She stayed quiet, clearly having no defense for her actions, so I continued. “You left me here to deal with Chrystle and her shit all alone. I know you’re hurt and angry, but I am too. Did you even once stop to think about how I felt? How her article affected me and made me look? No. Because you left me here and took off.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said with a sob.
“Yeah? For which part?” I asked, and could hear her sobbing in the background.
“I’m sorry for all of it, Jack. You’re right. I don’t deal with things well and I promise I’ll work on it.”
I exhaled through my nose as I stared out the balcony window. “It’s more than that. You keep things inside and…”
“Because I don’t want to bother you with stuff I think is stupid. I don’t want you to worry about things when you’re on the field. You have enough to worry about.”
“You don’t get to decide what’s stupid and what isn’t. If it’s bothering you, then you need to tell me. You need to communicate with me. I fucking tell you everything. I share everything with you because I don’t ever want there to be another secret between us again. I don’t like keeping things from you, and I don’t appreciate you keeping things from me.”
“I don’t know what to say other than I’m sorry. I know I’m not good at being an open book, but I’ll try to be better.”
“And I know I let you down before and you don’t trust me completely. But this goes beyond that, and I think we both know it.” She sniffed, and her breath hitched repeatedly as I continued. “After tonight’s game, we’ll be on the road for few days. I think we should take this time to figure out what we both want.”
“I know what I want,” she insisted.
“I don’t,” I lied. Of course I wanted Cassie, but I was hurt. I lost her trust in one terrible decision-making moment, but she lost pieces of mine every time she shut me out, kept me at distance, or didn’t care enough about our relationship to stay put and fight. I wanted to know we were solid, but her actions only confused me.
“OK,” she said with hurt in her voice. “I’ll do anything to fix this, Jack. Tell me what you need me to do.”
I took a long, deep breath. It was finally my turn.
“Prove it,” I said before ending the call. Now she would know how it felt to be on the other end of that fucking request.
I immediately dialed the car service where Matteo worked and asked for the owner. “Hi, Mr. Lombardi, Jack Carter here. I need to cancel all services with Matteo and request a new driver starting today.”
“Of course, Mr. Carter. Did Matteo do something wrong?”
The media would inform him soon enough, if he didn’t know already. “I just want a new driver. Do not send Matteo here today or I’ll lose my shit. Do you understand?”
He cleared his throat. “I, uh… understand.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you still require the driver to stay for the duration of the games?”
“No, I do not.”
I pressed End on my cell and typed out a text message to Matteo for good measure.
You’re fired. Don’t show your face here again and stay the fuck away from Cassie.
I tossed my phone down, not expecting a response when it beeped right back.
Jack, I’m really sorry. Can I come there and talk to you?
I cracked my neck from side to side, the idea of seeing Matteo igniting the flames of my temper.
Not a good idea, man. Not right now.
It will take 2 seconds. Please. I know you want to kill me. Let me explain.
Explain? Explain how his lips touched my girlfriend’s? What the hell was there to explain? Maybe he wanted me to kick his ass? I glanced at the clock on the wall. I had time.
Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
My body tensed all over as the image of him kissing Cassie burned into my mind. Within minutes, he knocked on my door. I hesitated, knowing that if I started hitting him, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop.
I opened the door, the dejected look on his face almost made me feel sorry for him. Almost. I clenched my hands, balling them into fists as my mind raced. I stepped back from the door, not wanting to be near him. I didn’t invite him in.
“Jack, I’m really sorry. There’s no excuse for my behavior. It’s just that she looked so sad and so distraught that it killed me to see her like that. I just wanted her to be happy. My emotions took over, and I got all jumbled up inside.”
He had feelings for her.
I glared at him, willing myself to stay calm as he continued. “I feel horrible and I know you can never forgive me, but you need to know that Cassie stopped me. She shoved me away and put me in my place.”