Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see, about to feel. Sucking all the air from my lungs, taking my heart, the heart that he owned, and shattering it into a million pieces. Pain like this should never be experienced.
It was raw, excruciating torture.
As much as I urged myself not to leave, to run, it willed me to stay in place. My feet glued to the floor beneath me. I needed to remain strong. Act unfazed. Show no weakness.
When I came face-to-face with the truth, I loudly gasped.
They were sitting in the living room. Her hands were in his lap. Their surprised stare snapped in my direction.
It wasn’t Jax that my eyes were locked on.
It was her.
Evie.
Was the same woman he’d cheated on me with before he left for Miami.
Throwing me right back to that night…
* * *
Where my world as I knew it came tumbling down on me.
TWENTY-FOUR
SOPHIE
THEN
I couldn’t believe the day had come when Jax would be leaving me to go play in the NFL. I always knew this day would come, I just never imagined it’d happen this fast. It felt like time had passed us by, and now we were saying goodbye to each other.
We talked about the future a couple of times when he was still trying to decide where he wanted to play. Every team wanted him. He was the best, first-draft pick straight out of college. He was twenty-two and about to take the world by storm.
Jax had already made a name for himself, but this would be a much different scale. He’d become the greatest of all time. I knew it like I knew my love for him.
Miami would be who he was playing for.
It was only a two and a half hour flight. I only had a year left of school. I could move there to be with him after I graduated. Although, we hadn’t discussed that. We’d only talked about visiting one another. I told him I loved him all the time, and he had yet to say it back to me.
However, I knew he was in love with me. He didn’t have to say it—I could feel it.
Through his touch.
His smile.
The way he looked at me.
His actions all screamed love and adoration.
I laid there in his arms. This would be the last morning I’d wake up in his embrace. He’d fly out early tomorrow morning for training camp in the Sunshine State.
With my back to his chest, he nuzzled my neck. “What are you thinking about over here?”
“Tomorrow.”
He stayed silent for longer than I would have liked before he stated, “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about tomorrow a lot too.”
I swallowed hard, hearing him admit what I already knew. Jax and I had a connection I couldn’t explain or understand. It had always been that way between us. This unspoken bond, where words weren’t needed to know how we were feeling.