AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tears spring to my eyes. “I give you attitude, so you break my shit? You know I worked hard for that phone! You know I can’t afford another one!”
Alex picks it up and taps on the screen. It lights up, but the shattered glass is hard to miss. “Still works.” He tosses it on the couch and stomps over to me, his fists clenched at his sides. “Where were you, Maia? And why didn’t you bring your damn phone?”
“You know what, Alex? I don’t have to answer to you.” I cross my arms and force myself to stand tall even though it takes every ounce of confidence I can muster.
“What the hell has gotten into you? All this attitude and disappearing. You left last night without a word and then took off somewhere today while leaving your phone shut off at home. Fucking bullshit, Maia. I have a right to ask my girlfriend questions.”
“Well, actually, I have a right to ask my boyfriend some questions, too.” I step around him, but he grabs my arm and pulls me against his chest. I try to break free of his grasp, but he holds on tight.
“Let go of me, Alex, or I’ll scream. My roommates will believe me over you any day.”
He loosens his grip but doesn’t fully let go. “I want to know why you’re acting this way,” he growls.
“Maybe you can explain it better. Going through my phone and laptop when you think I’m sleeping, or sneaking out of the room and not returning for hours. Last night, you took your keys so I know you went somewhere. I wasn’t about to lay there and wait for you to come home from God knows where.”
Alex lets go of me, and I stumble forward, catching myself on the edge of the couch. What an asshole.
I turn and face him. “Surprised I know?” The bravery comes from somewhere inside me, and I grasp at it with all my might in hopes I don’t lose my strength.
Alex shrugs. “I don’t fucking care, honestly.”
“Wow, why are you being such a jerk?”
“You think I’m stupid? I know you were with Rhett today. I saw you on the boardwalk.”
“And? We’re just friends. Unlike the girl at the Halloween party who was all over you.”
“She’s simply just a friend, Maia.”
“Yeah, it really looked like she was only a friend,” I snap, and his nostrils flare. I study him for a moment, his anger seeping through the room and choking the air right from my lungs. We’re at a standoff. I want to scream.
“Shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Look, I’ve had a long day. I’d like to shower and go to bed. I need to be up early to finish my paper.”
“Whatever. I’d rather not spend my night with a bitch. Hope Rhett fucked you good because I ain’t touching your slut ass.”
His words cause my blood to run cold. I ignore the pain they cause as they rip through the scars of his previous damage. How many times can the same heart be torn apart?
Where he once made my heart so full, now he leaves it to bleed out until it’s empty and barely beating.
Why?
Tears leak down the sides of my face, and I hastily wipe them away. “Get out.” I mutter before a sob snatches my voice right from my throat.
“Gladly,” he shouts before slamming the door behind him. I cringe at the sound.
“Maia, are you okay?” Lennox’s voice says from somewhere behind me as I rush to the door and lock it. “I’m so sorry. He said you knew he was waiting here for you.”
Everleigh walks into the living room. “What’s going on? I heard yelling and a door slam.” She runs a hand through her hair, looking very sleepy.
I turn and face them before crumpling to the floor in a heaping crying mess.
“Oh my God, Maia!” Everleigh says as they both rush over to me. They sit beside me and wrap their arms around me.
I’ve heard Alex’s hurtful words before, but tonight…tonight, they felt different somehow. More hurtful. More damaging. More everything.
“I don’t like what he says to you,” Lennox says. “Has he always talked to you that way?”
