Page 95 of The No Try Zone
“What’s not fair is you treating me like I’m a dirty little secret.Especiallywhen I’m still sore from last night.”
His eyes flash. “That’s not what you are.” He says it so vehemently that I almost believe him. “That is never what you have been. Ever.”
The kindle of heat inside my chest sputters and I rush to protect it, desperately reaching for the one thing I’ve needed this entire time. “I want a divorce.”
Colin flinches. Actually flinches, his entire body jerking as though he’s been shocked.
All I do is scoff. “So that’s the word that finally gets through to you? Divorce? I’ve said it before. Did you think I’d changed my mind?” I step closer, still far too aware of the way his eyes roam my body. Still aware of the way his attention makes my stomach clench. “Think you could fuck it away?”
Toxic. This is so very, very toxic. I shouldn’t want a man who doesn’t want me.
He stands, and I instinctively take a step back. His shoulders slump. “Sam. Come on.”
“No!” I’m loud, and I don’t care. “No,” I repeat, my voice steady. “We. Are. Done.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Don’t tell me what I do or don’t mean!”
“Then stop lying to yourself!” he explodes.
My lip curls as I ball my fists. “You’re one to talk. And you know, it’s funny. That’s exactly what I’ve finally stopped doing. Waking up this morning and finding you gone, just like Vegas, was precisely what I needed. Because the truth is that you’ll never admit what you feel. You’re too scared. And the worst part is – the absoluteworstpart – is that I’ve lost myself throughout all this. I look in the mirror and don’t even recognize myself. And that’s your fault.”
“Sam.” He’s not loud anymore. He’s quiet. So quiet.
“I want a divorce. Not after the season ends. Now.”
“What the hell are you two talking about?” Ollie steps into the office, his face a mask of disbelief. His gaze swings from Colin to me and back again. “Sis?”
Colin’s face drains of color. And if there was anything left of my heart to break, it shatters now. “Olls, I –” I falter.
He shifts his gaze to Colin. “Why is my sister asking you for a divorce?” His voice cracks, reminding me so much of when he was growing up that it’s devastating.
“I can explain,” I begin.
He holds a hand up. “I was asking my coach. Why is my sister asking you for a divorce,Coach?”
I finally allow myself to look back at Colin. He’s ashen, his mouth open like a guppy’s.
Ollie moves farther into the room, increasing the tension as he does. “I asked a question.”
“Olls –”
He jerks his arm away from my touch, his shoulders rising with every breath. When his eyes meet mine, they’re furious.
“She’s asking for a divorce because we’re married,” Colin finally says. It takes a bit of the pressure out of the room, but it doesn’t do a thing for my heart. I clasp my hands together to keep them from shaking and blink to re-focus my eyes. It feels like I’m wrapped in cotton.
“Explain,” Ollie demands, all traces of his normal sunshine utterly gone. When I open my mouth to speak, he shakes his head and points a finger at Colin. “You. I want you to explain.”
Colin takes a breath, then meets Ollie’s anger head on. “We met in Las Vegas. We got married and I left before Sam woke up. I thought I could handle things.”
“Things?”
“An annulment. I figured it had to be easy to get an annulment. It was Las Vegas, right?” The ghost of a rueful grin passes across his face.
My brother is silent while he lets that sink in. “You married my sister after knowing her for, what, a few hours?” He looks at me for confirmation, disbelief and anguish warring on his face.
I nod.
