Beautifully Broken

Rex and I have been hanging out after school watching movies or chilling at the beach until my pretend curfew of midnight, to which I pretend to text Mamma T and tell her I’m not coming home. I’ve pretty much taken up residency in Rex’s guest room. The reason being, I don’t trust myself with Rex. He’s handsome and sweet and patient. Most importantly, he turns me on and I’m scared I won’t be able to control myself if we share a bed.

Rex pulls me into him, swallowing me with his massive frame. I nuzzle my nose into his chest, breathing in the scent of his cologne. “Ready to go?”

Cooper turns around, a scowl on his face. “You’re not coming home tonight?”

“I promised Rex I’d watch a movie for a bit tonight.” Lie. Why am I lying to him? All I’m doing is creating more walls, encouraging the space to grow between us. I wish we could go back to last week. I wouldn’t have chased after Cooper. He wouldn’t have opened his heart to me and things would be normal…ish. “I’ll probably be home late.”

“Whatever,” Cooper mumbles walking past us.

“I’ll drop her off as soon as she’s ready,” Rex says cautiously.

I never made it back to the cafeteria that day. I fell to my knees when Cooper left and cried. I cried until I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. My heart broke with each inhale. I lost my best friend because I couldn’t love him right. Because he couldn’t heal me and ultimately, because I chose someone else.

Rex found me curled in a corner and carried me to the nurses office. She gave us a pass for the day and he brought me back to the Horizon Hotel. We laid under an umbrella until the sun set and I was calm again. He didn’t ask what happened. I think he knew something monumental passed between Cooper and I, and he understood. There was no jealousy or bitterness, just compassion and understanding.

My phone dings an hour into tonight's movie. Rex reaches over the side of the couch with one arm and hands me my bag. I sit up, leaving the warmth of his chest and rummage through the oversized messenger satchel until I find my phone. I pull out my life—a pair of jeans, two extra shirts, a school skirt, my bag of makeup, and two handfuls of random pens—until finally finding my phone zipped in a pocket it doesn’t belong in.

Bane: Your boy’s here.

Me:?

What does he mean my boy’s there? I don’t have any...oh no.

Cooper.

I chew the inside of my cheek, using the pain to keep the tears welling behind my eyes at bay. Cooper hates Bane. Nothing good can come from

him being there. If it wasn’t for my overdose night, Cooper wouldn’t even know where Bane lives.

I’d been hiding out at Bane’s for a little over a week by that point. We both knew at some point Gerald would figure out where I was. The man’s dumb but he’s not stupid. It was just a matter of time until he had someone camp out in front of the apartment complex, waiting to snatch me up when I left. But the thought of leaving, of being seen, or worse being taken was too much.

I weighed my options. No matter which way I figured it, I was going to get caught, raped and probably killed. No one stabs a mob boss or drug lord or whatever Gerald is and gets away with it. Bad guys don’t keep their tough reputation by letting scrawny eighteen-year-old girls get the best of them. The deciding factor was how many people were going to be hurt in the process.

My decision? One.

Bane had a stash of pills in his bathroom. He wasn’t dealing, never had, but his recreational stash was stout. I locked the bathroom door and dumped a few of each in my hand. I had no clue what they were but figured something would work. I just hoped they’d put me to sleep and it would be an easy death.

Everything after that is a blur. Somehow, I woke up in Cooper’s bathroom, throwing up everything in my stomach. It couldn’t have been the first time I puked either. My chest ached, my stomach knotted and my head was pounding. Next thing I know I’m in his bed, a wet rag on my head, being told I was moving in.

Bane: Come to my house.

Me: Is it safe?

Not that safety matters at this point. Cooper’s family. Even if we are fighting, I’d give my life for him.

Bane: Honestly, no. Crew’s out tonight but he can’t stay.

Me: Fuck. Okay be there as soon as I can.

I drop my phone in my lap and pull the elastic from my hair, just to tie it up again. I pick up my phone, scrolling through the contacts and stop at Logan’s name. My thumb hovers over it, before hitting the home button. I can’t bring Logan into this. He’ll lose his temper, draw attention to us, and then we’ll all be in trouble. I drop my phone beside my leg, between Rex and me.

Think.

Think

Think.

“You good?”