The Love Penalty by Carolyn Miller

Author:Carolyn Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub

He was dead inside.

Ryan stumbled to the elevator and jabbed a button, hoping against hope that nobody would see him. He probably should’ve gone down the fire escape, but he’d heard awful stories of people getting lost and trapped and dying in those things. Although the way he felt now, maybe that would be for the best…

He closed his eyes. He deserved to die. That look on her face, her tears he’d heard through the door. He was like the world’s most gullible fool, the biggest idiot on the planet. How had he let his hormones lead him into such a big mistake?

The door opened into the lobby, he exited, head down so he wouldn’t be recognized. The last thing he wanted was for someone to say—

“Ryan?”

Nope. How he wished he could pretend he wasn’t him. He peeked across. Doug Lehtonen’s eyes widened. “Dude. What happened to you?”

“Gotta go,” he muttered, picking up his pace. He had to leave, to get out of here. Which was the way to the parking garage?

“Whoa.” Doug placed a hand on his shoulder, the momentum jerking Ryan to a stop.

All at once his rage and disappointment at himself thickened and flared, and he pivoted and swung a fist at Doug’s face.

Doug swore, swerving, and Ryan missed, finding his collarbone instead. He spilled a word his mom wouldn’t be proud of, and shook out his fist as several other Detroit players rushed to their teammate’s aid.

“What the”—expletive—“was that for?” Doug coughed out, wincing.

Others were shoving him, yammering in his ear, forcing Ryan to brace.

“Ryan?”

He glanced across. Sure enough, the man he really hadn’t wanted to see was there.

“Hey,” Brent shooed the others away, leaving Ryan standing there with Brent and a grimacing Doug. “What happened?”

“I’m sorry,” Ryan muttered to Doug. “I wasn’t expecting someone to grab me.”

“Why’d you do that?” Brent frowned at Doug.

“He looked like he was about to cry, man.”

Awesome. “I’m getting out of here.” Ryan headed to the exit. He didn’t care if it was minus sixty outside, he had to get away. Now.

“No, you don’t.” Brent moved to block his way. Given the dude had almost half a foot of height on him, he couldn’t easily escape.

“Get out of my way.”

“And if I don’t? You gonna hit me too?”

Ryan slumped. “I can’t deal with this right now.”

“Deal with what?” Brent pushed.

“You. Him.” He pointed at Doug, who instantly protested.

Or God.

God.

His heart crumpled, like it might cave in. How could Ryan have fallen so far away?

He shouldered past, praying the tears would stay away. No way would anyone here respect him ever again if they caught him crying. He scrubbed his face, heading to the cooler air of the parking garage. Behind him he vaguely heard Brent say something to Doug, then the sound of footsteps chasing him as he neared his car.

“Dude,” Brent’s voice, “it’s just me and you. I don’t care where we go, but you’re talking to me about what’s happened, okay?”

He had a feeling saying it wasn’t okay wasn’t going to be an option.

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