Breaking the Rules (Pushing the Limits 1.50)

“Let’s leave.” With each step I take toward Echo, she mirrors a retreating step back. Her head shakes back and forth as if she already knows the truth. “I’ll explain it to you in private.”

Echo throws out both of her hands in a stop. “Explain it now!”

I’ve never felt more like dirt than in this moment. Moisture pools near the rims of her eyes, and this pulsating ache in my chest screams to comfort her. What’s killing my soul is that I’m the one that’s slashing her open. I’m the one causing the pain.

“Is she the reason you wanted to go to that party so badly?” Echo asks.

I nod, because I won’t lie.

“Did you sleep with her?” Echo shouts.

I blink rapidly, hating myself. “A year ago. She worked in Louisville for two weeks a year ago.”

Echo covers her face with her hands. “You slept with her?”

Jesus, she’s gutting me. “A year ago.”

Her shoulders shake, and the soft sounds of her devastation cause me to wipe at my own eyes. A sickness rolls in my stomach. The need is to touch her, to gather her into my arms, to make her better, to make us better, but I’ve hurt us. I’ve hurt her, and I can’t push Rewind.

“I’m sorry.” I don’t recognize my voice as it cracks. “Nothing’s happened since. I know I should have told you...I know I should have done a million things differently...” It’s pathetic, but it’s the damned truth. “Believe me, Echo.”

Her head drops forward as her shoulders curl. A tear escapes from the crevices between her fingers. “I loved you.” The pure agony in her muffled voice burns through me. “I loved you.”

Loved. I run my hands over my head. She doesn’t believe me. “I didn’t sleep with her. Not this summer. I love you. You’re my life.”

Echo’s hand darts out, and my head slams to the right. Pain across my cheek, and the waiting room vibrates with the smack.

Her chest moves too fast as silence fills the room. We stare at each other, and a glass wall builds between us—separating us.

Echo’s foot angles for the door, and I jump toward her. “Don’t go.”

“Don’t go? Don’t go! So I can stay and watch you with your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” I roar. “She means nothing!”

“You expect me to buy that? She bailed you out of jail!”

“Got the charges dropped,” Mia butts in.

Echo whips her head to her. “Shut it.”

“Go, Echo,” mumbles Beth, and Isaiah slices a hand across his neck, motioning for Beth to also shut it.

Echo leans into me like she’s willing to swing at me again. “I called my father and asked for bail money. I begged.”

I wince as the knife she just rammed into me twists. “Echo...”

She flinches like I’m radioactive with the sound of her name on my lips. “Go to hell.”

Echo turns for the exit. I’m on the move, and Isaiah blocks my path. My hand is out to shove past him, and he locks down on my arm. “Let her go.”

His gray eyes morph into steel, and the guy staring me down isn’t my best friend. Naw, he’s peering at me like I’m the enemy.

“She’s got this wrong,” I say.

“You fucked up, and she needs time.”

A shadow from the corner of my eye and Beth’s small hand extends out, palm up. Isaiah surveys me. “Move and your ass is mine.”