Breaking Mr. Cane (Cane 2)

She shrieked while Brody stood with his hands out like a fucking idiot, like he couldn’t believe this had really happened.

“Thanks to you two, I just lost my scholarship,” I seethed.

“Good for you,” he chortled, still clinging to his pride. “You fucking deserve it. Go be a slut somewhere else.”

Normally, it wasn’t like me to blow up. It took a lot for me to get truly, truly angry, and Brody had struck a nerve. My hand struck his face before I could tell myself to back away and leave. His face was wet so the slap was loud and it echoed. My hand stung afterward and I knew for sure it had hurt him. The entire kitchen went silent when Brody’s head turned with the hit.

He breathed hard through his nostrils, fists clenching, but I shoved him away, making him stumble backwards and hit the counter edge. “Fuck both of you!”

I stormed out of the kitchen and out of the house before any of them could stop me.

I jogged away from the fraternity house, going all the way back to where my dorm building was. When I’d made it safely, I dropped on the bench, letting the adrenaline wear off and catching my breath…but I shouldn’t have. Because when it wore off, reality pummeled me like a swift train.

I was heaving hard, trying to catch my breath and cry at the same time. It was chilly outside, but the tears were flaming hot, running down my cheeks. People walked by and looked at me as if I were insane and I couldn’t blame them.

In the span of four days, my life had been ruined all over again.

All for wanting Cane.

Was this how it was going to be for the rest of my life? I didn’t know if I had it in me to keep going through stuff like this. Ever since I started wanting Cane—like really, really wanting him—my life has spiraled.

This one question ran through my mind the rest of that day. It didn’t matter that my parents were blowing my phone up trying to reach me. I knew they would be angry, but their anger held no weight to this one question.

Was it even worth it to love Cane, only to lose everything I loved and cared for in the end?

Chapter Thirty-Six

CANE

I landed back in Atlanta well over six hours ago and had just wrapped up on a conference call when my cell phone buzzed on the desk. Kelly had been calling nonstop, but I ignored every single one of them. This time it was a call from Kandy.

“How’s it going, Kandy Cane?” I answered.

“Not good,” she said, voice thick. She sounded winded, like she was working out or something.

I walked toward the windows that overlooked the city. “What’s wrong?”

“I…um…well, you’re not going to believe this, but I just had my scholarship revoked.”

“What?” I snapped, frowning. “How? What the hell happened?”

She sniffled. “Remember that guy you saw me with after the seminar?”

“Yeah?” My fist clenched, grip tightening around the phone just thinking about it. “What about him? Did he do something to you?”

“I didn’t tell you this because I didn’t want you to worry, but he saw us together the night you dropped me off. He confronted me about it and called me a slut, then the next thing I know he sends the pictures to one of my teammates and my teammate told my coach.”

“What the fuck,” I grumbled. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No, I’m not Cane. And that isn’t the worst of it.”

“What the hell could be worse than that? You worked hard for that scholarship, Kandy.”

“I know I did, but I had a hearing a short while ago. They said they’ve already made arrangements to tell my parents about the pictures. My parents have been calling me nonstop and I don’t want to answer because I don’t know what to say!”

She was panicking now—I could hear it in the shortness of her breaths and the gasps bubbling out of her.

“Fuck, Kandy. Just calm down, all right. Calm down.”

“How can I calm down, Cane? My life is fucking ruined! Softball was all I had! I actually made friends and was looking forward to starting the season, and now all of that is gone because of wanting to be with you!”

Well, shit.

I stepped away from the window and turned, pressing the phone harder to my ear. “Kandy, I didn’t mean for this to happen to you. I’m sorry that it did, but we both knew the consequences! Shit, I never should have visited the school. This is all my fucking fault.”

She whimpered and my heart fucking broke for her even more. I hated hearing my girl cry. “This scholarship was all I had, Cane. I didn’t think I would lose it.”

“No. That’s where you’re wrong, Kandy.”

“How? What are you even talking about? Do you hear what I’m telling you? My parents know, Cane! They’re calling me and I don’t know how to explain it or even go back home and look them in the eye!”