Page 27 of Breaking You Open

“Your ex? Sparrow, are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on? You’re creeping me out.”

“He broke into our room and tried to get me to come back home with him, okay? And I didn’t want to, and we fought, and the mirror broke, and a shard cut my cheek,” I say in quick succession, pointing to my Band-Aid. “And I didn’t know if he was dead or what, but I wasn’t about to wait for him to wake up, so…I went to Louis’s house.”

She rolls her eyes. “All that, and your first thought was to go tohimof all people?”

“What else could I have done?”

“What do you think, Sparrow? Call the fucking cops! That’s what you do when your ex is a crazy-ass stalker who breaks into your dorm. Not go to a guy who’s just as psycho and dangerous as the one you escaped.”

“Louis isn’t a psycho,” I protest.

Lilith rolls her eyes to the ceiling. “Christ, you’re almost too gullible to function.”

“I’m going to live with him for a while until Aaron leaves town,” I say, shrugging my backpack onto my shoulders.

“What? No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am!”

Her perfect brows furrow in a scowl. “You can’t be serious.”

“Well, Iamserious, and Louis and I are leaving now.”

Lilith follows me out to the hallway, where Louis and Asher are waiting for us.

Asher lights up at the sight of her. “Hey, babe.”

I go to Louis’s side and take his hand. It’s callused and rough in my own, and at first, he doesn’t react, but then his fingers slowly hook around mine and give them a squeeze before he lets go.

“You better leave him alone,” Lilith tells him. “Sparrow’s been through enough; he doesn’t need a big oaf like you ruining his life even more.”

“And what has he been through exactly?” Louis asks in that deep baritone of his that sends tingles all the way down to my toes.

“Nothing,” I say quickly. “Let’s go home?”

Louis glances at me, and for once his lips slope into what I can only interpret as a smile. It’s not wolflike and mocking like the ones he’s thrown my way before—no, this one is genuine, and a rare warmth fills my chest.

“Fine!” Lilith throws her hands up. “Go ahead, move in with this sketchy-ass guy. You have terrible taste, by the way. And don’t come running to me when he beats the hell out of you after you end up owing money to his biker gang.” She yanks hold of Asher’s arm and all but throws him into the dorm room before she shuts the door.

“That went well,” I say.

Louis scoffs. “You think?”

With what feels like a hundred eyes staring at us, we start walking through the hallway. I crave the feeling of Louis’s hand again but lack the courage to take it.

“Yeah. It was nice to see that she cares about me.”

“She was right, you know.”

“About what?”

Louis sends me a grimace. “Thisarrangement between us is just temporary, anyway. Either you’ll find somewhere else to live, or that ex of yours will get tired of stalking you.”

The remnants of the warmth I felt when he smiled at me disappear into thin air. Didn’t I already tell him I had nowhere else to go? Didn’t I already tell him Aaron won’t stop chasing me? Yet still he tells me this…Of course, I know I can’t live with him forever, butit feels like he’s pushing me away before he’s even given me a chance.

“You coming?” Louis turns around, and I realize I’ve fallen behind. Heart cold and wary, I hurry up to join him, and when our hands brush again, unconsciously on my part, Louis shifts his away.

Chapter 8

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