Page 138 of Broken Pieces
I move closer, each step loud in the quiet.
“You think I’m a fucking joke?”
That gets his eyes on me. He straightens.
“What?” he says.
I swallow hard. “You think I can easily forget what happened? That it meant nothing to me? I’m not some broken charity case you pitied enough to touch for one night before tossing aside.”
His mouth parts as if he’s about to speak, but no words come. He stands there, arms stiff at his sides.
The silence afterwards feels louder than the words.
And I hate how my chest burns, how my throat feels like it’s caving in.
Hate the tears in my eyes, the way my voice cracked at the end. I blink fast, furious with myself, because I am not that girl.
I don’t cry over boys. I don’t fall apart over someone who clearly doesn’t want me.
But, fuck, I wanted to matter to him.
Just once, I didn’t want to be the girl people walk away from when the high wears off.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Zane
Therearetearsinher fucking eyes, and it cracks something in me I didn’t know I was holding together.
She turns to go, and the second she moves, something inside me snaps.
“Sky.”
She freezes, but doesn't turn to face me. She stands there, spine locked up as if she’s bracing for another hit.
I step around the car until I’m in front of her.
That’s when I realize what I’ve done.
Her eyes are glassy. Shining with something more profound than pain. It’s not only hurt. It’s betrayal. And I fucking did that to her.
It hits harder than any punch I’ve ever taken.
I drag a hand through my hair. Every part of me wants to grab her face in my hands, press my forehead to hers, tell her I didn’t mean to fuck this up. But I did.
I always do.
I fuck everything up. I break the only good things I get.
“You’re not a broken charity case, Sky” I say, voice thick.
She doesn’t react. Just stares up at me, and lets me stand there in the mess I made.
“You’re not like the others.”
“What others?”
I swallow hard. My jaw grinds.
