I don’t want my pick. I want real. I want light. I want you.
I don’t say that. I rock against the current of the water.
Don’t go. Please!
He clears his throat. “Anyway, thank you again for your invitation. It was very nice of you.”
Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go.
He starts toward the sliding glass door.
No one cries like her.
His back ripples with tension at each step. His fists are clenched. I can’t see his eyes. His smile. It’s gone. All of it. Before it began, I broke everything.
No one’s heart beats and bleeds like hers.
I’m bleeding. So much blood gushing beneath this polished façade that no one will ever see. Not my parents. Not my manager. Not my millions of fans. Not even Hadley, the only person who actually knows me.
No one. No one. No one.
“I hate them!”
I gasp and cover my mouth as he stops in his tracks. He turns slowly, his gaze deep and intense.
“You hate what?”
“Mirrors. I hate them,” I say quietly. “They remind me that I—I’m not what I’m supposed to be.”
“And what are you supposed to be?”
Tears burn in my eyes. He has to stop looking at me like that. I can’t think. I can’t fight.
“Whatever they want.” The words leak out as a whisper. Wet. Angry. “I have to be what they want.”
He steps forward. “Did you think you had to be what I want today?”
I blink back the hot liquid, but it doesn’t work. Instead, it rolls down my cheeks in a brutal betrayal. I nod.
“Did you think I came here because you’re the Genevieve Fox?”
I nod again.
He almost looks angry as he takes another step toward me. And another. And another until he’s at the edge of the pool, staring down at me. I can’t see his face anymore, can’t read his eyes. He’s just a shadow against the blare of the sun. Towering over me, converting light into darkness. He’s a god in our tiny universe, the one who holds the power of this moment. But instead of exploiting it, he crouches down. The light floods back, and I flinch at his adjustment, knowing how difficult that position is for him.
“Your knee,” I say before I can stop myself. I reach out and brush my fingers over a small scar. That’s when I also see the change in his face. The softness. The sincerity. He captures my fingers in his hand and squeezes gently.
“I came, Genevieve, because you helped me up despite the cameras. Because you asked about my family when everyone else asks about my injury. Because for five damn minutes I felt like more than an injured hockey player.”
He reaches over and runs his thumb along my cheek, catching tears, tracking fresh trails. I close my eyes and breathe in his touch. In. Out. Breathe. I can breathe in his presence.
“I don’t want you to be what I want. I want you to be you. Can you do that with me?”
When I dare a look back, I not only see the question, but the hope. The plea. He wants the girl in the mirror. My pulse pounds. I cling harder to his hand.
“I don’t know her,” I whisper, turning frightened eyes up to him. “I don’t know the girl in the mirror. What if…” I can’t finish the sentence as the tears return. What if she’s too broken to fix?
He straightens his bad leg, drawing in a deep inhale against the discomfort. I’m tense with fear, until I realize it’s only so he can slip into the water with me. The air around us feels different when he pulls me into his arms. Lighter, more sustainable. I tighten my hold around him, burrowing into his hard chest as the thud of his heart becomes my universe.
He rests his lips against my hair.
“Then we find her.”
CHAPTER 3
Diamond bright, how you sparkle
Rich indulgence you spread delight
Diamond bright, how they clamor
To plunder your unguarded treasure
Those parasites
Those thieves of light
Those borrowers of others’ dreams
They’ll claw and smother until you’re just another
rock
OLIVER
Who’s the girl in the mirror? I have no damn clue, but I sure as hell want to know her more than the tipsy party girl who met me after I came out of the bathroom. I don’t have time for games. Never have, and with six family members relying on me, I’m definitely not starting now. My stakes aren’t just high, they’re non-negotiable, so yeah, even Genevieve Fox wasn’t going to tempt me into playing. Except when she drops the act, she’s mesmerizing. Is she beautiful? No. She’s fucking breathtaking. Long, dark red hair, almost violet. Vibrant green eyes. Hell, if you look close in the sun, you can see flecks of brown that draw you in and make it impossible to look away. So when she turned them up at me a minute ago, glistening beneath a sheen of tears, I was hooked. Yep, felt the line catch and jerk me right to the edge of the pool where that sharp sucker dug into my soul and dragged me through a busted knee down to the ledge.
Who’s the girl in the mirror? She’s now the girl in my arms.
I run my fingers through her hair as she clings to me. When’s the last time someone held her? The way she’s clutching my back, I suspect the answer would make me sick. Maybe angry. Okay, yeah, I’m angry that she’s been mangled to the point where she can’t even face a mirror. Where she actually believed she had to
