Page 129 of The Heart Breaker

Clearly I was wrong.

So I lift my chin higher and I say the only thing left. “Nothing.” My voice shakes, but I keep going. “I don’t want anything from you.”

I turn around before the tears can fall.

I head down the stairs, wiping at my face, and don’t look back. I hear his door shut behind me just before I push out of the building, and the second I’m outside, the tears come harder, blurring everything in front of me.

I make it as far as the fence before I stop, pressing a hand over my mouth as a broken sound rips out of me and my heart breaks into a million pieces.

My dad wants nothing to do with me.

Chase hit me.

Cole is done with me.

Why is it so easy for people to leave me? What the hell is so wrong with me that nobody ever stays? Why am I so disposable?

Am I that impossible to love?

I wipe at my face and grab my phone, my hands shaking so badly I nearly drop it before I manage to hit call. The line rings, and for a second I think maybe she won’t answer, maybe I’ll have to sit here and keep falling apart by myself, but then I hear her voice.

“Aurora?” my mom says, already sounding panicked. “Are you okay?”

A sob catches in my throat. “You were right, Mom.”

35

COLE

Ican feel Coach watching me, his eyes tracking every missed shot, every second I’m too slow getting where I need to be.

My head isn’t on the ice. Hasn’t been since last night.

I catch a pass off the boards, lose it on the turn, and have to fight to get it back before Ryan can get on my ass for skating like shit. My shoulders ache, but it’s got nothing to do with practice. It’s from sleeping like crap and checking on Sophie constantly.

Every time I looked over and saw her curled up under the blanket in one of my T-shirts, my chest locked up so hard it was hard to breathe. She looked too small like that. Too young. Too much like every version of herself I’ve ever wanted to get the hell out of that house for good.

That image has been stuck in the back of my head since I left for the rink.

So has Aurora’s face, which sure as fuck isn’t helping.

I haven’t spoken to her since she walked out of my apartment looking like I’d ripped her open with my bare hands. I could act like I haven’t been thinking about that and haven’t felt sick every time her face flashes into my head.

I could also tell myself I’m having a great practice.

Both would be bullshit.

I push off, cut across the zone, and try to focus on the drill instead of all the shit churning in my chest All I feel is anger at the fact that we have a piece of shit for a father and that my sister got hurt.

Anger that I didn’t see this coming.

I should’ve known something was wrong with Sophie before she showed up at my apartment.

I should’ve pushed harder. Called more. Paid better attention.

I should’ve never let things get this far with Aurora.

I should’ve?—