Chapter 22
brANDON
On a high after a huge win, I had been feeling fine. Byron and I were mending the fences I smashed, even if it was on the basketball court.
But the game had been part of my plan.
To deliver her a championship—her dream.
The team was all smiles, and so was I until I walked into the VIP room.
It had taken months to allow myself out of an emotional cage in the hope we had another shot at love and we were real fucking close.
Tonight she had sent us in fucking reverse.
Running after Charlotte, I had watched her get in the car with River. I stood on the pavement, my heart wrenching as she drove away.
Squatting, I placed one hand on the concrete and bowed my head, barely breathing with the pain like a hammer pulverizing my heart.
Ewan shoved a hand under my shoulder and pulled me to my feet. “Sutra je sun?ano,” Ewan told me. Tomorrow is sunny.
“Not when you’ve sunk to the deepest part of the ocean. Drowned. While the physical pain dies, love doesn’t. And it hurts every fucking time.”
“People are filming you.”
I couldn’t give two fucks.
He had led me to the car and then pushed me into the back seat. Had this always been her plan? Stay with River and give them a chance. If so, I had misconstrued her interest.
Fuck, I hadn’t seen it…
… because I had been an idiot.
For the rest of the evening, I stared at the black ceiling, not an inch of light shining through the drapes. I kept replaying her leaving with River over and over in my head.
Lying on my back, I was afraid to close my eyes and open the door for the dark thoughts to flow when I was barely holding them together.
I needed to find the sunshine before it was too late.