Page 16 of Hooves & HeartStrings

“Oh, Marley. He seemed nice when I met him. Hot as fuck, too. You know I don’t care about the whole not human thing,” Stacy consoles me, wrapping an arm around me and caressing my biceps.

“But he’s half horse. I mean, he literally has big ears, two horse legs with hooves, and a fucking tail, Marley. A tail!” Dahlia spits and I whip my head to the other end of the table and glare at her.

“Dahlia, I’d watch your fucking mouth if I were you. One more word like that against my centaur and you’ll leave here on a stretcher. He won’t even speak to me because of what he overheard. I hurt him by trying to save face with you. But your friendship isn’t that important to me if you can’t accept who I love, or don’t have the same values as me. Monsters exist, we’ve known for years, and in a few short weeks they’ll be at CSU, so fall in line and accept they’re real beings with very real feelings, or feel free to leave me alone and forget I exist,” I snap at her, my chest heaving as I yell at her.

“That goes for me too,” Stacy purses her lips as she cocks her head to the side.

“I’m sorry, Marley. I don’t know if I can be all in like you with Monsters. But I won’t be a bitch and I’ll be open to the possibility of making a Monster friend or two,” Posey smiles at me and I wink at her.

“Okay, I can stop being a bitch. I’ve actually always been curious about Monster men or ladies, but I was worried about what others would think.” Mindy giggles. “And I’m sorry I called Lucius a freak. If I see him again, I’ll apologize to him personally.”

Dahlia scoffs, pushing her chair back, and standing up. “I’m out of here. Stacy, wait till your boyfriend hears you’re on the Monster train.”

“I dumped his ass last night, so, by all means, go tell him,” Stacy smirks.

Dahlia storms from the ice cream shop with two of our other friends trailing behind her. No skin off my back if they don’t see the value in all life, not just humans.

“So, what do you say we blow this popsicle stand and do some shopping for the first day of classes?” Posey interrupts and I throw my head back in a laugh.

“Yeah, I could use the distraction. I’ve called and texted Lucius and he won’t speak to me. Maybe you guys can help me brainstorm a plan to get him back. Or at least to make him listen to my apology.” I murmur, taking a few deep breaths so I don’t start crying again.

“Deal! Let’s go!” Stacy yells, standing up and pulling me up with her. I walk arm in arm with her and Posey, with Mindy holding Posey’s other arm as we exit the shop.

We’re laughing at how ridiculous we probably look, but don’t care, when I see Luci’s uncle’s truck pass us with Luci in the passenger seat. He doesn’t even notice me, or if he does, he doesn’t show it. I, however, notice him and the luggage in the back of the truck.

He’s leaving. I… I…can’t breathe. My chest feels like it’s cracked open and my heart torn out. I collapse to the sidewalk, tearing up my knees in the process, but I don’t care. The pain inside me is far worse than some scrapes. The dam opens and I sob right there in front of Scoopies with my friends circling me, trying to console me.

So this is how it feels to have a broken heart.

nine

Being back home feels wrong. No matter how conflicted my mind is right now, my heart is back in Coral Springs with Marley.

The sting of her words is still fresh. It took a couple of days before I was able to listen to her voicemails and read her texts. Each one of them made me even more confused. I hated to hear her upset, but no matter how much I want to be back there with her, it would never work unless she truly could accept me for who I am.

I’d never ask someone to choose me over another, but in this case, would that be too much to ask? For her to pick me, her mate, over such hateful-minded so-called friends of hers?

Okay, so she doesn’t know we’re mates, yet, but wasn’t our summer together enough to show her just how much we’re meant to be?

“Luci, sweetheart.” My mother’s voice sounds from the other side of my bedroom door. “You need to come out of your room at some point.”

I’ve already filled my mom in on everything. She’s not an easy person to keep things from. She took one look at me and knew something was up.

Sighing, I close the lock screen on my phone—a photo of me and Marley that I’ve been staring at endlessly for an unhealthy amount of time—and head for the door.

“Why?” I ask her. “What's out there for me to do that I can’t do in here?”

She crosses her arms and raises a brow, her brown hair pulled up in a messy bun. She’s a lot shorter than me, coming to right about my chest. Her face means business but it’s hard to take her seriously when she’s so tiny.

“First off, you have to make a choice on what you're going to do. If it’s Coral Springs, you have only a few days before you need to head back for orientation, school starts just a few days after that. And if your choice is the internship, then that’s in two weeks.”

“I know.” I sigh heavily, running a hand through my messy brown locks. “Trust me, I know. It’s all I’ve been thinking about, okay?”

“Don’t get snippy with me. I brought you into this world, I can take you right out of it. Now, go shower, you smell like a damn barn. And then I want you to go see your friends. They’ve always been the ones to help you through things like this. As much as I wish you would take my advice, I know you need at least three more people putting in their opinions before you make a choice.” She’s not wrong. I’ve never been someone to just make decisions on a whim.

I like to think things through, know what I’m getting myself into, and make sure it’s the right choice.

Marley was the one thing that I didn’t need to think twice about, not really. I knew I wanted her from the moment I laid eyes on her. Finding out she was my mate was just the cherry on top.

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