Page 34 of Broken Pieces
“Trust me,” I say, shaking my head, “he doesn’t give anyone attention.”
“Except you.” Her voice slips into a sing-song, every note dragged out, sweet and cruel at the same time, just to watch me twitch.
I shake my head and lengthen my stride, but she falls in beside me without effort, her steps syncing with mine like muscle memory.
By the time we hit the sidewalk, the rhythm feels rehearsed, two shadows moving in tandem. Cassie tears open another stick of gum and shoves it between her teeth, chewing hard, working it as if she has a personal grudge to settle.
“You know one day you’ll choke on that shit if you keep stuffing your mouth the way you do,” I mutter.
Cassie acts as if she didn’t hear me, her gaze drifting to the cars that blur past, her jaw working slower now, just enough to show she did. Then she turns back, one eyebrow arched, eyes sharp with the kind of curiosity that never lets go.
“You know you can’t change the subject. He almost knocked that guy’s teeth out.”
A knot forms in my gut, because she’s right. I have no fucking idea why Zane lost it, why his fury went nuclear in the span of a single breath. Especially when it was over me.
“Cass…”
She doesn’t stop.
“Jesus, Sky. When a guy starts throwing hands over you, that usually means something.”
I halt mid-step, the weight of her words pinning me in place.
The street keeps moving around us, alive with its own noise and rhythm—cars tearing past, dogs barking from behind fences. I turn and face her head-on, pulse climbing.
“Don’t.”
Her eyebrows arch high. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t twist it into something it’s not. Don’t make it sound pretty. It’s not cute, Cass. It’s not some fucked-up fairytale. He’s not a broody hero fighting for the girl. He’s… he’s Zane.”
She studies me in silence, lips pressed so tight they turn pale.
When she finally speaks, her voice is softer, but it cuts sharper. “And you’re acting like that’s not exactly why you’re spiraling.”
I don’t answer.
I can’t.
My throat locks around every word. So I shove my gaze forward instead, eyes on the cracks splitting apart the sidewalk, praying Zane’s name will fade out of my head if I just keep staring hard enough.
Cassie sighs, dramatic as always, then flicks her gum into a drain with a flourish only she could make look intentional. “For someone who insists it’s nothing, you sure talk about him a lot.”
“I don’t talk about him.”
Her smirk blooms, slow and merciless. “You breathe him.”
She stays smug in her silence, wearing it like a crown. Because she knows she’s won. She always does. And even though I hate her being right, she’s my best friend. The only person who can throw shit like that in my face and still walk away.
The worst part… she’s not wrong.
Zane isn’t just someone I think about. He’s something I feel,a bruise I can’t stop pressing, gravity I never signed up to orbit.
“Can you just drop it, Cass, for fuck sake.”
Her grin only widens, stretching until it’s all teeth. She pulls me into a quick hug, her whisper brushing my ear. “One day you’ll open up and tell me the things you’re too scared to fucking say.”
“Not today.”
