Page 202 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

I was going to give up everything for that jerkoff!

So this rejection is more than just a little sting. It’s a full-on incineration of my heart.

I dig through my bag for my phone so I can call an Uber, scrolling through the screens for the app. I jab at the screen, typing in my destination. I’m about to select an Uber X when Nate’s name flashes across my screen.

Shit.

He knows, doesn’t he?

Mom or Dad must have called him to drop the bomb.

I close my eyes for a brief second before I accept the call.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Jae, where are you?”

I bite the inside of my mouth. “Ah, well, I’m…by Marlins Park,” I say slowly, my eyes darting left and right. Well, at least I will be by the baseball stadium in about fifteen minutes if I get walking now. A shudder runs through me. It’s dark, and strutting through this neighborhood isn’t my most brilliant plan, especially in the outfit I’m wearing.

“Okay, get there and I’ll pick you up in a few minutes,” he says in a choked voice.

“Nate, what’s wrong?” I ask, hugging my arms around myself. I don’t know why. It’s seasonably scorching hot.

“Just…get there,” he rasps, struggling to keep his voice even. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“I’m not at Marlins Park,” I blurt out, my teeth chattering uncontrollably for some reason. “I lied. I’m sorry. I’m outside Eli’s building.”

I just hear deep breaths through the phone lines. “Stay there,” he says in what sounds to be a defeated voice. His tone is sad, broken, and completely uncharacteristic. “I’m close.”

“Nate,” I whisper, my heart thumping as blood rushes between my ears. “You’re scaring me. What happened?” I squeeze my eyes shut. “Did something happen to Mom or Dad?”

“Stay put,” he says, not answering my question. “I’ll be there soon.”

Click.

That’s when the impending dread morphs into my soon-to-be reality.

I stare at the phone for a few seconds, the screen again black.

Nate is on his way here, to pick me up for some reason that he couldn’t croak out over the phone.

He didn’t respond when I’d asked about our parents.

I press a hand to my forehead, swaying against the building. My breaths slice into my lungs like tiny shards of glass, sharp and shuddering. I sink to the ground, hugging my knees as shadows move past me along the sidewalk.

Something bad is coming.

I felt it before but pushed it aside, chalking it up to the blowout with Eli and the shattering of my heart.

But there’s more to come that will shatter the rest of me, I just know it.

I sense it.

It hangs in the air around me like a thick, dark ominous cloud.

My head falls into my hands as I cry silently into them.

I sit there, the pavement rough and cool against my skin, for what feels like hours, even days. Prayer has never been my thing since I’m not an overly religious person, but it’s the one thing that springs to my mind as I tremble in the balmy air.

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