Page 83 of Broken

He gave me a scrutinizing look, his patience obviously starting to wear. “Maybe not, but I still can’t figure out why you’d choose to stay with him when you could come back to me.”

“Didn’t you just go on a date with Larissa? How about you go back to that?”

Zane rolled his eyes. “That was fucking, not dating. Thought it might make you jealous. Seems like I might have been right.”

I nearly gagged, choosing not to respond to that comment.He’ll just ignore or twist anything I say around, anyway.

Debating on what to say so I could try to get away, I flinched backwards as his hand raised, and flashbacks from that night last summer flew through my mind. I knew all too well how hard that hand could come down, and I wasn’t the only one to worry about this time. Instinctively, my hand flew to my stomach.

My breath returned when Zane chuckled, and I realized with a ripple of relief that he hadn’t been planning to hit me. Instead, his fingers wrapped in a few strands of my hair. He looked down to where my hand pressed against the slight bulge under my top, and his eyes flashed in angered disbelief before he graced me with a disgusted smirk.

“I guess that’s my answer.” But he said it a little too smugly, as if I’d just assured him that I’d be back with him in a heartbeat otherwise.

Nerves firmly intact, I stood still as Zane ran his fingers down through the dark, silky strands of my hair, but when he went as far as to tuck a lock behind my ear, I shuddered at the touch.

“At least I know it’s not mine,” he said before he turned, disappearing into a classroom on my right.

Chapter 22

TUCKER

I watched the troubled expression on Izzy’s face as she laid tucked against my chest later that afternoon, my arm curled around her back. She was deep in thought, and I was doing my best not to disturb her, even though she hadn’t spoken a word to me since she walked into our last period class. It had been a long day for both of us, harder than we’d expected it to be.

We laid quietly on my bed for a good while, and I began to wonder if Izzy might fall asleep in my arms. She looked so exhausted. I brushed my fingers through the long tresses of her hair that flowed across my bed, trying to help her relax so she could sleep, but her forehead crumpled with the opposite effect.

“Am I bothering you? Do you want me to stop?” I paused.

“No.” She sighed and nestled further into my chest. “It feels really nice. It just got me thinking about something.”

“About what?”

She didn’t answer at first, but I waited, my fingers still running through her hair as her sweet, candy and honeysuckle scent drifted around me.

“Tucker,” she eventually started. “Do you think we should have reported Zane last summer when he hit me?”

My brow furrowed, surprised at the conversation. “Yeah, we probably should have, but I didn’t think about it at first. So much happened that night. That and you never wanted to report my cousins.”

She shuddered. “That’s different. They’re your family. And don’t argue.” She cut me off before I could.

I gave a little grunt. “Either way, why did my messing with your hair make you think of Zane?”

She hesitated for a second but answered, “Because of what happened today at school.”

I tensed. “What happened?”

“He stopped me in the hallway again. He was still trying to convince me to leave you for him. As if he even had a fighting chance.”

Oh, I’ll give him a fight.Not that I’d say it out loud. Izzy was stressed enough. “I’m still not seeing the connection, princess.”

She sighed, deep and slow. “I was just wondering if we should have reported it because, for a second, I thought he was going to hit me again. But he was just reaching for my hair.” She shuddered at the memory, and I tensed beside her again, my hand coming to an abrupt stop about halfway down her back, all the things I wanted to do to Zane for making her eventhinkhe might hit her again rushing through my head.

“Please don’t,” Izzy said softly into my chest. “I don’t want to have to worry about this, too. Look what happened to Jet the last time you went after him.”

But at the moment I was too mad to care, everything I was holding back thrumming through my muscles.

“Tucker,” she gently urged, running two of her fingers along my chest.

I did my best to unclench my jaw. It didn’t work. “You expect me to just let it go?”

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