Page 14 of Broken

He gives me a disgusted look but ruins it by smiling at me. “I’ll go get you some pudding, then.”

“In the alternative, you can just go back out and enjoy your evening and I’ll go to bed,” I suggest. He shakes his head, making it clear he’s not going to give me that option.

“I’ll be back,” he murmurs like some badass terminator that normally would make me tell him he’s a bad version of Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don’t. Mostly because he’s not a bad version. King couldneverbe a bad version of anyone. He stands alone. The man might be the only true friend I’ve ever had in my life.

I watch him leave and then walk over to my bed and collapse on it. I feel tired down to my bones. I can’t give into it, though, because I know King is coming back. So, instead, I allow myself a minute to close my eyes and wonder if there will ever be a time when my life isn’t so exhausting and difficult. I’m hoping Denver will be different, but I’m not holding onto much hope. Still, if I can make sure my little jellybean lives a life that’s easy and stress free, I’ll be happy.

I rub my stomach. That’s all that will ever matter to me.

Chapter 8

King

“You’re right,”I tell Gabby, who is mostly zoned out.

Her eyes are on the movie that’s playing on her television. I get the feeling she’s not really watching it at all. Still, she ate some sausage and peppers that Dragon fixed over the grill and all of Nicole’s banana pudding, so I couldn’t complain. I got food in her belly—which was the main goal. I’m reclined on her bed, my back to the headboard, a pillow tucked between. Gabby is much the same, her hand on her stomach, eyes locked on a television that again, I’m not sure she’s even seeing.

“Hm?” she hums, the small sound vibrating between her lips.

“Gabby?”

“Yeah?” she says, still not taking her eyes away from the television.

“Look at me,” I instruct.

It takes her a minute, and it seems harder than it should be, but eventually she turns to stare at me. “What?”

“I said you were right.”

She blinks and slowly her eyes clear as she focuses on me. “I was right?” she asks, to which I nod affirmatively. “What was I right about?” she asks, making me smile.

“Nicole’s banana pudding is the bomb.”

“Told you,” she says with a smile.

“You did. Although you also lied.”

Her body jerks and I see the panic in her eyes. I don’t like that look on her face and can’t pretend to understand why it appeared, but I ignore it for now. I figure Gabby has a lot of landmines in her head that can be triggered at any time. I know, because I do, too.

“I didn’t lie,” she denies at once, her body tight, and it dawns on me that she’s thinking the worst from my words.

I reach out and tag her hand, wrapping it around hers. I force her fingers to separate as I intertwine mine with them and squeeze. “You did.”

“I di?—”

“You told me Nicole’s pudding was healthy because it had bananas in it. Woman, there were no bananas in that shit.”

“It all tastes like bananas though, and that’s the important part.”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “I’m not quite sure I can agree with that. Are you engrossed in this movie or just lost in your head?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Nicholas Cage does great movies.”

“Uh …”

She laughs, already knowing what I’m going to say. “Okay, Nicholas Cage does two kinds of movies. They’re either really good or really bad. There is no in-between.”

“Is that so?”

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