Page 7 of The Heartbreak List

EJ can barely make eye contact, but when he does he looks like he’s going to vomit. “That’s if it’s cancer, right? What if it’s not?”

“They can still be highly effective treatments,” the doctor says.

“Gray?” My voice seems to be trying to desert me. “What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to get through this, Indy.” Gray holds on as tight as ever. “Whatever it takes.”

Chapter Three

Theo

Thedancemusicpumpingin the nightclub down below fades away as I follow the gorgeous brunette through the stairwell. My skin is slick with sweat and my ribs ache from where I took a mean right hook during the fight, but that’s not enough to weigh me down.

The brunette whose name has either escaped me, or I didn’t ask for it in the first place, twists to face me with a giddy expression. “You ready?”

“Sure am, sweetheart.” I swallow a mouthful of Jameson and pass the two-thirds empty bottle to her as I tug her back down a couple of steps. My lips find her collarbone and I give it a nip. “The question is, are you?”

She whimpers as she threads her hands into my hair and seeks out my lips. “I’ve always wanted to fuck on the roof of a high-rise. Do you think they’ll be able to see it on satellite?”

“I’d count on it.” I haul her ass up with one hand and grind against her while I kiss her dirtily. I can’t get enough. The first impact. The chase. It’s a total high.

She moans as her back hits the cement wall and her legs wrap around me. Her tiny leopard print dress rides up and exposes her ass and thighs. Glued together, we stumble the next few stairs to the roof access.

I have my jacket halfway off as we burst through the doorway and onto the roof. I finish shedding it and drop it on the ground to stop the door from being able to latch when I notice the broken brick. Someone else is already up here.

I drop the brunette to her feet on the concrete as I spot the woman standing on the raised ledge. She has both hands on the railing and strands of her coppery-brown hair fly loose in the wind.

“What did you do that for?” the brunette pouts.

Shit. Is she going to jump? “Hey.”

The girl startles.

My stomach pitches. Fuck, I didn’t mean to frighten her. That was so stupid.

“Oh my God.” The brunette gasps behind me.

I gesture at her to stay where she is as I take deliberate strides across the rooftop toward the woman on the ledge. Not so slow I don’t have a hope of reaching her, but not so fast it scares her into action.

“Hey.” My heart is booming like a drum at how close to the edge she truly is, but I’ve already spooked her. I work to keep my voice as even and measured as possible. “You should get down from there.”

She moves forward one bare-footed inch. Her legs are bare too, under a black suit jacket that is way too big and masculine for her slight frame. The railing isn’t high enough to keep her from climbing it if she’s determined enough.

I can’t let that happen.

“Oh God, you have to help her,” the brunette yells at me, her voice strained.

“I’m trying,” I snap over my shoulder before focusing on the girl. I was having such a sweet night, riding the high of winning my match coupled with whiskey and lust. Rescuing some chick with a death wish wasn’t on my dance card for this evening. “Hey, what’s your name?”

Her shoes have been discarded at the base of the ledge. Her knuckles are white from her grip on the railing. “Go away.”

“I can’t do that.” I scratch the back of my head. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do here. How I’m supposed to convince her to get down when things must be terrible for her to be up there in the first place. I’m the last person to say that things can get better when you hit that low point.

But things don’t get worse once you’re at rock bottom either. It’s one consistent level of misery and shit.

“It’s Indy.” Her voice is thready and evaporates in the wind.

“Indy? That’s a beautiful name.” It’s pretty and unusual and makes me think of blue summer skies. The kind that makes even the grumpiest person want to smile. “I’m Theo. Do you think you could come down from there?”

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