Heartbreak (Stripped 1.50)

* * *

“Nothing’s going to happen to him,” Lucy says. “I mean, that kid last year was caught on tape and they still didn’t prosecute.”

I don’t answer. Of course they aren’t going to prosecute, not because some foster girl got hurt. I had known that from the moment I knew what sex was, from the time I realized it could be used to hurt me. We’re just bulldogs fighting in a cage. Like Blue said, that’s almost the point.

“I’m so sorry,” Mrs. Moreno had said, before dropping us off.

She’d been worried how I would take the news that they were letting Blue go. And if I had told the truth about who hurt me, I would have been terrified. Matthew would have been out for blood, out for revenge. Now it was Blue who would want revenge.

“What will happen to him?” I had asked, holding my breath.

“He’s enlisted.”

The military.

It’s not exactly safe, but at least there he’ll get training. He’ll have weapons. He won’t be in trouble for defending himself. He’s out of this place, and I should be happy about that. Even though I’m still here with Matthew and Lucy. It’s not the bliss that I felt with him, but it’s enough. I just wish he didn’t hate me, wherever they shipped him off to.

He must hate me.

That’s the part that hurts the most. Not even that I’ll never see him again. He’s better off away from here. It makes me ache to know that wherever he is in the world, he hates me.

My first boyfriend, if you could call him that. My first real kiss.

My first heartbreak.

Another girl comes in and gives us a nod, so Lucy grabs her clothes and heads for the shower. The entire upstairs is wrapped in plastic, so we’re crammed three to a room. At least until the state can move some of us to other houses.

I kneel by my knapsack to get a nightgown. We were all allowed upstairs for a few hours yesterday so we could grab any clothes that weren’t ruined by the fire—or the water that drenched everything. I make a face at the smell of smoke that blasts me when I open the canvas flap.

It smells almost like…leather?

I reach inside. My hand grabs a familiar leather jacket. My eyes widen, and I pull it out. I know this wasn’t in my room when I went up there to grab my stuff. When could he have put this here? I spread open the jacket and search the pockets. There’s a piece of paper folded inside one, a rough scrawl inside.

Thanks for the memories, it says, and I can feel his fury and betrayal lacing every word.

Until next time.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this special look into the first love and heartbreak of Blue and Hannah. Find out what happens when they meet again in Better When It Hurts, a dark and sexy second chance full-length novel. It’s payback time.

“Better When it Hurts is an intense and heartbreakingly beautiful story. I couldn’t read fast enough to see what would happen next with Blue and Lola. A definite 5 star read for sure!”

~ Jenika Snow, USA Today bestselling author

Click here to read Better When It Hurts now!

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Better When It Hurts