Breaking Beast (Pounding Hearts 4)

“Nicole?” I blurt out.

“Christy!” she exclaims.

“Oh my god, where have you been?” I ask, my voice hitting a high octave as I drop my fork to my plate.

“Ugh, you’ll never believe it but my damn phone nearly exploded on me.”

“What?!”

“Yeah. When I got home from my dad’s, I plugged it in to charge and the battery exploded.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, but it ruined the outlet, and I had to wait a few days to get a new one.”

“I was wondering what happened…” I admit and peek over at Alex.

He’s staring down hard at his plate but his head is cocked slightly to the side like he’s listening.

“Are you okay?” she asks, her voice softening with concern for me. “Do you want me to pick you up? Where are you staying?”

“I’m okay…” I say.

There’s a pause like she expects me to explain more before she asks. “Do you want me to pick you up?”

“No,” I answer and bite my lip, thinking. I don’t feel comfortable explaining everything that’s happened in front of Alex, especially because he’s such a big part of it.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks, sounding worried now. “If you’re being held against your will, say the weather outside is shitty.”

I laugh at that. “It’s actually a very nice day outside.”

“Okay…” she drags out and I sense her confusion.

It’s not like me to keep secrets from her.

“Look, I’m getting ready to leave for work. Can I call you on my break?”

“Yeah,” she answers. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes,” I answer her honestly.

She doesn’t mask her sigh of relief.

“What time are you going to take your break?”

“Around noon.”

“Okay. Maybe I’ll stop by for a bite to eat.”

“That would be great.”

There’s another long pause between us.

“Christy,” she says uneasily as if she’s been dreading this. “My mom said Travis stopped by while I was at my dad’s, looking for you.”

I can’t stop my little gasp of horror. Out of the corner of my eye I see Alex’s head jerk up from his plate.

“He didn’t find you, did he?” she asks.

I give my head a little shake and then realize she can’t see it.

“No,” I answer, all the eggs in my stomach churning and threatening to come back up.

Travis is still looking for me? Fuck.

“Good,” she says, relieved.

“What did she tell him?”

“She didn’t know where you were so she told him she didn’t know where to find you. But now she’s asking me questions…”

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her you two had a fight.”

I guess that’s close enough to the truth.

“But I think she feels obligated or something to let him know if she sees you.”

“Shit.”

“Do you want me to tell her the truth?”

“No,” I answer hastily. “Don’t do that.”

“But…” she starts to protest.

I glance uneasily towards Alex. He’s watching me intently now and not even trying to hide it. “We can talk more about it later. I promise I’ll explain everything.”

She sighs unhappily. “Okay.”

“I really gotta go… I’ll talk to you later.”

I think she’s finally getting the hint.

“Okay, I’ll see you later.”

“Later,” I tell her and hang up.

I stare down at my phone for a moment before slipping it back into my pocket. I’ve been dying to talk to Nicole for days but that phone call did not provide the relief I was looking forward to. There was just no way to explain everything that’s happened in front of Alex, not without getting him involved in my mess.

“Who was that?” he asks before taking a big bite out of a piece of bacon.

I look down at my plate. There’s still half a pile of eggs waiting for me.

“That was my best friend, Nicole.”

Alex nods his head and chews thoughtfully. Swallowing, he takes a huge gulp of his milk, and I watch his throat work before he asks, “Everything okay?”

I nod my head and push my plate away.

“You should finish your eggs,” he says sternly.

I look up, meeting his eyes, but his stare is so intense I end up looking away.

With a sigh, I pull the plate back and dig in.

* * *

Nicole ends up calling me at work instead of stopping by. I spend the fifteen minutes of my break quickly explaining everything to her and letting her know I’m okay.

She’s not totally sold on my new living situation, but now that Travis is sniffing around her place, staying with her is no longer an option.

She wants me to go to the police, but for the thousandth time I explain it’s just his word against mine. They’re not going to do anything until he actually does something to me, and I’ll be damned if I give him the opportunity.

I’ll just keep avoiding him until he gets bored and moves on. And if he doesn’t move on, well, I’m only getting stronger…

Because I have training all week, we agree to meet up and hang out on my first day off—which happens to be Friday. It’s all a bit anticlimactic, and a little more tense than I expected, but it feels really good talking to her again and getting it off my chest.