Unbroken Rules (Rules 3)

“I got Chinese. I’m not letting you starve over a boy.” She takes off her coat and kicks her boots off. It’s been snowing for three days straight.

“Where’s Kendrick?” I ask.

“He went to run some errands. He’ll be back soon. Hey, hm… Caleb called me again. He told me to tell you he’s sorry.”

I shrug as a response, and Allie knows better than to insist. I can’t technically be mad at him for exposing Haze. Yes, he was the biggest asshole I’ve ever met, but in the end, he was the only one to be honest with me.

What hurt the most is how satisfied he was when he told me. How much he seemed to enjoy driving a stake through my heart. And did he really have to do it on my birthday? In front of everybody to top it all off?

“Seriously? You haven’t moved at all since I left? You’re going to merge with the couch, Winter. What’s next? A wedding?” Allie rests takeout boxes in front of me and drops down on the couch. I bend forward and pick my food off the coffee table.

“You know what? Maybe I should. At least the couch won’t lie to me.”

She laughs. “Winter Kingston, now dating furniture after giving up on men.”

My phone lights up again.

Haze Adams is calling.

I press Decline and hope she didn’t see it. I don’t want her to talk about hi—

“He’s persistent, I give him that.”

Shit.

“You still won’t talk to him?”

I don’t reply.

“Listen, I know I don’t get to tell you what to do, but you should pick up. At least give him a chance to explain.”

“Why? For him to lie to me again? Roberto and I are good, thanks.” I pat the couch, and she chuckles.

“Now she’s naming the couch. That’s it. Get up.” She plucks the takeout box from my hand before I can take a bite.

“Hey!” My empty stomach screams at me. I haven’t eaten once today, and it’s past 1:00 p.m.

“Later. Did you shower today?” She arches an eyebrow. I shake my head. I probably look like Shrek. I’ve been doing my best to avoid mirrors. I already have a broken heart; I don’t need nightmares, too. “You, my dear, are in desperate need of an Allievention.”

“Allievention?” I frown.

“Allie intervention, duh. Get your ass off the couch,” She pulls me to my feet. I groan. “Hop in the shower. We’re having a girls’ day.”

HAZE

I curse under my breath as my call goes straight to voicemail for the billionth time today. I want to throw my phone against the wall, take a baseball bat to the screen until shattered pieces spread across the floor. I want to break it, wreck it. But I know I’ll just end up running to the store to get a new one so I can keep calling her—sorry, getting ignored by her.

She’s been dodging my calls for the past four days, and I’m losing my goddamn mind. It’s gotten to the point of thinking I hear her voice everywhere I go, almost having a heart attack whenever my phone lights up. Every time, I hope it’s a message from her, and every time… it’s not.

I can’t stop thinking about her alone at home. I wonder what’s stopping me from driving over there and begging her to listen to me. She won’t have a choice but to forgive me.

I know she needs time and I shouldn’t come back until she’s ready to talk to me, but fuck, it’s hard. Crashing at Vic’s is already pissing me off. He’s going through heartbreak, too. And while I’m a fucking mess, I’m nothing compared to him. You see, I’m a mess with hope—he has none. He’s sloppy, rude, getting drunk at every hour of the day, and he’s bringing random girls home every night. He goes out, finds someone to fuck, brings her home, and kicks her out. Then he goes back out the next day and does it all over again.

It’s over, Haze.

Her words rip me open.

No, it’s not.