18. Layla
LAYLA
Two years ago…
I pepper kisses along Brigg’s jawline, hidden away in a nook of a doorway near his team’s locker room.
They’re all in there, celebrating a big win and wiping out the number one spot destined to the playoffs, but Briggs stole me away for a few moments so we could celebrate in private.
Because our relationship is still very private.
“I’m so proud of you,” I quip with my legs wrapped tightly around his waist. “You were amazing.”
“Because I knew you were watching. And I was waitin’ for this.”
I smile, feeling my cheeks pinken a little as I pull away from his face. “You always make me proud, Briggs.”
“I always want to please you, Mrs. Kerrigan. I live for my wife.”
Laying a palm on his chest, I fist his jersey and feel his cock twitch against my inner thigh. “I just want you to be safe. And good for next week’s game.”
Briggs’s gaze flicks upward. “It won’t be me startin’ it.”
“I know. But I don’t want you to get in trouble—”
“Why don’t you call him, Short Stop, and tell him to stop runnin’ his mouth every time he’s within earshot because it’s only a matter of time before I have it wired shut.” I flinch at his forceful tone before he begins kneading my ass to calm down. “Don’t call him. I’ll kill him.”
“Briggs, stop.”
“Fuck him,” he grates out. “I don’t get why he keeps mentionin’ the two of you when it’s been years since you fake-dated him. The last time he said he fucked you.”
My body sags in defeat because I heard about that, and it really upset Briggs to no end. “You don’t trust me.”
Briggs shakes his head. “I do. I’m just tired of him…makin’ me think that, for a moment, you felt something for him.”
“I’ve never felt something for him.” I lightly cup his face so he can’t look away. “It started because I wanted to be around you. That’s all. That story has never changed.”
“I know.”
“But you keep gettin’ angry about it.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Briggs sighs and closes his eyes, appearing distraught and conflicted about something. “I dunno, I think I feel like I’m going to lose you. That all of this is going to be too much.”
“It’s not,” I reassure him. “I’m here—”
“It’s the secrets, too, Layla. No one knows about me. It’s like you’re open season, single and not mine. It’s hard knowin’ I’m a diary entry—”
“You’re not a diary entry. I’m not twelve.”
“Then what am I?” he croons with tired eyes. “Because it’s not your husband in public. It’s not you telling your Uncle Ben that you love me and—”
“Are we doing this right now? I thought you said you were going to give me time.”
“I’ve given you time, Layla. Are we always going to be like this?”
“No.”
“Then when?”
“Briggs, I love you—”
“I know you do. But obviously, it doesn’t overpower your fear of your Uncle Ben. What is he going to do, Short Stop? You’re not a teenager anymore.”
“I’m trying to keep his blood pressure down and—”
“I know you’re scared about his health,” he mutters. “I do. But that man is too damn stubborn to die, and he’ll want to give me a go when he finds out. He ain’t done yet.”
“I don’t want to risk that.”
“But you’re riskin’ us.”
I frown. “How? Are you going…” I can’t bring myself to say the rest of the words, but fear shadows over me, and I think this is the moment that Briggs has finally had enough.
That he’s going to leave me.
“To break up with you?” he finishes for me, and I immediately feel nauseous. I’m second-guessing everything that brought us here and how I could’ve done it differently. “I said I wanted you forever. I meant that.”
My lungs cast out a relieved exhale when Briggs leans in closer, seizing my next breath to induce and function.
“I’m not lettin’ you go, Layla Jean,” he promises. “And, at the end, it doesn’t matter what Weston says. Because I married you so he couldn’t have you, and that’s the end of it.”
I wish he had just stabbed me in the heart instead.
I feel my chin tremble as my legs unwrap around Briggs’s hips, and I push him away.
“Layla, I didn’t mean it like that—” He reaches for me, but I smack his hand away.
Everything feels instantly numb.
I can’t seem to draw in a steady breath, and my head spins with the last few years and what they were.
I married you so he couldn’t have you.
“Layla, don’t start gettin’ in your head about it. It’s not like that—”
“Don’t,” I grit back because I don’t want to hear another word or excuse. I don’t want to think that all this was a complete waste of time.
“I married you because I wanted you. There’s no other—”
“That’s bullshit, Briggs. All the complainin’ about him because you can’t tell him your little win is just eatin’ away at you. Well, go ahead. And you can tell him we’re done, too.”
I step around the edge of the alcove we’re in, and Briggs immediately clasps onto my arm.
“Layla Jean, you’re not leaving me pissed off. I’m sorry. It came out wrong.”
Pulling on my arm to no avail, I’m fully aware that Briggs’s defiant nature is never going to allow me to be alone by myself for a minute to think.
He’s going to cling, apologize, the whole nine, and that’s not what I need.
I need space.
So, I push back.
On the only thing I know will malfunction his senses for a moment to free me.
“It should’ve been Cruz,” I sneer, mustering up all my hurt to toss at him because it’s too much to bear alone. “Because it would’ve been easier and I wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble to see him. Besides, he’s cute enough to look at. I probably could’ve dealt with it.”
Briggs’s hold loosens, and I’m finally able to tear it fully away as I turn on my heels, tears immediately flooding my eyes because it was cruel.
In both ways.
And I have to be done.
For both of our sakes.