Page 71 of Tiny Fractures

“What happened?” she asks again, a crease between her eyebrows as she looks me over with concern in her eyes.

“I tripped over Onyx when I got home last night.” It’s scary how easily I’m able to come up with excuses for injuries, but it’s something I have a lot of experience in, and I don’t even bat an eye as I do it.

“And what, you fell out of the second-story window?” Zack says. “Those bruises look painful.”

I chuckle, plastering a fake smile on my face. “No, but I fell onto the damn stairs. I should have turned on the hallway light, I guess.”

“It looks like it hurts,” Cat says, and her fingertips caress my arm gently, causing goose bumps to travel all the way down into my hand.

“It’s a lot better now,” I say, meaning it. “Your touch feels good.”

She smiles at me, a pink hue creeping up her cheeks.

Casey, one of the Murphy’s waitresses, walks toward our table. “Hi everyone,” she says with a smile before she gives me a quick wink and touches my left forearm.

“Hey Casey,” Shane says. “How has it been today so far?” he asks, going into work mode.

“Busy as usual for a Saturday morning,” she says, wiping her brow with her forearm. “Jenna called out, but Tyler was able to come in, which is good. What time are you coming in today?”

“Five,” he says. “Ran, too,” Shane adds with a nod in my direction.

Casey turns to me, an even bigger smile on her face. “Awesome. I won’t get off until eight. I’m excited to hang out with you guys for a little bit,” she adds. “Are you guys ready to order?”

We go around the table ordering our food and drinks, and Casey eyes Cat intensely as Cat wavers between two menu options before deciding on a traditional Irish breakfast.

“How about you, Ran?” Casey touches my forearm yet again as if to get my attention, even though she already has it.

“Just scrambled eggs and some turkey bacon, please,” I say.

“Are you sure?” she asks. “That doesn’t seem like enough to feed a big boy like you.”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay.” She shrugs. “Food should be out in about fifteen minutes.” She turns to walk away, but not before looking Cat up and down again.

“Bitch,” Vada mumbles, and all eyes turn to her. “What? Did you see the way she was eyeing Cat?”

Zack laughs. “Uh-huh. She wasn’t subtle at all. Girls are so catty. No pun intended.”

“Why, though?” Cat asks me.

Zack answer for me. “Probably because she and Ran”—he motions his hands to indicate sex—“and like so many girls Ran hooked up with, she was hoping to take it further. But Ran over here always kept it strictly business… or maybe I should say he kept it strictly pleasure,” Zack laughs.

My brother snorts a laugh, and even Shane looks like he has to work hard to keep a straight face.

I throw Zack a death stare, feeling the urge to sucker punch him for telling Cat about my prior promiscuity. He’s not wrong: I did hook up with Casey at one of Shane’s parties back in February or March. It was stupid. A lot of my hookups were stupid, actually. I don’t even really know why I did it other than to fill some void inside me, to numb the pain or whatever.

It started when I was fifteen and we moved back to New York. I quickly found that I had no problems getting girls to hook up with me. One-night stands became a regular occurrence, and I’d have sex with a new girl almost every weekend. I made it a rule never to give out my number, and I didn’t take theirs, either, letting them know right from the start that I had no intention of taking this any further than just a casual fuck. And most of the time the girls were fine with it. Occasionally feelings would get hurt, and then I’d have to deal with a week or two of whispering and angry side-glances if the girl happened to go to school with me, but it never really deterred other girls from sleeping with me. In fact, many of them sought me out, and I was usually more than willing to oblige. That all came to a complete halt, of course, the minute I met Cat.

“Huh, that makes sense,” Cat says, and I can’t tell if she’s merely feigning or truly is as confident as she sounds. She takes my hand into hers and, very carefully, leans against my taped-up shoulder. “I’d want more, too. I guess I should consider myself lucky,” she says with a smile.

“You should,” Steve agrees. “Do you know that you’re only one of two girls my little brother has been in a relationship with?”

“Okay, can you guys stop talking about me like I’m not here and switch the damn subject to anything other than my sex life?” I groan.

“But what’s the fun in that, Ran?” Steve asks with a malicious grin on his face. “There’s so much to talk about.”

“Yeah, like how you had sex with Candace Bell under the bleachers during the damn homecoming game? Such a ballsy fucking move,” Zack says, nodding approvingly.

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