Page 163 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

“I’m not sure he feels—”

“Trust me.” My smile grew. “As a girl hopelessly in love with her best friend, I know what it looks like.”

“You really think… huh.” Realization slammed into him. “I think I need to call him.”

“Yeah,” I smiled. “You do.”

“But I don’t want to leave you all alone. Not while you’re upset.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll go find Sofia and see if she’s ready to leave.”

I was so over tonight.

“Come on. I’ll walk you down.” He held out his hand and we made for the door. Eli let me go first, but didn’t let go of my hand and I was grateful for his comfort.

His friendship.

But the second we stepped out into the hall, the air shifted.

“Did you fuck him?”

“Aaron.” My eyes grew wide. He looked… wrecked. His shirt was disheveled, his eyes shot and red. And I was pretty sure there was blood on his knuckles.

“Oh my God, what did you do?”

“Bennet, I swear to fucking God, man.” Cole appeared, a nasty looking cut in his lip.

“You hit him?” I breathed.

“He wouldn’t let me up here.”

“What is going on?” I glared at him and then Cole.

Cole’s gaze dropped to where Eli’s hand was wrapped around mine and I yanked it away. Eli realized and hissed, “Fuck,” under his breath. “Aaron, man, I swear it’s not what it looks like. We were just—”

“Aaron,” I shrieked as he lunged for Eli, the two of them crashing into the wall.

“You touched her. You fucking touched her?” he growled.

“Oh my God, Aaron, stop. STOP!”

“Fuck,” Cole hissed, trying to get between them. But Aaron was wild, punching Eli over and over.

“What the hell?” Ezra appeared with Ashleigh and Sofia in tow.

“Do something,” I cried, and Ashleigh rushed over to my side, wrapping me in her arms.

“Poppy, calm down. You need to calm down.”

But I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t get air into my lungs fast enough, the edges of my vision blurring as waves of tears obstructed my eyes.

“Aaron, stop, this isn’t you,” Sofia tried to help Cole and Ezra pull Aaron off Eli.

“Aar—”

Sofia went down like a sack of bricks and someone screamed.

Me.

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