Page 87 of Troublemaker

With that, I blew a kiss at the mirror and left her crying in the bathroom, making my way back to the ballroom. I had a man to tell that I loved him, after all.

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Isat at the table with Trey, silently worrying. Lucy had gone to the bathroom, seeming stressed, and then Trey’s sister, whose name I had forgotten again, had excused herself to the bathroom as well. I wanted to go after her, because god only knew what she would say to Lucy, but I had no real excuse to leave.

Well, except to go to the bathroom myself.

“I’ll be right back,” I said.

“Don’t,” Trey said flatly. “It’s obvious you’re fucking her, and I want to know what your plan is here. Because you know they’ll fire you as soon as they find out, and the entire board is here, so I’m pretty sure they know.”

I shrugged. “My only plan is to be with her.”

He snorted. “Well, thanks for fucking over the entire team.”

In the past, that would’ve stopped me in my tracks. I was responsible to my team, and my team alone. But now, all that responsibility meant nothing. My priority was Lucy, and Lucy alone. If that meant I had to quit, if we both had to transfer to another university with a good pre-vet program, then so be it. I’d sell my house, pack us both up, and leave tomorrow.

As if reading my mind, Trey asked, “What about playoffs?”

“You’re a good coach,” I told him. “A great one. You can see them through.”

Saying that hurt my chest, but nowhere near what giving Lucy up would.

He blinked. “Is she really worth it?”

“And more,” I said easily. “She’s worth every goddamn sacrifice in the whole fucking world, even my life if it came down to that. One day you’ll get that, Trey. You’ll meet a woman who flips your whole world upside down, until all that matters is her happiness. One day, you’ll feel about someone the way I feel about Lucy. One day you’ll lo?—”

There was a tap on my shoulder.

I turned my head to look at Lucy, bright eyed, blushing, and oh so beautiful, smelling of sex and sunshine.

Had she heard me? Maybe she had. It was time to tell her how I felt, after all. And if that meant finding out she actually didn’t feel the same way…well, better to know that now so I could set her free, even if I doubted my ability to let her go.

No, I’d lock her away forever and force her to love me before I could make that happen.

“Come dance with me,” she said, holding out her good hand.

A hand with red knuckles.

“What the?—”

“Come dance with me,” she repeated, reaching for my hand. “Please.”

At herplease, I rose, following her onto the dance floor. Even though the band was playing—an instrumental version of Hozier’s “Work Song,”—no one else was on the dance floor. But if this was what Lucy wanted, this is what she would have.

I pulled her into my arms, not bothering to keep things appropriate for the people watching, holding her tight as weswayed to the music. I looked down at her, grabbing her right hand and inspecting it.

Raw, angry knuckles.

With blood on them.

“Lucy,” I asked. “What the hell happened to your hand? Who do I have to kill?”

“I don’t think you have to kill anyone,” she said, but her voice was shaky. “I’m pretty sure I took care of it.”

Warning bells went off in my head.