Page 87 of The Breaking Point

“Sorry, were you waiting long?” she asked. She yanked on the seat belt too hard, making it catch. She did that a few more times before she finally managed to put it on.

“You good?” I drawled.

“Fine.” Grace was running her fingers through her hair now. “Do you have a comb, by chance?”

“No.” Then I turned on the radio for the rest of the ride home.

Grace seemed like her thoughts were far away, which was fine with me. I wasn’t about to ask her about that boy she was kissing. It was none of my fucking business, anyway.

It didn’t matter that she’d grown into a beautiful young woman lately, or that I had dreams about her that I could never, ever tell anyone about. Or that whenever I passed by her in school, I had to act like we were strangers.

Because I knew being just her friend would never work. I had to be cold. I had to act like she was just an annoyance, a younger sister who got on my nerves.

You need to get yourself the fuck together,I thought.You can’t keep thinking about Grace like this.

I also knew that her parents and Ben would never, ever let us be together. Her dad would strangle me, and then Ben would join him.

Once Ben had caught me staring at Grace when she came downstairs wearing a tiny sundress. He’d taken me aside laterand said if he saw me eye-fucking his sister again, he’d break my spine.

I hadn’t even been pissed at Ben’s threat. I was nothing. I was the foster kid with fucked-up parents who were too addicted to drugs and alcohol to live decent lives.

I wasn’t the type of guy Grace deserved.

“Are you okay?” Grace asked me after we got off the interstate. “You seem mad.”

I turned down the radio. “I’m not mad.”

“You sure? I’m sorry I made you come get me.”

“I mean, I’m annoyed because I have to finish a paper, and you should’ve made sure you had a ride home.”

Grace winced. “Meredith was supposed to take me home.”

“Didn’t Meredith flake on you not long ago? Left you downtown to go meet up with her boyfriend?”

“She asked me if that was okay, you know.”

I snorted. “Sure, okay.”

“Why don’t you like Meredith?”

“I don’t give a shit about Meredith.”

I knew I was being an asshole, but I’d rather Grace think that I was a dick than realize I was annoyed that I’d seen her kissing another guy.

Grace huffed. “Now I know that you’re mad.”

“Think whatever you want.”

We said nothing when we arrived home. Grace immediately went upstairs to her room, stomping the entire way. When I heard her slam her bedroom door, I shook my head.

Hate me all you want. It’s better this way.

Grace had had a crush on me for ages. It was good that she was moving on. If she dated other guys, she’d forget about me.

I returned to my room and tried to focus on writing my paper, but my mind wouldn’t stop thinking about what I’d seen at the theater.

When had Grace started dating? Was this her first boyfriend? I’d never heard about her dating somebody else.

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