Clipped by Love (Bellevue Bullies #2) (62 page)

Dropping her feet to the ground, she sits up and nods. “Yeah. I’m fine. He didn’t really touch me anywhere that would violate me too much, but the intent was there.”

“Sure,” he says with a nod. “I’m sorry, Baylor. I should have waited out there or something. I didn’t know anyone was here but us.”

“No, Dad, it isn’t your fault at all. I should have just walked out when he came in,” she says, letting out a long breath before looking over at me. “Sorry for all the trouble.”

“No trouble at all,” I say.

“Thank you, though,” she adds.

“Always,” I say simply and her eyes soften, but then she looks away quickly.

An eerie silence fills the room as we both examine her, praying we don’t see anything wrong. I’m not sure what she is thinking, but she makes me nervous. She wants to be so strong, but that was serious. I have to remind myself though, she isn’t like other girls; she doesn’t have their thought processes. In her mind, the danger is gone and she is fine.

“Okay, well, I’m fine, seriously. I can tell y’all are looking at me like this is something big, but it’s not. I’m good, he got his,” she reminds us. “Promise.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, and I eye her. She looks more mad than anything, but still, that had to be traumatic.

“For sure, Dad, promise. I’m good. I’m a little shaken up, but nothing a nap won’t cure.”

“Okay,” Coach says. “Let me know if you feel differently.”

“Sure. Okay, I’ve missed all my classes and I need to get the notes off Markus and shit,” she says, standing up. She goes for the door and I go after her, placing my hand on the small of her back just to let her know I’m here. She looks back at me, giving me a small smile, and I can tell she isn’t lying. In her head, she’s fine, but I’m still worried. She could be in shock or something, and I need to get her home. There is no way in hell I’m leaving her side, not until I know for sure she is okay.

“Just a second, guys.”

When I look back at him, he’s eyeing us, and the moment my eyes meet his, I’m pretty sure our little secret is out in the open. Surely, he won’t bring that up right now, though. It really isn’t the right time, but I guess it doesn’t matter what I think because he asks, “Is it true what McCarthy said in there? About you and Sinclair?”

“What?” she asks incredulously, her jaw dropping open in utter shock. “Are you serious right now? Why would you believe anything that comes out of that guy’s mouth?”

“Answer the question, Baylor. Stop deflecting,” he says sternly, and slowly I shake my head.

“Maybe we should discuss this tomorrow?” I suggest, but he shakes his head.

“She says she’s fine. Baylor?”

“What, Dad?”

“Are you two together?”

She looks at me, her jaw still open as she sputters before looking back at her father. Well, I didn’t want him to find out like this, but at least he’s finding out and I can comfort her the way I want without him suspecting anything.

“No,” she answers, and I whip around to look at her with my eyes wide.

Excuse me?

“No, Dad, we are not together. Have we had sex? Yes, but it means nothing. We are friends, that’s it.”

“Friends?” he asks, but I can’t take my eyes off her. Is she serious right now? Maybe she is in shock, but then I wait for her to look at me and she won’t. She keeps her eyes locked with her father’s, her face hard as a rock as she nods.

“Yeah, he’s a good guy. I’ve learned a lot from him. There was some sexual attraction, and we acted on it. No biggie. It’s nothing. I feel nothing for him.”

Oh really? Scoffing, I fall back in my chair and shake my head. Wow.

“Are you sure?” he asks her, and she nods.

“Yeah, Dad, there is nothing here. He’s a friend, that’s it.”

Cutting his eyes to me, he drops his head to the side. “Sinclair, is that right?” he asks, and when I look up at my coach, my stomach sinks. Maybe I was completely wrong this whole time. Maybe she doesn’t love me, and maybe I should have told her I loved her every day, just so she’d know, so she could learn how to say it too. Because obviously she’s lost her fucking mind if she thinks we mean nothing. No, she’s lying. But why? He’s caught us. Who cares? She said she’d tell him if he asked, and he did, yet she is lying. Why? He doesn’t even look mad; he just wants to know the truth, and I refuse to fucking lie.

I’m proud of who I love.

And while I hoped the sentiment would be returned, maybe she just doesn’t know how. So let me show her.

“No, sir. It’s not,” I say, sitting up in my chair.

“Jayden,” she gasps, but I ignore her, my eyes locked on my coach.

“I love Baylor. More than I can even describe to you.”

“What are you doing?” she yells, but I continue.

“We’ve been together for almost four months now, and I’ve loved her the whole damn time. I thought she loved me, but apparently, I was wrong. I know this may mean my career, and I hope it doesn’t, but I won’t lie to you,” I say, standing and looking down at him. “I love your daughter, and I will protect her until my dying breath. I’m sorry I’ve kept that from you, and I hate the way this just went down. But watching what she just said to you made me realize that I could have been wasting my damn time. So you’ll probably have nothing to worry about once I walk out that door. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

I turn and head for the door, gently moving her to the side when she steps to stop me. I ignore her tear-filled, pleading eyes and softly say, “Move.”

“But—”

“No, not right now. Let me walk away and pull the knife out of my fucking back before I even try to talk to you,” I warn.

She tries to say something, but I walk around her, heading for the door just as Coach stops me. I shouldn’t stop, I should just go, but it isn’t his fault that Baylor is like this. Well, shit, maybe it is, but either way, I can’t be rude to him because I’m hurt by her. I have been lying to him too.

“Jayden?”

Looking back, I meet his grateful gaze as he nods. “Thank you. For everything.”

“Any time, sir,” I answer and then walk away.

Feeling like what I guess I’ve been the whole fucking time.

A doormat.

S
hit, shit, shit, shit!

I turn to go after him, but my dad calls me back. “Baylor.”

“Jayden, wait,” I say, reaching for the door as he slams it.

“No, Baylor, you wait,” Dad says sternly, but I shake my head.

“No, I need to talk to him,” I say, pulling the door open and having it crash against the wall.

“You need to wait a damn second,” he yells at me, but I whip around, glaring.

“No, give me a fucking minute to talk to him, and then I’ll deal with you!” I yell back, and then I take off out the door and through the rink just as Jayden goes through the front door. Blinking away my tears, I beg my heart to stop beating so hard, but it isn’t listening. I think it knows we are in some deep shit. And really? This has to happen now? I mean, come on! As if dealing with the McCarthy shit isn’t enough, really, why did Jayden do that?

When I reach the door, I call his name again just as he reaches the parking lot.

He stops and then shakes his head. “Why am I stopping?” I hear him ask himself as I approach. Turning, he looks back at me, blatant hurt in his eyes. “I can’t right now, Baylor.”

“No, wait,” I say, stopping in front of him. “We need to talk about this!”

“No, you need to go home and sleep or something because obviously you’re in shock or whatever.”

“I’m fine. What happened is no big deal. But what is a big deal is the fact that you just told my dad about us.”

His eyes widen as his lips part. “Are you fucking kidding me? I know you’re not mad at me for that!” he yells, and I take a step back from his outburst.

“Well, I’m sure as hell not happy! He wasn’t supposed to know about us.”

“Everyone knows, Baylor!”

“Not him, though. I was trying to protect you!”

“He knew! As soon as he asked, I could see it in his eyes. He knew I loved you, and he knows you love me. The only person who doesn’t know that is fucking you. So please, go somewhere else with that bullshit-ass stuff, okay? I just beat the fuck out of some dude because he touched you and had ill intent, and you lie? You should have screamed at him that you are with me. It was your chance!”

“I had to protect you!”

“Well, you didn’t, you just… You just broke my heart, okay? I don’t want to talk to you.”

“I did what?” I ask incredulously. “For protecting you, I broke your heart? How in the ever-loving fuck does that make sense?”

“Oh, it makes sense,” he yells. “To normal, sane people, but to you, no, I guess it doesn’t. So let me explain.”

“Don’t be a jackass,” I snap, my eyes burning into his, and his burn right back. We are both trembling with anger, but I don’t see what I did wrong here. “I was protecting you, and you basically just threw me under the bus by calling us out. Now my dad knows I lied.”

“Again, I don’t care. Wanna know why? Because you don’t care for me.”

“Whoa, yes, I do,” I yell back. “I do care, that’s why I was trying to keep it a secret. To protect you.”

“Really? Because you could have done that a whole different way. But instead, you told him I don’t matter, that it’s nothing, and that you have no feelings for me. How do you think that makes me feel?”

“I was lying, Jayden. He’s already mad about what happened in the shower with McCarthy, add in the fact that I’ve been lying to him for months and I’m with you… He’ll lose it,” I try to explain, but he’s shaking his head, his eyes flooding with tears.

“No, you wanted it to be true. You have been so emotionally unavailable since the moment I met you.”

“That’s not true. I’ve gotten so much better since I’ve been with you,” I try, but he looks away.

“I’ve sat here and convinced myself that you love me, that you care for me, and then this happens? How do you think that makes me feel?”

Taking a step toward him, I reach for him, but he pushes my hands away. The hurt, the betrayal, are in his eyes, and I never meant to do that. I only wanted to protect him and make sure he gets the future he wants and deserves. “I never meant to make you feel like that, Jayden. I know my dad; I was honestly just trying to deflect until the right moment.”

“You had a chance to be honest with him. To tell him what you really felt for me and what I mean to you, and you threw it away. Why lie? We were caught, I was standing with you; it would have been fine.”

“No, you don’t understand. He’d lose it.”

“No,” he says, tucking his hands into his pockets. “He wanted the truth, and instead of telling him, you tried to hide me again. I’m better than that. I love showing you off and telling people I’m in love with you, but you hide me. Again. And again. And fucking again. That’s not fair,” he says, and my heart, it just stops and sinks into my stomach. My chest aches as he shakes his head, swallowing hard before looking up at me. “I won’t be a doormat, Baylor, and you’ve made me one.”

“No, I wouldn’t do that,” I try to say, but he turns, walking away from me. Chasing after him, I say, “Wait, Jayden, stop. I’m sorry, okay, please.”

“That’s not what I want to hear right now,” he says in a low, ominous way that hits me straight in the chest.