Page 2 of Shattered Hearts

“That was mine!”

“You have more.” He looks down at the two in my hand. I clamp my hands over them, protecting them as he laughs. It’s bubbly and warm. I like it.

“Not fair.” I frown, taking one of them and shoving it in my mouth before he has the chance to steal it.

Grayson chews on his bottom lip, shrugging. “Are you going like them?”

I stare at him, wondering what he means when I hear the other boys shriek with happiness. Grayson flinches a little, and I slump again.

“Going where?”

“They didn’t want to play with me,” Grayson grumbles, and I look back at the other boys playing together.

Frowning, I look back at Grayson and put the last biscuit in his hand. “I’m staying here.”

A genuine smile pulls in his rosy cheeks.

TWELVE-YEARS-OLD

“Laynie!”

I look over my shoulder as Grayson comes running towards me from the porch. Jumping down all the steps at once like he’s a superhero or something (imagine a cape tied around his neck), he runs towards Mum’s car.

“Hi, G,” I say, unable to control my excitement.

A little out of breath once he catches up, he grins and pushes my door closed for me. He has swept his hair out of his eyes, possibly with hair gel from Reid, which I will definitely be teasing him for later tonight, because it doesn’t really suit him. I like his wild look more, not that I’d be telling him that anytime soon.

It’s not something that needs to be public knowledge.

Mum walks around the car with my backpack, gleaming at my best friend with her braided hair and paint covered overalls. “Hi, Gray,” she says calmly, giving him a once over and shaking her head. “You should have put your shoes on.”

Grayson snickers, shaking his polished hair that might just survive a nuclear bomb with how stiff it looks. “I hate wearing them. The ground is so much nicer.”

I glance down to catch his toes wriggling against the gravel dirt. “Until the prickly season rolls around,” I murmur, and he pinches my arm. “Ow. What was that for?”

Glaring up at him, Grayson’s crystal eyes shimmer with amusement and something deeper… tenderness, maybe? Unlikely.

His mouth twitches, his tone matching the intensity of his irises. “You deserved that, Biscuit Girl.”

My eyes roll, ignoring the way my skin fizzles like soda water, knowing that I’ll always love his nickname for me, even if I need to take that secret with me to the grave.

“Whatever, I’m starving.”

“Hi starving, I’m Grayson…”

Now it’s my turn to pinch him, hard.

Before I get the chance, Grayson takes off, laughing his way inside the front door as Mum hands me my backpack. “You two have fun. I’ll be back in the morning to pick you up, then you and I have a date with a rolling pin and the oven.”

A giggle bubbles out of me, knowing that our baking time is my favourite time of the week. It’s really the only time I have to spend with my mum, so I make it count.

Throwing my arms around her, I ask, “Can we make jam-filled ones this time?”

“Sure can. I’ll go to the store tonight before closing. If my girl wants jam-filled, then that’s what we’ll make. Now go inside and pinch that boy before he remembers why he ran away from you.”

I don’t miss her wink before she watches me dash into the Lawson’s home without a second glance back.

FOURTEEN-YEARS-OLD