Jackson
I can’t do this.
I can’t talk to all of her friends, laughing and smiling like nothing is wrong. Like my heart isn’t breaking inside my chest every time he touches her.
“Excuse me,” I murmur before spinning around and looking for the bathroom.
If I keep sipping on this whiskey, I’ll blackout and forget all about what happened tonight. As much as that sounds appealing, I need to stay in control. I need to remember she isn’t mine and there’s nothing I can do to change that.
I head towards the hallway containing the bathrooms, placing my drink on a random table so I don’t need to take it into the bathroom with me. As I go, I pass by Evan talking to a woman. He looks a little too close to her for being a newly engaged man.
I eye him as I go, but I don’t stop. I need to splash some cold water on my face and take a breath before I do something I’ll regret.
Shutting the bathroom door behind me, I place my hands on the sink and stare at myself in the mirror.
This morning when I left Philadelphia, I was happy.
I couldn’t wait to get here and hold Harper in my arms. Now, I look like a completely different man.
I look like I’ve been through the wringer and back again.
There’s no happiness in my eyes. I look like a shell of my normal self. Like I'm going through the motions by being here, but I'm dying on the inside.
“What am I even doing?” I mutter to myself. “Why am I even here?”
I hang my head and suck in a few deep breaths. I need to control the anger and frustration seeping into every cell of my body. I can’t take this out on her.
I can’t believe she didn’t tell me she was engaged. Honestly, I can’t believe she’s engaged! She’s never spoken to me about an Evan so I can’t imagine she’s in that serious of a relationship with him. Why would she never mention him?
“It doesn’t matter. She chose him,” I growl at my reflection.
I can’t do this.
It’s time to go home.
Maybe I can make it to my game tomorrow and Sunday. Or I can take the weekend off because I'm sure I’ll play like crap. Owen won't know any difference and the last thing we need is to lose, because that will only throw me into an even worse headspace.
I give myself another minute to compose myself and think of an excuse to leave. I don’t want to hurt Harper’s feelings. It’s not her fault I'm hopelessly in love with her and she doesn’t feel the same way.
As far as she’s concerned, nothing has changed. I'm still her friend and she’s still with Evan. I'm not sure how I want my relationship with her to look after tonight, but I don’t want to make any decisions when this pain is still fresh. I don’t want to regret something later on.
I’ll give myself a week or two to figure things out. Until then, I’ll blame my lack of communication on work and Owen being harder on me since I missed a few games.
Once I decide how I want to move forward, I can start changing our relationship to be what I can handle.
I slip out of the bathroom and head back towards the table. As I pass by a couple, the woman lets out an embarrassing moan. I eye them with disgust. I don’t want to see anyone happy and in love when I feel like my entire world is crashing down around me.
Then I realize the guy who has her pinned against the wall is none other than Evan. The man who stole my future away from me without me even knowing he existed.
I stare at him for a solid ten seconds while my brain tries to process what it’s seeing. Is he seriously kissing another woman when his fiancée is only a few yards away?
“Hey, Evan?” I wait for him to turn away from the girl, hoping this isn’t actually him.
As much as I want Evan to be out of the picture, I don’t want Harper’s heart caught in the crossfire. I don’t want her to get hurt in any way. I love her too much to wish that sort of pain on her.
“Yeah?” He turns around at my voice and doesn’t even look guilty when he finds me standing there.
“Huh, that doesn’t look like Harper.” I fold my arms across my chest and glare at him.
“What are you going to do? Go tattle on me?” He stares at me like he has no care in the world, making me even angrier.
“Nah, I don’t need to tattle. I can handle you all on my own.”
I glance behind me to make sure no one is in the way. Then I pull back my fist and send it straight into Evan’s face.
The woman shrieks as he falls to the ground and rolls around groaning. He holds his eye and I smirk. He’ll have a nice shiner by tomorrow. A way to remember the night we met.
“What is wrong with you?” Evan roars from the ground, still covering half of his face.
“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? You have the greatest woman in the world wanting to marry you and you have zero respect for her!”
“Oh my gosh! What happened!” Harper appears at my side. She glances from me to Evan and back again.
“Your little friend is jealous and decided to punch me. Dude has anger issues,” Evan hisses, glaring at me.
“Oh, please! There’s no part of you I'm jealous of.” I roll my eyes as I step around him. “I’m out of here. It was a mistake for me to even come.” I swallow hard as Harper’s gaze snaps to me.
Guilt instantly washes over me at my words. I wasn’t trying to hurt her, but it was a mistake for me to come. Had I known about Evan, I would’ve stayed in Philadelphia and not wasted my days off.