Chapter 25
25
Lukas
T here’s a knock on my door. I should’ve turned my light off. I can’t face any more tonight. I lost the love of my fucking life. And I lost my family. All of it was ripped away in a blink. My dad and Sheryll hate me. And the look in Torrin’s eyes guts me to the core.
“Hey, man!” Travis calls through the door. “Just wanted to make sure you’re okay?”
I get up and open it.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I…um…” The awkward feeling makes it hard to look him in the eyes. I don’t want to see the judgement. I know I’m about to lose my best friend too.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I just saw you run out on the celebration, looking upset, and then Sophie told me what happened on the field.”
Yep. My epic fail. I was just so caught up in the moment, I wasn’t even thinking. It was such a high, and I was so thankful for having my girl there. And I kissed her right in front of everyone. Not even thinking. So wrapped up in the excitement I’d forgotten that our parents were there.
“Yeah. So, I guess you hate me too.” I swallow the facts down like glass. It was supposed to be one of the best nights of my life. Our biggest win. But it was the biggest loss.
“Hate you? Why would I hate you?”
“Because everybody else does. I’m a bastard for dating my sister. I shouldn’t have let things get so far with her.” And now everyone thinks I’m a predator who planned this all. Who manipulated her into falling in love with me. She’s the last person I wanted to fall for, but I couldn’t stop it.
“Dude, I’ll admit I was shocked, but it’s Torrin. She’s a little badass. And I know you. You’re a good man. I don’t think you intended to do anything wrong. And in some seriously twisted way, I think you two are perfect for each other. She’s like the yin to your yang. Whatever that means.” He smirks.
She was. She was my other half. My fucking everything. But it’s over now. I won’t let her lose her mom or my dad. Or have to face a life of shame. The media will get wind and then they’ll grill her for answers. I don’t want her sweetness tainted by the tabloids or people’s judgement. They’ll never understand what we had.
And even if I was willing to give it all up for her, which I would in a heartbeat, her mom was right. Torrin is young and na?ve and she doesn’t know yet what she truly wants. She has a lot of life ahead. A lot of experience to have. And she deserves to have it all. I did my messing around. Dated girls. Fucked around. I got it out of my system and know exactly what I want now. But Torre… I’m the first guy she’s slept with. She’s caught up in the high, but when that high crashes, I’ll be the one left standing in the rubble with a broken heart. Better to face it now than later when I have no career, no family, and have lost the only thing that truly mattered.
“It’s over between us. We ended things tonight.” I ripped her little heart out and watched her run out of here in tears. “It’s better this way. For both of us.”
“I don’t know, man. I’ve never seen you as happy as you’ve been over the last few months. It felt like someone had body snatched you. And Torre was happy too.”
She was. She was a bubbly ray of sunshine. Smiling all the time. Dancing around here like life couldn’t get any better. We both were.
“Look, I’m not telling you what you should do. But if this is because of your parents, then I think you’re making a mistake. They’re in shock and need to process everything, but if they could see how happy you two are, I think they’d come around.”
It’s a nice thought, but I saw the look in my dad’s eyes. The hatred. Utter disappointment. The disgust. And Sheryll… She was a mother wanting to protect her cub from the monster. And I’m that monster. No. This is the way it needs to be. Time will pass, Torrin will heal, and eventually everything will be right in their world.
And me… First, I have to figure out how to keep breathing. Because right now I feel like I’m suffocating.