Chapter 5 Chapter 5: The Breaking Point

Reid’s POV

"Fuck!"

I slammed my fist into the doorframe. The text from Coach stared back at me like a death sentence.

See me tomorrow in my office.

They were just five words, but they felt like a concrete block tying down my entire future.

I shoved the phone into my pocket and stared at the open doorway. The hallway was empty. Outside, the sky had completely ruptured, throwing sheets of freezing rain against the building.

She’d left without her keys or wallet. It was just her trench coat and a phone that was probably blowing up with hate comments by the second.

"She’ll come back," I muttered to myself, pacing the living room. "She’s a drama queen. She’ll walk around the block, realize she’s getting her expensive hair wet, and come back to yell at me some more."

I threw myself onto the couch, staring at the ceiling. The heavy scent of her vanilla perfume still lingered in the air, a stubborn reminder of the explosion that had just leveled my apartment.

My words echoed in my head, loud and ugly.

You're a parasite. You're a toxic plague.

A knot of pure guilt tightened in my gut. I was furious about my captaincy, the scouts, furious that the ghosts of high school were clawing their way back into my life. But the look on her face right before she ran? The absolute, crushing betrayal in her eyes? It made me feel like the biggest piece of shit on the planet.

By 9:00 PM, the rain hadn't stopped.

By 10:30 PM, my training schedule said I should be asleep. Instead, I was staring out the window at the dark, empty street.

By 11:45 PM, panic started to set in.

Then, my phone buzzed. It was Jax. Again. This was his tenth call in the last two hours. I finally swiped the screen and put it to my ear.

"Reid! Thank God," Jax’s voice exploded through the speaker, laced with pure panic. "I’ve been calling Chloe for hours. It goes straight to voicemail. Did you guys talk? Is she okay?"

I swallowed hard, the guilt turning into a heavy, suffocating weight. "Jax, listen..."

"Did something happen?" Jax cut me off, his voice cracking. "Reid, man, you promised me. You said you had her. What the fuck is going on?"

"We had a fight, alright?" I snapped, rubbing my hand over my face. "The photo got leaked. The team is tripping, Coach texted me, and I lost my temper. She ran out."

"You did what?!" Jax roared. "Reid, she is terrified! You don't understand the shit she’s running from! If she’s out there alone in the dark with the press and the creeps…"

"I’m going to look for her," I interrupted, already grabbing my truck keys. "I’m leaving right now. I’ll find her, Jax. I swear."

I hung up before he could yell at me any further.

I hated the girl and the chaos that followed her like a shadow. But I didn't want her dead. If anything happened to Chloe on my watch, I’d never be able to look at myself in the mirror again.

The streets of Westbrook were slick and dark, the neon signs of the campus town bleeding into the puddles on the road.

I drove slowly, my windshield wipers slapping a rhythm against the glass. I checked the library. Empty. I checked the quad. Just empty benches and wind.

An hour passed. It was nearly 1:00 AM.

"Where the fuck are you, Chloe?" I growled, gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white.

I took a sharp turn down a grime-slicked alley near the edge of campus, heading toward the nightlife district. Most of the bars were closing, but a sleazy local club called ‘The Den’ still had its neon lights buzzing.

And then, I saw her and my heart stopped.

About fifty yards down from the club’s side exit, under a flickering streetlamp, a flash of a black trench coat caught my eye. Chloe was backed up against a brick wall, but she could barely keep her balance. Her vibrant red hair was soaked and plastered to her face, her eyes glassy and unfocused.

She’d clearly gone straight into the club and drowned her sorrows in pure alcohol. She was completely wasted, her head rolling back against the cold bricks as she slumped downward.

Two guys who were older, big, and smelling like cheap liquor even from a distance, were blocking her path, taking full advantage of how helpless she was. One of them had his hand planted on the wall right next to her head, pinning her in place, while the other was actively tugging at the lapel of her coat.

"Come on, princess," the first guy sneered, his voice carrying over the sound of the rain. "We saw the trends. We know what kind of girl you are. Don't act all innocent now."

"Get... get off me," Chloe stammered, her voice slurred, thick with alcohol and terror. She tried to push weak hands against his chest, but she stumbled, her knees buckling. The second guy grabbed her wrist roughly, pulling her back up into his space.

"Hey! She said stop!" I yelled, throwing my truck into park and slamming the door open.

Pure rage flooded my system. I didn't care about the rules of my season with no drama. I sprinted down the alley, my heavy boots slamming against the pavement.

The guy holding her wrist didn't even have time to turn around before I grabbed the collar of his jacket and threw him backwards. He hit the concrete hard, groaning. The second guy blinked in shock, but before he could raise his fists, I drove a hard, devastating left hook straight into his jaw.

The crack echoed in the alley, and he crumpled instantly, clutching his face.

"Touch her again and I will fucking end you," I growled, standing over them, my 6'3" frame shaking with the urge to keep hitting. They scrambled backwards, cursing, before throwing themselves into a car and speeding away.

I turned around, my breathing ragged. Chloe was swaying against the wall, blinking heavily as she tried to process my face through her drunken haze.

"Reid...?" she muttered, her voice incredibly small as she began to slide down to the wet ground.

I reached out to catch her, but before I could, a sharp, metallic ‘CLICK’ echoed right behind my ear.

The cold, unmistakable barrel of a gun pressed firmly against the back of my skull.

"Don't move a fucking inch." a smooth, chilling voice whispered out of the darkness.