Page 85 of Rulebreaker

I find out less than twenty seconds later, though, because Banks levers his weight off me, hand shifting to my arm–

An arm I yank.

And don’t succeed in freeing.

Mostly because Dash is grabbing my other arm and the two of them are hauling me to my feet on the now empty rink. I don’t get the chance to even get my skates under me before they’re dragging me off the ice.

I grunt as they drop me onto the bench, scowl when Banks, Dash, and Royal immediately close in on me, blocking my exitback out onto the rink, toward the locker room, cutting off all angles of escape.

And, fuck, but I want to escape.

To get the fuck out and bury myself in work, in what’s safe, and never fucking look back.

Romantic love is bullshit.

Honesty is an illusion.

“Well?”

I look up, see that my friends–myfamily–are glaring at me.

“What?” I snap, glaring right back.

Dash drops his big, dumb hands on his hips and lifts his brows. “Want to tell me?—”

Royal coughs.

“Us,” Dash corrects, “what the fuck is going on?”

I grind my teeth together so tightly that a bolt of pain shoots through my jaw. “You’ve seen the stories. And you’re the one who alerted me to the news in the first place. You knowexactlywhat’s going on.”

“I’ve seen the tabloids, dumbass,” Royal says. “And I’ve been in enough of them to know they’re always spouting bullshit.”

“Not this time,” I mutter.

She’s married–fuckingmarried.

And I fell in love with her. And she lied.

Shefuckinglied.

There’s a blip of quiet then Dash asks, “So, you’re not going after her?”

“No.” I glare at him. “I’m not.”

More silence, a longer blip.

Then Banks tosses up his hands and snaps, “Have you learned nothing from us?”

“I’ve learned,” I growl. “I’ve fucking learned plenty.”

That whole claiming a good woman, giving her the world, and doing everything in my power to make her mine forever?

I learned I wanted it.

Learned it was the most precious gift on the planet.

I just didn’t learn how to fucking choose wisely.