Page 34 of The Heart Breaker

I turn away and dig into my nightstand for a cigarette and my lighter. I cup my palm around the tip as I light it, inhaling deep until the burn hits my lungs and gives me something else to focus on.

I hear her boots clicking against the floor as she heads for the door, and I take another pull of the cigarette.

I shouldn’t look at her again, but I do anyway.

She’s at the door with her hand on the handle, and when her eyes meet mine, her throat works as she swallows. “No one can know,” she says again.

They’re the same words she said in the bathroom, but this time they sound more like a plea than a condition.

I blow out smoke. “Please. I wouldn’t brag about slumming it.”

Her shoulders go tight, and she cuts me a glare sharp enough to draw blood. If she had actual fangs, I’d already be dead. But all she does is lift her chin and yank the door open, not bothering to answer before she walks out.

I take another drag and stare at the empty doorway.

She’s gone.

Out of my room. Out of my head. Finally out of my system.

Now I can forget her.

13

AURORA

Ishould have faked a migraine and stayed home tonight.

But Maisie begged, Isabella nudged, and apparently I’m still dumb enough to think being around people might distract me from… everything.

So here I am, two days before Halloween, cutting across the quad with half the campus doing the exact same thing while the cold slices straight through my jeans. It’s freezing as hell, and I’m already regretting every life choice that led me here, but I have to admit, the whole thing looks kind of cool. String lights are wrapped around the trees, blue Colton U banners hang from the lampposts, and paper bats are hanging, flopping every time the wind hits them.

Front and center on the lawn, an inflatable screen is showing Scream, which almost makes freezing my ass off worth it. I slow without meaning to, watching Drew Barrymore pad around the kitchen, making popcorn while the phone rings.

Someone bumps my arm and I glance down, finally noticing just how packed the lawn is. People are everywhere—sprawled across blankets, huddled into lawn chairs, lined up at the food trucks parked off to the side.

I look over just in time to catch Ryan hooking an arm around Isabella and pulling her closer to him, his mouth brushing her ear. My eyes drift toward Austin, standing a few feet away, trying to toss popcorn into Maisie’s mouth. She misses every single one, popcorn flying everywhere and scattering all over the grass.

Austin just grins, sets the bucket down, and slides an arm around her waist, pulling her in for a kiss that earns a round of whistles from the people nearby. Maisie kisses him back anyway, her fists bunching in the front of his jacket like she doesn’t even hear them. Like the rest of the world dropped away the second he touched her.

I hear a scoff beside me and I turn, finding Nathan watching them with a smirk, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.

“Those two are cute, aren’t they?” I nod toward Austin and Maisie, who’ve wandered off to a quieter patch of grass. Austin shakes out a blanket, drops it down, then reaches for her hand and helps her sit.

Something in my chest pulls too tight, too fast, and I look away.

Nathan turns his head, catching it. “Stuff like this is probably rough when your boyfriend’s miles away, huh?”

I stiffen slightly, my brows shooting up, hoping he doesn’t notice. But Nathan isn’t oblivious. His brow dips in confusion before he smooths it out, probably deciding not to push.

“Long distance sucks,” I say, swallowing down the truth.

I could tell him we broke up. God knows everyone else on this campus seems to already know. But I like that he doesn’t. I like having one normal conversation. One person who isn’t looking at me like I’m the girl who lost her mind and smashed a bottle in her cheating ex’s room.

My phone buzzes.

Speak of the fucking devil.

I don’t even bother checking it. I already know what it says. Chase begging. Apologizing. Promising me the sun and moon now that he’s finally run out of other girls to screw.