Page 126 of King of Pain

“You—” shove.

“Left—” shove.

“Me—” shove.

“Here.”

Chance lets me push him, taking the force of my shoves without resistance. When I’m done, I wipe a single tear from my cheek before it can fall.

“Ant—” His voice is raw, but I cut him off.

“I don’t even know what happened to Ma,” I say, the weight of those words settling deep in my bones. “I couldn’t even be there—” My throat seizes, and I force myself to stop before I spiral into something I can’t claw my way back from.

I shake my head. “No. You know what? No. I’m not doing this right now. I don’t know if I ever will.”

“Ant, I want to tell you everything,” Chance says, voice pleading. “Please, can we meet sometime?”

I stare at him, my gut twisting. There’s pain in his eyes, deeper than I’ve ever seen.

And Ma… Ma wouldn’t want me to turn my back. He’s lucky I loved her so much.

I exhale sharply and pull out my phone, unlock it, and hold it out to him.

Chance just looks at me.

I shove it at him. “Put your new number in there. You know, since you cut off your old one.”

He sighs. “Beautiful, I—”

“Just put your number in.” I bite out. “I’m not saying I’ll use it, but if I feel like letting you grovel, then I’ll have it.”

Chance nods, then his fingers fly over the screen for a little longer than is necessary. I hold out my hand, and he hands the phone back to me. “I’m going to leave now.” His voice is quiet.

“Fine,” I say. “I’m glad you’re not dead, at least.”

I don’t give him the chance to respond. I just turn and head toward Jen’s car where Butters and Spence are leaning against the side, watching the whole thing go down.

Spence pushes off the car, running a hand through his hair, and points at me, saying, “Woo-boy. If anyone ever looks at me the way that man looks at you, I’ll drop to my knees and show them why ten inches is my deep throat record.”

Butters chokes, eyes wide, snapping his head toward Spence with something that looks an awful lot like heat.

Spence smirks, sliding his hands into his pockets. “Calm down, QB1. I don’t do straight. You’ll just have to take my word for it.”

Jen snickers as she approaches. “Spence, get in the car.”

Butters blinks, still staring at Spence like he either wants to push him or kiss him. Then he clears his throat, shakes his head, and looks at me. “You okay, PacMan?”

Before I can even answer, a screeching voice echoes across the parking lot. “Are you fucking kidding me, Chance?”

We all turn to see Lexi shoving at Chance, her voice echoing into the night.

Butters sighs. “I better go get Beau from inside. It’s gonna take two of us to hold her back.”

Jen cackles, already sliding into the driver’s seat. “Good luck with that.”

I climb into the back seat while Spence takes shotgun. As Jen pulls out of the lot, I let my head fall back against the seat and finally, finally let myself breathe.

Three years. Three years, and somehow, Chance looks even better than before. His black hair is longer, but still styled to messy, frustrating perfection. He’s gotten even more muscular, his thighs stretching the limits of those jeans he was wearing. And that ass. That ass is even bigger and more perfect than before.