Page 48 of Fracture

“He’s fine, we’re worrying over nothing.” Even so, neither of us can bring ourselves to eat much, picking at the food and eventually abandoning it on our plates, sending anxious glances at our phones constantly. I go and get another beer, and Stella pours herself a glass of white wine.

“So,” I say as we settle back at the table. “How’s everything with you?”

She shrugs, avoiding my gaze. “Everything’s fine. Why?”

“Well, Dylan today, he was a little on edge. He seemed stressed.”

She shifts in her chair, stretching her legs to put her feet up on the chair opposite her. “Things between us are… difficult.”

“Difficult?”

She nods slowly, taking a sip of wine. “I mean, I guess that’s putting it mildly. I… I fucked up.”

“He seems to feel like he fucked up.”

She lets out a small, sad laugh. “I tried to warn him. But he wouldn’t listen.”

“Warn him about what?”

“Me.”

I sigh heavily, wanting to reach across the table and take her hand. “Baby girl, why would you need to warn him about you?”

“Because I’m not normal, Levi. And now he feels bad, like he did something wrong, and it’s not even his fault.”

“These things aren’t anyone’s fault, Stella.”

Her amber eyes fix on me, like she’s looking right into my soul. “Actually, it’s your fault.”

My stomach drops, and the room around me spins. Dylan told her. Why would he tell her? That makes no sense. He wouldn’t do that, simply because he wouldn’t want to fuck everything up with Stella.Why the fuck would he tell her about us?

“Mine?” I finally manage to say, grunting out an incredulous laugh. “And how is it my fault?”

“Well, maybe saying it’s your fault is a little harsh. It’s not like you can help it.” Stella takes a large gulp of wine, and takes a deep breath. “I’m broken and Dylan deserves better than that.”

“Stella, I still don’t understand-”

“I thought about you while I came, and I hate you for it.” Her eyes meet mine, and I swear to god my lungs have popped and there’s no oxygen in my body. Stella’s mouth twitches into a cynical smile, and she lifts her wine to her lips again. “So really, it’s not your fault at all. It’s mine.”

“But you love Dylan,” I stammer out. “Why would you think about me?”

“I don’tjustthink about you. It’s… It’s both of you. And Dylan deserves better than to have a woman who can’t be happy with him, who wants her fucking step-brother as well as him.” She spins the glass in her hand, and tilts her head to give me a side-glance. “I love both of you. I want both of you. Don’t act like you didn’t know.”

Her words throw me back in time, to her 17th birthday. When I placed that gold necklace around her neck, the one I’d had made for her. When I’d brushed my fingers down the back of her neck, and she’d shivered.

Happy birthday, baby girl, I’d whispered in her ear. She’d planted a kiss on my lips, soft and sweet and full of a promise of something she could never give me. Our families would never understand, we knew that. But that I could live with. That I could overcome.

But I couldn’t hurt Dylan. I couldn’t take his girl. And I’d known from the second he’d laid eyes on Stella that he was gone for her. There’d never be anyone else for him.

Until…

I scrape my fingers through my hair with a grunt. “Fuck.”

“We’re both a mess.” Stella laughs, shaking her head. “I’d tell him, but I can’t bring myself to destroy what you two have. I can’t take everything from him.”

I run my hands over my face, slumping in my chair and looking over at her. “What do we do?”

“Do?” She scoffs. “Nothing. We keep our mouths shut, and we do nothing.”

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