread. Maddox said he'd try to stop by my place after school with some takeout so we could have dinner together before they go. It may be the last chance we have to pencil in some alone time for at least a week and a half .

After the series, Maddox is flying to Chicago so he can help his sister drive her moving truck to Minneapolis. Then we're going to move her in with Griffin.

I can't wait to have Mira here. I always wanted a sister, and I think Mira could grow to feel like one. If things work out between Maddox and me, that is. But I know it will take a bit to get her settled, and the day after they're set to arrive with the truck, the guys have a home game. Well, they have three home games in a row.

Maddox wasn't kidding when he told me dating during the season would be rough. We steal time together as much as possible, but it's never enough. Especially not when I'm feeling less than secure.

It'll be fine. It will all work out.

With a sigh, I push up from my desk, ready to head to the teacher's lounge, when a throat clears from my doorway. I startle at the masculine sound, and look up, hoping to find familiar coffee-colored eyes and dark, wavy hair. Except, that's not what I see at all.

Instead of warm brown eyes, I'm met with the familiar and unwelcome blue gaze of my ex. Unperturbed by my frown, Alex smiles. He holds up a coffee like an offering.

"Hey, Isles. I brought you coffee. You got a minute?"

Confusion and irritation swirl together inside of me. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Alex's practiced smile slips, but he recovers quickly. He takes a few steps inside my classroom with that casual assuredness I used to admire. Now, it only pisses me off. "Come on, sweetheart, don't be like that."

My eyes dart to the hallway behind him to make sure none of my students overhear me. "Don't fucking call me sweetheart , Alex. I asked you a question. What are you doing here?"

"Can't a guy miss the woman he was going to marry?" Alex's lips tilt down in a frown. "I wanted to talk, but you blocked my number."

"Gee," I say sharply, "do you think maybe that means I don't want to talk to you ?"

Alex sighs, and shaking his head, he closes the distance between us. He leans against my desk and holds the coffee out to me. "It's a mocha. Your favorite."

All I can do is stare at the man I gave so many years to. So. Many. Years. "Mocha isn't my favorite."

Alex's frown deepens. The skin between his eyebrows puckers. "Yes it is."

"No," I say with a harsh bark of laughter. "It's really not. My favorite is a flat white with two pumps of vanilla. That's been my favorite since freshman year of college."

"Come on, Isles." Alex sets the cup of coffee down and rolls his eyes. As if I'm being unreasonable. As if he's put out.

That look used to make something inside of me shrivel. He'd level it at me, and I'd curl in on myself. I couldn't understand why I seemed to frustrate him so much.

Now, I can't understand why I didn't walk away. How did I let myself stay with this man for so long, let alone get to the point that we were engaged and two weeks away from being married? Did he really break me down so effectively that I lost the ability to see what was so obvious to my best friends?

Alex was never right for me. He was never good enough for me. And he sure as hell never loved me.

It makes me sad for the woman I used to be. And angry. I twisted myself into a pretzel to make him happy, and he couldn't even bother to memorize my favorite coffee.

"You've got thirty seconds to get to the point, then you're going to leave. I'm at work, Alex. This isn't the time or the place. Not to mention the fact that I have a boyfriend. It's beyond inappropriate for you to show up here."

"Oh, please." Alex scoffs. "The hockey player? You're serious?"

"Deadly," I growl. "Twenty seconds."

He rolls his eyes again. "Fine. Just hear me out, okay? Please?"

The confusion and irritation I was feeling earlier turns molten in my belly. It bubbles like lava, ready to spill over. To erupt. I want Alex to leave. Seeing him at the coffee shop was bad enough. But to have him show up at my job? I'm pissed. I want to scream.

But I'm at work. I can't scream.

Cracking my neck, I level my ex with the coldest expression I can muster. "Fine. Speak."

MADDOX

Unease has been eating away at me all morning. I messed up on Saturday. I should have taken Isla to the damned fall festival. I was so worried about how everyone else might make her feel like shit, I didn't realize that my actions would have the same effect.

I tried to make it up to her. I really did. I held her all night, made her breakfast in bed on Sunday, and made her come several times. I've done everything I can think to reassure her that I'm all in. Because I am. And I'm terrified she's pulling away.

So I picked up an order of her favorite Thai noodles and a Thai iced tea, bought her the most expensive and exotic bouquet of flowers I could find, bribed her teacher friend LaTonya to let me in the school, and now I'm going to spend Isla's lunch hour with her.

And I'm going to tell her how I feel about her.

Maybe professing my love at Isla's school isn't the most romantic way to do it, but I can't wait. I don't want to wait. We'll be apart for almost a week after this, and the idea of getting on the plane without telling her makes my insides squirm. I need her to know that I love her. I need her to know that, no matter how many miles separate us, she's it for me. Maybe it's too soon, maybe it's crazy. I don't care.

I'm in love with Isla Harding.

There's a stupid grin on my face as I reach the last corner before her classroom. I open my mouth to tell her I'm here so I don't startle her when I show up unexpectedly, but the words get stuck in my throat when I hear her speaking in hushed tones to someone. I hang back, waiting to turn the corner because I don't want to interrupt her conversation. She could be speaking with a student, and the last thing I want is to make a scene.

"Just hear me out, okay?" a male voice says. His tone is pleading. "Please?"

There's a beat of silence before Isla replies, "Fine. Speak."

I hold my breath as the male voice begins to speak again. A voice I've heard before. My grip tightens on the flowers.

"Look, I know I screwed up, okay? I lost sight of what was important."

Isla scoffs. "And that was?"

There's a soft shuffling, followed by a sigh. "You, obviously. I've been thinking a lot about how things ended between us, and I've realized some things. I messed up, sweetheart. I got so lost in all the dinners and schmoozing and I lost sight of us. You always supported me, babe. I can see that now. You always put me first. You took such good care of me, and I took that for granted."

Every cell in my body vibrates with fury. This asshole. He has the nerve to show up at her job and say shit like this? All he's said is that he's sorry he lost her free labor. The man's not sorry that he hurt her. He's not sorry that he let her down. He's sorry she's not there to put him first anymore.

I want to break his nose. I want to storm in there and tell him to get lost. But I don't. I hold my breath and wait for my girl to rip him a new asshole. She did before. I can't wait to hear how she knocks him down a few pegs this time.

So I wait. If she needs me, I'll step in. But if I've learned anything about Isla, it's that she's capable of fighting her own battles. And I need to give her a chance to fight this one.

There's a beat of silence. "That's your apology? That you're sorry you didn't realize sooner how much I was doing for you?" The laugh she lets out is low and bitter. "I've got news for you, Alex. What you should be sorry about is not realizing sooner that you weren't doing anything for me. Yeah, I took care of you. But did you ever take care of me?"

He lets out a sound of protest that Isla quickly cuts off. "The answer is no. You never took care of me. But I've found someone who does. He takes such good care of me, Alex. In ways you could never understand."

Pride fills me at how confidently she says those words. I've been so worried the past few days that I royally screwed up, but here she is, letting me know I haven't completely ruined things. I can't have, if she feels like I take care of her.

Her prick of an ex grunts. "All I ever did was work my ass off so I could take care of you. But none of that was ever good enough for you. You'd still nag me about every little thing. I never spent enough time with you. I never took you out to enough places."

Guilt twists in my belly at that. His words hit a little too close to home after this weekend. But I won't make that mistake a second time.

"Then as soon as we break up, you're dating some hockey player? What the hell, Isles. Did I even mean anything to you?"

"Are you serious?" she asks, her voice barely above a whisper. "I was going to marry you."

"Yeah." Alex chuckles darkly. "Didn't take you very long to move on, did it? You lost your meal ticket when I left, so you set your sights on the first rich idiot you could get, huh? You love to act all superior, don't you? You pretend you don't care about money or status, but as soon as I stopped bringing you around my powerful connections, you showed your true colors. Couldn't stop bitching, then, could you? "

Isla is silent. I want to drop everything in my hands and rush in to her classroom. I want to pull her into my arms and tell her ex that if he ever so much as looks at her again, I'll kill him. But I don't. I'm rooted in place, ears straining to hear whatever he says next.

"I gotta hand it to you. I'm impressed. You really have that meathead wrapped around your little finger. Does he know how much school debt you have? Did you get him to agree to pay for it yet?"

My stomach twists. What the hell? Holding my breath, I wait for Isla to tell him off.

She's silent.

"Don't forget, I know how much you make at this job. You've got to be one car problem away from ruin. It's smart to find a rich jock to take care of you. There's no way the two of you have anything in common. But I guess guys like that are good for at least one thing besides paying the bills, right?"

My body vibrates with rage. How dare he say any of this to her? I can't wait to listen to her eviscerate him.

"At least you're not as stupid as you look," Isla says instead. Her voice is flat. It feels like a slap across the face. "You're right. I put all of those years into you thinking I'd end up married to a rich lawyer. Then you dumped me, and I was back at square one."

No.

"All I had to do was act like I was falling apart, and I knew Jess and Nevaeh would start trying to set me up with someone they deemed good enough. I had no idea they'd win a date for me with a rich professional athlete. Talk about luck, right?"

My vision tunnels .

"I'll admit it. At first, I didn't think things would go anywhere with Maddox. He didn't seem all that interested. But with a little luck and some meddling from Jess and Nev, I managed to get his attention. And you're right. He's rich. Way richer than you could ever hope to be. And unlike you, he makes me come. That's all a girl needs, isn't it? Money and a big dick? I should thank you for dumping me. If you hadn't, I never would have landed such a lucrative catch."

Static roars in my ears and my stomach lurches. The words Candace hurled my way when I broke with her clang like dissonant bells in my ears.

I'm going to be sick.

Turning, I stumble down the hallway the way I came. I shove the food and flowers in the first trash can I find.

Isla's flat words play on a loop in my head.

I should thank you for dumping me. If you hadn't, I never would have landed such a lucrative catch.

They blend with Candace's parting shots. So similar. So callous.

Candace's words broke my pride. She humiliated me when she sold that phony-ass interview to the tabloids. But Isla's words?

Isla's words break my heart.

I had no idea they'd win a date for me with a rich professional athlete. Talk about luck, right?

God, I've been so stupid. So fucking blind and stupid. I should have known all of this was too good to be true. I should have known that the real reason Isla was upset about our change of plans this past weekend was because it meant she'd miss her time in the spotlight. It meant one less chance to publicly claim her rich NHL player boyfriend.

I don't register a single thing but the sharp sting of betrayal as I lurch out of the school and toward my car. I'm so lost in my head and gone to the pain that I don't even remember how I get home.

As I stumble into my apartment, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and stare at the screen as my insides scream.

Isla

I miss you.

I throw my phone across the room with a guttural roar. By some miracle, it doesn't break.

Me? I'm not so lucky.