Chapter 47 : Her Choice
HAYDEN’S POV:
Practice ran late. Coach kept us doing drills long after the sun dipped low, like he was trying to sweat the mistakes out of us or maybe just out of me.
I pushed harder than usual. Hard enough that my lungs burned and my legs felt like concrete. It was easier to focus when everything hurt. It made it easier not to think.
But the second the whistle blew and we were dismissed, the thoughts crept back in.
I grabbed my bag and headed toward the locker room. That’s when I saw him.
Stephen was standing near the bleachers, phone pressed to his ear. His posture was tense, shoulders tight like a drawn bowstring.
“Ella, just…..” he started.
I slowed without meaning to. “I just want to talk,” he said, voice low and strained.
There was a pause.Then his jaw clenched.
“I know you’re not busy. I can see you’re online.”
Another pause which was longer this time. Whatever she said, it wiped the last bit of hope off his face.
“Are you serious right now?” he snapped.
A couple of guys walking past glanced over.
“I’m not asking for much. I just…..”
He stopped mid-sentence. His hand dropped slightly from his ear.
She had hung up.
For a second, he just stood there staring at the dark screen like it might change its mind.
Then he dialed again but it went straight to voicemail.
“Damn it,” he muttered.
He ran a hand through his hair, pacing once before stopping. He looked small at that moment but not physically….but stripped.
Something twisted in my chest.
I should’ve walked away but I didn’t.
I slung my bag higher on my shoulder and walked toward him.
“Chasing her like that won’t bring her back.”
The words left my mouth before I fully decided to say them.
Stephen froze. Slowly, he turned toward me.
His expression wasn’t wounded anymore. It was volatile.
“What did you just say?” he asked quietly.
I held his gaze. “You heard me.”
He took a step closer. “You think you get to comment on this?”
“I’m just saying……”
“You don’t get to say anything about her.”
There it was. The edge. I felt my own temper spark. “I’m not trying to start something.”
“Then don’t.”
He turned like he was going to walk away. I grabbed his wrist. He looked down at my hand like it had betrayed him.
“Let go,” he said.
“You’re making yourself look desperate.”
The second the word left my mouth, I knew it was wrong.
His eyes darkened. “Desperate?” he repeated.
I dropped his wrist. “Stephen….”
“You’re the reason she won’t talk to me.”
The accusation hit harder than I expected.
“That’s not…..”
“You’re the cost of everything.” His voice rose, raw and shaking. “If you hadn’t fucked her, she would’ve still been mine.”
The words echoed louder than they should have. A couple of teammates nearby went quiet and heat flooded my neck.
“She’s not property,” I shot back. “She doesn’t belong to you.”
His hands balled into fists. “You knew how I felt about her.”
“And she still fucked me,” I snapped.
The silence that followed was sharp enough to cut. His face went pale, then red.
“You think that makes you special?” he asked bitterly. “You think that means she wanted you?”
I swallowed hard. “It means she made a choice.”
“Yeah. It was a mistake.”
That stung more than it should have.
“If it wasn’t me,” I said, forcing the words out steady, “it would’ve been someone else.”
His head snapped up. “Don’t,” he warned.
“You said it yourself. She is moving on.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know she’s not answering your calls.”
His chest rose and fell rapidly. “You’re unbelievable,” he said.
I laughed once, short and humorless. “Why? Because I’m not pretending this is some epic love story?”
“You don’t get it,” he said, stepping closer again. “You never get it.”
“Then explain it to me.”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
His eyes searched mine for something like mockery, maybe or indifference. I didn’t give him either.
“You think this is just about her sleeping with you?” he said finally. “It’s not. It’s about trust.” My stomach tightened. “She told me she loved me,” he continued. “And then she….” His voice cracked, and he swallowed it down. “She does that.”
“She is allowed to change her mind.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“It’s true.”
“You don’t even care.”
“That’s not fair.”
He barked out a laugh. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I hurt your feelings?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean, Hayden?”
I opened my mouth and nothing came out because the truth was complicated. I cared but not about Ella But about him.
And that was the part I couldn’t say.
His gaze lingered on me a second too long. Something flickered there, anger, yes but something else too. Something that made my pulse jump.
He shook his head like he was trying to clear it.
“You don’t get to play neutral,” he said quietly. “You’re in this whether you like it or not.”
“I didn’t ask to be.”
“Neither did I.”
We stood there, breathing the same charged air. “You’re not going to win her back by begging,” I said, softer now.
“I’m not begging her.”
“It looks like it.”
His jaw tightened again. “Stay out of it,” he said.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
The question hung between us. Why? Because I hated seeing him like that. Because hearing his voice break on the phone still replayed in my head. Because every night I was dreaming about him and waking up confused and ashamed and some part of me didn’t want him chasing her at all.
I clenched my teeth. “Because you’re my brother.”
The word felt thin.
He stared at me like he didn’t know whether to believe it.
“Brothers don’t do what you did,” he said.
“You mean sleep with someone who wasn’t officially yours?”
His hand shot out, grabbing the front of my shirt this time.
“Careful,” he warned.
My heart slammed against my ribs. “Or what?” I challenged.
For a second, I thought he might hit me.
Instead, his grip loosened slowly. “You always have to push,” he muttered.
“And you always have to pretend.”
His eyes flashed. “Pretend what?”
“That you don’t care about anything until it explodes.”
The words hung heavy.He stepped back like I’d physically shoved him.
“You don’t know me,” he said.
“Maybe not.”
We stood there, the argument fraying at the edges.
Finally, he looked away. “She’s not answering because of you,” he said again, but this time it sounded less certain.
I exhaled slowly. “If she wanted to be with you, she would be.”
He didn’t respond.After a long moment, he picked up his bag from the ground.
“This isn’t over,” he said quietly.
He walked past me without another word. I stood there watching him go, chest tight, mind racing. I told myself the anger between us was about Ella but deep down, I knew it was more than that.
Because when he grabbed my shirt, the flash of heat that ran through me wasn’t fear and that terrified me.