“Um, I don’t think so, but thank you.”
“I promise you’ll have fun. It won’t be anything like…” Hardy hesitated to bring up her earlier pain, wishing he’d kept his mouth shut before he’d even alluded to it. “It’ll be fun. Really,” he said, smiling broadly in hopes of recovering his blunder.
Miracle smiled tolerantly. “I appreciate the offer, and I’m sure it’ll be fun, but I think I’m just going to go home.”
When Miracle began slowly inching her way forward, Hardy knew there was no changing her mind. He searched for something else to say, for some way of talking her into going, but he couldn’t think of a single thing that might convince her. If she’d suggested something else she’d rather do, he’d have jumped all over it. If it meant spending time with Miracle, Hardy would’ve gone anywhere she wanted to go.
But instead, he had to watch her walk away.
“Congratulations,” she called back to him before she and her sister disappeared into the crowd.
“Thanks,” Hardy said, doubting that she even heard him. He had the ridiculous desire to chase after her, but even as the thought skated tantalizingly through his mind, reality intruded.
“You know, I’m beginning to think there’s something going on between you two.”
Cheyenne stood behind Hardy, arms crossed over her chest, chin set at an argumentative angle.
Hardy sighed, turning to walk away from her. “There is nothing going on between us, Cheyenne. I just can’t be rude and obnoxious to people the way you can.” He didn’t really care if she heard the words he’d tossed over his shoulder or not.
“I told you I didn’t know about the scar, Hardy. I didn’t do it on purpose. I was trying to be nice by inviting her, by including her.” Cheyenne was scrambling to keep up with him.
“Yeah, right,” Hardy mumbled under this breath. He didn’t doubt that Cheyenne didn’t know about the scar; how could she? What he did doubt, however, was that she ever had an altruistic motive for anything she did.
“Why are you acting like this?” she asked as they neared the field house, her voice dropping into a hushed tone. Hardy turned on her so quickly, she nearly bumped into him. “What the—”
“Cheyenne, this was over a long time ago. I think it’s time we make it official.”
Hardy was perversely pleased when he saw the blood drain from Cheyenne’s face. He suspected this would be one of the few times in her life she’d be dumped. Did he dread the fall out? A little. Was he shamefully thrilled to get to do it, though? Yes, he was. He wouldn’t have enjoyed it at all if he thought it would actually hurt her, but he knew it wouldn’t. What it would do was bring her down a peg or two, temporarily at least, which was something he felt she and her monstrous ego were in desperate need of.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, but I am, Cheyenne. Very serious.”
“But…but what about your future? Our future? What about this season?”
“I can win games without your help, Cheyenne. And you and I both know we never really had a future.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because it’s true.”
“You don’t really believe that.”
“Actually, I do. I don’t know how we’ve lasted this long. I guess I’m a lot more selfish than I thought.”
“Do I need to tell you how much you’re going to regret this?”
“No. Because I won’t. I feel better already.”
Hardy felt his lips curve into a genuine smile of relief and satisfaction. Cheyenne’s eyes narrowed and her lips thinned as she watched him.
“This is about her, isn’t it?”
“Who?”
“Miracle.”
“No. It’s about the fact that I’ve hated myself for dating you for almost a year now and I’m over it. I’m done.”
“You just keep telling yourself that, Hardy, but you’ll be back. I’m not worried.”
Even as the words left her lips, Hardy could see that Cheyenne was very much worried. Unfortunately, he also saw a dark spark of determination light her eyes and it was just enough to give him pause.
“Goodbye, Cheyenne.”
With that, Hardy turned his back on her and made his way into the field house to shower and change into his new life.
********
Never had a party been less fun. As Hardy wandered aimlessly through the tight crowd of bodies, speaking only when spoken to, he realized that this scene was not one he’d ever really preferred. He’d always gone to parties because Cheyenne wanted to, because all his friends went and, well, because he’d always done it. He’d never been willing to mess up the good thing he had going in his life. The funny thing was, he had completely deluded himself about the “good thing” part.
Hardy leaned against the front door jamb and stared out into the night. He had no interest in being there—at the party. He didn’t see one person he really wanted to talk to, one person he really wanted to spend his Friday evening with. What he really wanted was to see Miracle. And she wasn’t there.
As he was making up his mind to leave, Cheyenne came sauntering up the front steps toward the door, toward him. From the fingers of her left hand dangled a small black bag. The smile she wore warned Hardy that she was up to something. She looked far too pleased with herself.
When she stopped in front of him, she just stood there swinging the bag. Hardy took the bait. “What’s that?”
“I think it’s a camera case, but I can’t be sure. I didn’t open it.”
Hardy’s eyes narrowed on Cheyenne. He was immediately suspicious.
“Whose is it?”
“I don’t know. I found it in my trunk. I don’t know where it came from.”
Hardy gritted his teeth. He should’ve known this was how Cheyenne would handle a slap to the ego—with retaliation.
Reaching forward, Hardy jerked the strap from her fingertips and unzipped the bag to look inside. Although he didn’t know what kind of camera Miracle used, he knew this one was expensive. And broken. He could see several small pieces of black plastic littering the bottom of the bag.
“What did you do to it?”
Cheyenne’s lips twisted into a satisfied smirk. “I might have dropped it when I was getting it out of the trunk. I can’t remember.”
Hardy stared at her for several long seconds, reminding himself that he was strictly against strangling a woman. “You know, I hope you realize that this just makes my decision easier.”