“I don’t care. I need to talk to you,” he said, and he meant it.

He had seen her house as he passed by, and it was on impulse that he told Jace to stop. He hadn’t meant to come here. He hadn’t meant to have it out with her right here, but if he planned to come clean to Mekena tonight, he needed to bury all his demons so he would be ready to fight to get her back.

Rolling her eyes, Skylar reached for the door, but her mother stopped her and yelled, “We aren’t done, Skylar! You need to fix this.”

“I hear you, Mom. I’m coming, hold on. Five minutes,” she yelled back, shutting the door and walking past him down the stairs, looking around as he followed her into the yard. He wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but her brows pulled together before she shook her head, looking back at him. She wasn’t her carefree self; she seemed a little on edge. He figured it had something to do with all the yelling he’d heard.

“What couldn’t wait? I haven’t seen you in, like, ever. Why are you here?” she snapped, and he figured his drug assumption was on point.

Already annoyed, he hooked his thumb behind him to where Jace was waiting in the car. “Jace bought a four-wheeler for his niece, and we were driving back through the neighborhood when I remembered y’all living here. I actually didn’t think you’d be here, but then I saw your car and I thought maybe I’d try,” he explained, his heart beating out of his chest. He wasn’t scared of her; she couldn’t hurt him when he was in his right mind. But, still, she made him nervous. He didn’t fully expect her to own up to everything, but he wanted her to hear from his lips that she’d hurt him. That she’d hurt Mekena, and for that, he would forever hold her responsible.

“Okay, well, you got me. So, what’s up?” she said, once more looking around, and he glanced in the direction she was looking but saw nothing. He wasn’t sure what she was doing, but he couldn’t keep Jace waiting long. This would be quick and easy.

Well, he hoped it would be easy.

“I wanted to talk to you about that night.”

Her brows drew together, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “What night?”

“That night,” he said, emphasizing the words. “The night we apparently slept together.”

Her eyes widened a bit, but not in surprise, almost in annoyance. “Oh, what about it?”

He hated how callous she was. How it didn’t matter to her one bit. But when he thought of it, he felt so unclean. “I wanted to let you know that you really hurt me. I know we weren’t that close of friends, but, still, I really didn’t think you’d do that to me.”

“What did I do?” she asked condescendingly.

He glared at her. “A couple days after that night, I had a pop-up drug test and I tested positive for Xanax, but I don’t take them. I almost lost my scholarship, but thankfully, I had a great coach who fought for me. But you did cause me to lose Mekena. Someone I truly cared for. Maybe even loved. But you didn’t let that be. You had to drug me up and take advantage of the situation.”

Rolling her eyes, she laughed. “I asked if you wanted something to make the party feel better, and you said—”

“I did not. I would never. I don’t do that shit because I care about my career, so that’s straight bullshit. And I would never sleep with you in my right mind. That wasn’t fair.”

“Wow, how nice of you to say,” she snapped back.

“I didn’t want you. I wanted Mekena.”

“So what? You weren’t good enough.”

“Who are you to say that?” He fought back, his eyes narrowing. “You don’t drug someone and sleep with them to prove that!”

She laughed soullessly. “You act like we really did it. I sucked you hard, tried to fuck you, but you couldn’t stay hard, so it’s whatever. You wanted it.”

His mouth actually dropped open. “If I couldn’t stay hard, didn’t you know that meant I didn’t want it?”

“You didn’t know what you wanted. You were high out of your mind.”

“Because of you!” he yelled, his nails biting into his palms. “Because you drugged me, because you took advantage of me, and made me feel worthless. I have gone over a year blaming myself for what happened, when, really, it was all you.”

“So what?” she laughed. “It’s college, this shit happens. You’re fine. Big career in the NHL and all that jazz.”

“But I don’t have Mekena,” he said, his eyes welling up with tears as his chest ached with the pain of a thousand armies dying on the battlefield. “I lost her, and you know what, I think I’m the most mad at you for hurting her. I couldn’t care less that you caused me all kinds of pain, caused me to be a little unsure of myself, to question my sanity and my worth. But I can’t forgive you for making that girl feel self-conscious, for questioning her worth. She is amazing, she is the nicest person I’ve ever met, and damn it, I love her. I love her so much that, for the first time in my life, I want to punch a woman in the damn face. I want to smack that smug look off your face,” he said, his whole body shaking as she just shook her head, chuckling a bit.

“But you won’t.”

“You’re right, because I’m a good man, a man who was good for Mekena, who would have done right by her.”

“No, you would have gone off into the NHL and fucked someone else. I saved her the heartache.”

He took a step toward her, but she stood tall, her face unmoving as he sneered, “If that’s what you have to tell yourself to live with what you’ve done, then say it all you want. But that isn’t the fucking truth. I wouldn’t have done that!”

“Yet, you went to your room with me,” she pointed out, and he shook his head.

“I don’t even remember anything about that night. Nothing. Which is all your and your drugs’ fault.”

She shrugged, clearly bored with him, and that made him even angrier. “Are you done?”

“Why? Can you answer that for me? Honestly, why?”

“I already said why. You weren’t good enough for her.”

“How do you know? Was I mean to you? Her? Tell me.”

She was completely over talking to him, but he had to know. “I know Mekena. She needs some ugly bookworm loser who grovels at her feet. You’re not that guy. You’re too hot, have a great future in front of you, and have girls fighting for you.”