Page 97 of Broken

Scrambling, searching for footing but never finding it, my pom poms dropped from my hand as I grasped for the elusive railing, my fingertips only brushing over the metal bar just out of reach.

I wanted to sigh in relief when my foot met the step below but never got the chance. My ankle twisted on the poor landing, my body leaning too much into the stance for what the discomfited position could support. I’d swear I heard the snap but never felt the pain. Shock gripped me too tightly.

I screamed, but neither of the guys looked my way, too engrossed in their fight.

Or perhaps my mouth was only open in alarm.

As it happened, I watched Zane slam into Tucker, the force knocking him hard against the steep, metal steps above. A maneuver that would have slammed me into the railing behind him if I was still there. Zane leapt forward, pounding his fist into Tucker’s jaw only once before Tucker threw him from his body.

His eyes shot to the step where I’d been standing only seconds before and then widened in horror, the look of unadulterated terror in Tucker’s gaze the last thing I saw before I heard a deafening crack, and everything went black.

Chapter 26

TUCKER

I heard Izzy scream as Zane tackled me, and my vision went red. This jackass had already assaulted her once, bruised her, harassed her, and fucking frightened her more times than I was willing to count. And then the second he got a chance, he fucking did it again. No matter how many times I warned him off.

I landed against the stairs, hard, and a sharp pain stabbed at me as the edge of the step jabbed across my back. It sucked the air from my lungs, and before I could recover, Zane punched me in the jaw, knocking my head back against a step. My eyes flashed red with rage, and I grabbed onto him, flinging him away.

I leaned forward, my eyes searching for the step where Izzy would be, wanting to make sure she was okay. I didn’t think I’dbumped into her when Zane lunged, but something in the back of my mind told me I should have.

When I saw the empty step, the scream that still echoed violently in my ears suddenly sounded much more ominous. My eyes found hers a mere split second later, and fear rushed through me, like a claw piercing as it clenched at my heart in my chest.

I would’ve given anything to reach out to her, to save her from that terrifying fall, but I was too far away. I froze as that thought registered, my body temporarily paralyzed in shock. All I could do was watch in horror as she fell, holding her fearful, shocked eyes with mine for the few hour-long seconds before her head slammed into the corner of a bench several rows down. Her eyes shut instantly, her body going limp, and I felt my heart cripple in terror as Izzy tumbled down the rest of the stairs, unconscious.

She laid at the bottom of the stands, motionless, her body turned at unnatural angles, and when my body finally unlocked, I jumped up, leaping down the stairs to reach her, taking two to three steps at a time.

I had to reach her.

She had to be okay.

“Izzy!” I yelled, terror reining through my voice.

I couldn’t take it if she wasn’t okay.

“Tucker, no! Mateo, stop him!” Jet yelled out, the sound of my best friend barely registering over my panic. Annie’s screams for Izzy were much louder.

“You can’t move her!” Jet yelled again, but that hadn’t even crossed my mind. All I knew was that I had to reach her.

Leaping over the last row, I was suddenly knocked back, falling in a heap over the benches with someone on top of me. I shoved out and swung, making contact, but Mateo didn’t pull back, holding his ground. He took the blows freely as I kicked, punched, and shoved, desperate to break free.

“Fuck, Tucker, will you stop it?” Mateo grated.

“Get off!” I shouted. I just wanted to reach Izzy. She needed me. I had to tell her she’d be okay. Shehadto be. There was no other option my mind would consider.

“I can’t!” Mateo shouted back, now pinning my hands behind my back. “You can’t move her, man! You could make her worse!”

It took a second to sink in, but I stopped thrashing then, my body going limp in defeat as the truth of those words hit. I couldn’t touch her. Not if I wanted her to be okay.

I desperately needed her to be okay.

“Izzy!” Annie’s voice rang out over the night now that I was still. A part of me going numb. I watched through the space under the seat of the next bench as Annie collapsed only a few short feet from her limp twin, already scrambling to reach her side.

Jet pounced, wrapping his arms around her torso and pinning her arms to her sides. He sat back, pulling her into his lap as she screamed and thrashed against him. Cursing at him to let her go.

“Sweetheart, you have to calm down. You’re not helping her like this.Noneof us can help her like this,” he stressed in her ear.

She sagged, the fight going out of her like it had me.

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