Broken Play (PCU Storm, #1)

by Riley Paige

To those who feel broken, lost, or unworthy of love—this book is for you. May you find healing in the pages and remember that you are worthy, whole, and loved, exactly as you are.

My grip tightens on the strap of my bag. She doesn’t even know I transferred. Not yet, at least. But she will soon.

I don’t know if she even remembers leaving this message, but it doesn’t matter. It was enough. Enough to make me uproot my entire life, entering the transfer portal with seconds to spare. Enough to bring me here.

I’m here for one reason. Madison Blake. My best friend growing up, my first crush, and the girl I've adored since handing her my Valentine in first grade. Her laughter was infectious, and her smile could easily bring me to my knees.

She’s effortless. Stunning. Mine—except, not really. She’s never really been mine. I just wished she had been.

Jaxon Montgomery. My former best friend. The one boy who has seen me at my lowest and stayed by my side. The only guy I have ever had feelings for, the one I can’t quite fuck out of my system, no matter how hard I try.

Since the night I overheard his mom telling him not to jeopardize his future for me. Since I decided to tell my best friend to go to Michigan State, letting him think I’d be following him there, even though I already knew I didn’t get in.

Love is watching my mother fade away, helpless to stop it. Love is my father promising to take care of me, only to leave bruises instead. Love is wreckage—of cars, of trust, of every fragile hope I dared to hold. Love is my dad giving up his dreams to support my mom and me when I was a surprise to them both, only for him to resent me for it later. So, yeah, maybe I see myself as a burden, but that’s because every person I’ve ever loved has left me broken into a million tiny pieces.

Dude this is so sad 😭

Madison's gaze pulls to mine, as if a magnet is attached to each of us.

"Did you ever think maybe you robbed him of the future he wanted by leaving?" Carter asks, his voice softening. "That maybe he knew the risks but thought they were worth it anyway?"

I realize with startling clarity that I've been lying to myself, running from the truth that's been chasing me for years. Jaxon’s feelings weren’t one sided.

Mine’s red. Hers is blue. I used to like blue, but she said it was her favorite, so now, I let her have it.

“She’s not property,” I say. “But you talk about her like that again, and we’re gonna have a problem.”

But with Madison, it's never just anything.

She rolls her eyes—but she’s smiling, and for just a second, everything feels like it used to. Her notebook filled with my messy handwriting. Her laugh buried behind sarcasm. I’d live in this moment if she’d let me.

But if she keeps looking at me like this, pressing closer, like she wants to see how far she can push before I break—she’s going to find out I was never whole to begin with. Not without her.

Like she knows I’m hers, even if she isn’t mine.

Madison isn't a distraction. She's not a mistake. She's not a reason to hesitate. She's the reason. For everything.

She isn't broken. She just needs someone who refuses to let her believe that lie.

Running from problems isn’t my thing. That’s Madison’s move.

The shade is crazyyyy

"You know you're still allowed to be happy, right? To have dreams?" she asks, voice gentle but firm. "That didn't die in that car, Maddy."

With slow steps, I move to the sink, my reflection nothing more than a blurred outline in the fogged-up mirror. For a moment, I consider leaving it that way. There's something easier about not seeing myself, about not looking too closely.

But maybe functioning isn't enough. Maybe I want more than just getting by.

If only I could tell her every time she looks at me, it makes me forget everything else.

"Since always, Mads. Since we were seven, and you told me my football uniform made me look like an overstuffed sausage."

"I want more than just one night, Mads. I want you."

Neither of us speaks, and maybe that should feel awkward, but it doesn't. It feels natural, like the space between us has always been meant to disappear.

"Seriously," he continues, shaking his head. "What does it matter? He’s got standards, knows what he wants. Good for him."

Carter I love you

All I can think about is the girl sitting beside me and the fact that—no matter how many years pass, no matter how much changes—she still makes my world feel lighter too.

He hums against my skin, the vibration sending another jolt of pleasure through me, his rhythm never faltering, like he knows exactly what he's doing to me, like he's learning me—every sound, every shiver, every shift of my hips as I chase the feeling.

It wasn't just Jaxon's hands on me, wasn't just the way he knew exactly how to touch me, how to push me to the edge and keep me there until I was unraveling in his arms. It was because I felt safe.

I don't like that. I don't like that she's worried—not here, not with me.

Because haven't I loved her forever? Even before she let herself look at me the way she did now—I was already hers. Even if she still doesn't quite know how to be mine.

As I head into the house with my family, I can't help but think I'd follow that girl anywhere.

"Because I've known you since we were kids, Mads. I've seen you at your best and at your worst. I've watched you push people away when you're scared, and I've seen the way you love—fiercely, completely when you let yourself." He pauses, his gaze intensifying. "And not once, not for a single moment, have I ever thought you weren't worth everything."

But none of it—none of it—compares to her.

They know Madison isn't just some girl to me. She's everything.

The contrast is devastating—this man, so capable of force, of power, touching me like I'm something precious.

"I want you," I continue, needing her to understand. "Not just tonight. Not just for now. I want all of you, in every way possible."

Because Madison isn’t just some girl I’m falling for. She’s it for me.

I feel like I’m drowning in the loss of her.

But the bruises kept coming, and I learned real fast that mistakes don’t happen over and over again.

I realize, right at this very moment, that not taking the risk doesn’t save you from pain. It just guarantees it.

Because at the end of the day, the physical pain? That'll heal. Losing her? That won’t.

Maybe healing isn’t some huge moment. Maybe it’s this. Choosing not to run. Choosing to sit still. Choosing to stay, even when it hurts.

The first time I realized leaving my old school, transferring here, was the easiest decision I’d ever made—because it led me back to her.

I was so sure we were meant to find our way back to each other. And maybe we were. Maybe we just weren’t meant to stay.

“Because the man you are off the field is just as important as the player you are on it.”

“You never chased her, man. You showed up for her. You fought for her. That’s not the same thing.”

The scars on my shoulder are still there, faint reminders of a past I can’t change, but I don’t flinch at them anymore. They’re part of me, but they aren’t all of me.