Reaching out, I take his hands in mine and squeeze. “But you don’t have to,” I stress. “Jace, I’m fine. I’ve never been happier, and yeah, I have a shitty past of being weak. But don’t you get that since I met you, I’m not that girl anymore? I don’t even think about it, I don’t even crave it, I love my life too much to ever end it, baby.”

“But if it gets bad, if you start to hate it—”

“I won’t,” I say, my lips curving up. “Not when you’re in it.”

He drops his head, shaking it as he sucks in a breath. “I just want to make you happy.”

“You do, Jace,” I whisper, lifting his head so I can look into his sorrow-filled eyes. “But you gotta let me help. We can do this together. Let me take some of the stress. We can figure it out. Together. No more battles fought alone, only together.”

He holds my gaze, his lips trembling, and he slowly nods. “Okay. I’m sorr—”

“Don’t you dare. What are you apologizing for? Loving me? No, don’t you dare.”

The side of his mouth quirks up as he cups my face. “I love you, Avery Sinclair.”

“I love you too,” I whisper as my mouth presses to his. Closing my eyes tightly, I can’t believe this man is my husband. This big, thick-headed, headstrong man is my everything. And while he’s frustrating as hell, he has a heart of gold. Parting, I gaze into his eyes and I shrug. “So we wait for something to open up here.”

His grin falls as he shrugs. “Coach said you can’t stay over more than twice a week. Someone complained.”

My heart sinks. “Then you can stay with me if you have to, but we can sleep apart.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I don’t either, but I won’t have you looking bad in front of your team or getting in trouble.”

He nods. “We’ll figure it out.”

“We will. Together.”

He sucks in a breath and lets it out. “Together.”

Leaning his head to mine, he kisses my nose and my eyes drift shut, so in love with this man. I’m not even worried or scared. Yeah, it will suck to sleep apart, but we will be okay.

When a tap comes to the window, we both look over to see a cop standing next to the door. “What the fuck?” he asks as he rolls down the window. “Officer?”

“Are you Jace Sinclair?”

My heart jumps into my throat, because I’m sure this cop doesn’t want an autograph from the number one prospected draftee.

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m gonna have to ask you and your friend to get out of the car. Clear it out. It’s being repossessed.”

Jace’s brows crash together. “Repossessed? My dad got me this car.”

The cop nods and shrugs. “I know, son. He’s the one repossessing it.”

When Jace looks at me, all I can do is shake my head as I cover my mouth.

That son of a bitch.

“Who the fuck does that to their kid?” Markus barks as he paces the room. Moving my hand up and down Jace’s back, l close my eyes as I lean against his arm. I am trying to hold back my tears, but it’s so hard. It was just so sad watching him take everything out of his car and hand the keys over, the look of pure defeat in his eyes.

“An asshole,” Jace bites out, his body trembling with anger. I’ve never seen him this angry, and I don’t know what to do but hold him. But really, who does this? Yeah, don’t get me wrong, we were rude to him. But you don’t take something from someone that you gave to them. “It’s my fault. I should have had him put it in my name.”

He groans, dropping his face into his hands, and my heart aches.

“This is insane, dude. I’m sorry.”

Jace shrugs. “What’s done is done.”

“If you need my car, you got it.”

“Thanks, bro,” he says and I squeeze him.

“You can use mine too,” I say, even though I’ve already offered.

He squeezes my thigh and then kisses my forehead. “Thanks, babe.”

“Have you told your mom? Jude or Jayden?”

Jace shakes his head, letting it fall back as he stares up at the ceiling. “No, I don’t want to worry them or hear ‘I told you so.’” When he stands suddenly, I watch as he kicks a shoe out of the way, groaning out loud. “God, I can’t believe this shit.”

“He is such a fucking dick,” Markus says, and I want to agree, but I’m still very upset with him for what he did to Mekena. I know Jace has said it was a mistake, but I can’t look at him the same. Especially when I know how upset Mekena still is. When Jace reaches for the door and leaves, slamming it behind him, I want to follow, but Markus shakes his head. “Give him a minute.”

I glare at him and cross my arms, which he rolls his eyes at. “You can’t be mad at me forever.”

“Yes, I can.”

He smiles softly. “You know it was a mistake, right?”

“A mistake that hurt my friend, but I can’t talk about this right now. I’m worried about Jace.”

He nods, his eyes full of remorse, but it’s not okay. He broke my friend’s heart. Clearing his throat, he says, “Me too. I wish he’d just call one of his brothers, or even Lucy. He won’t, though, he’s too proud. But he needs them.”

I bite the inside of my cheek and I agree. They know the pain he is feeling. And while, yeah, I have a shitty family, I don’t know his dad the way his siblings do. When Markus turns to go back to his game, I reach for Jace’s phone, sending Jude’s number to myself before deleting the text on his phone so he doesn’t know I sent it. I may be doing something wrong, but in a way, it’s not. It’s right. Jace needs his brother.

When the door opens, I set his phone down quickly as Jace shuts the door behind himself. His eyes and face are red, like he’s been crying, and that breaks my heart. “I’m gonna head back to my dorm.”

He gives me a look. “Really? You don’t want to stay?”

I shrug. “Why don’t you play some video games? Maybe get a full night’s sleep without me tossing and turning?” I add with a grin. “You also have work and hockey in the morning and always wake me up. So this way, we both can sleep.”