Page 86 of Her Pretty Words

“You dropped your phone?” I ask.

“Yes. I wasn’t in a crash. I was walking to my house with the girls, and I was dancing a little. I accidentally flung my phone and it shattered. I am okay. See? Completely unharmed.”

“You were dancing?”

“Yeah.”

I hug her to my chest and inhale the sweet scent of her hair. She’s alive and she was dancing. I recall the summers she danced outside my window.

“Come on,” she whispers after some time. My pulse has finally slowed, and I can think a bit more clearly. I open my eyes and see that Elliot, Julia, and Sarah are standing outside, a look of horror on each of their faces.

We climb out of the car, and I nod to Macy’s friends before crossing the distance to my house with Macy as a much tinier shadow on my heels. “I’ll talk to you guys later,” she says, with no further explanation of my behavior.

Once we’re inside, I rest my back against the door. I slowly sink to the ground.

“It’s okay,” Macy whispers, kneeling before me.

“It’s not.”

“It is, Grayson.”

“Look at my hands!” I raise my voice, causing her to flinch away from me. My chest squeezes from the sight of it. Of the frown lines on her face. “I punched someone at the bar because he was unknowingly keeping me from getting to you. I didn’t even realize I was beating the shit out of Elliot’s dashboard. I’m a nutcase, Macy.”

“This is completely normal for what you’ve gone through.”

“What I’ve gone through…” I laugh without humor. “Let’s just call it what it is. Everyone I loved died and left me here. You’re the only person I have left.” I clench my jaw. “How does that make you feel? To have just met me a month ago and tobecome the only thing I have to live for. I mean, shit, no pressure or anything.”

“We didn’t meet a month ago,” she says.

“Regardless of when we met, it’s too much for anyone. It’s unfair for you to be relied on so heavily by me.”

“We’ll figure this out?—"

“Stop,” I say. “Your heart is bigger than this world and I know that you’d stay with me even if it made you miserable. You’d drown to keep me afloat.”

“If you care about me, then you wouldn’t be trying to breakup with me right now,” she says, her voice cracking and tears filling her eyes. “After everything I learned from the breakup with Walter, I’ve promised myself to never do something unless I want to, including continuing our relationship. Give me some credit here. I want this, Grayson. I wantyou.”

“I care about you too much to see you stay with someone like me.” I inhale a deep breath and look at her pretty face. I’ve already memorized every freckle, every eyelash, and every expression she makes. “Move here, Mace. Be happy. I’ll leave.”

“Stop,” she says with the fire she only has with me.

I lift myself off the ground and reach down to lift her up. She claws at me when I open the door and bring her outside, her friends are long gone by now. I tell myself it’s like ripping off a bandage when her heartbroken eyes meet mine, and I slam the door in her face. I lock it before she can try to come back inside.

She bangs on the door, and her voice is muffled by the wood. “Let me in!”

“Go home,” I say.

“Don’t do this, Daniel Grayson Wright! Don’t you dare break my heart.”

I’m saving you from that, Mace.

I will my feet to drag me away from her, and then I lock myself in my bedroom to drown her out. I stare at nothing fora while. Hours—probably. I finally decide it’s best not to see her for a while, so I pack a bag with the little clothes I have and plan to stay at the Inn off the island.

It’s well past midnight when I open my front door but freeze in place when I find Macy reading a book on the hood of my car.

Chapter 34

Macy

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