Page 66 of Breaking You Open

“Shh,” I soothe him, holding him so tight he can’t escape. He thrashes in my grip, and we sink to the ground, me clutching his curled-up body. “I’ve got you, boy. I’ve got you. Don’t worry.”

His thrashing stops, and he inhales a shaky, shuddering breath. “I’m not worried. You’re with me. You’ve got me. And you’re not like him; you’d never hurt me.”

I shut my eyes, and for a moment, I allow myself to believe he’s right.

Fuck, he wondered what he was supposed to do, but what amIsupposed to do? I told him from the start I’m not fit to take care of him, and he needs so much. He needs someone who can weather this storm better than I can.

Someone good. Someone kind. Not me.

“I needed him so badly back then,” Sparrow whispers. “And he gave me what I needed. But it was all just a trick, a fun game he was playing with me, and I didn’t even know it. I’m so stupid.” New tears pour down his cheeks.

“Listen to me.” I push him away to look him in the eye. “I won’t let anything happen to you. If we ever run into Aaron, I’ll kill him for you. Is that what you want, little Sparrow?”

“Yes.” He leans in and gives me a salty kiss, his breath hitching into my mouth.

I stroke his sides, hands flowing up and down his body. We stay like that for a long time, and I try my damnedest to ignore the uneasy feeling that I’ve now given him a string of promises I won’t be able to keep.

Chapter 21

Sparrow

“You’re not fucking going,”Louis growls.

“You can’t tell me what to do!” I protest, backing up against the wall.

“Yes, I can.” He prowls toward me as if he’s going to pick me up and throw me back into the bedroom.

We’d just had sex when his phone started ringing, and someone called Joshua said Louis was needed at a rave tonight at some place called Mumphrey Hill.

A rave? Are you kidding me? That sounds cool as hell. The last party I went to might have ended up a disastrous mess, but still! I can’t be cooped up in Louis’s apartment all my life, right? I want to experience things—things other people my age do. It’s part of why I moved to Springvale in the first place. Back in Arizona, Aaron’s scheming prevented me from ever going to any parties—not that I’d have dared to go without his reassurance, anyway.

Ever since that time in the bath, it’s been easier to shove him out of my mind. Some days, I find myself not having thought about him for hours. It’s always weird when it happens. Weirder yet is that he still hasn’t come to seek me out. I can’t help but worry he’s just biding his time, but even so, I have faith that Louis will protect me. I’d like to be able to protect myself too, but he hasn’t allowed me to hold a gun ever since my freak-out at the shooting range. Instead, he takes me with him everywhere he goes.

He can’t very well follow me to class, but he waits outside the lecture hall without fail. He brings me to Moe’s Den, and although I feel people staring at me, no one dares approach me anymore. Word must have gotten around about Eric and Tyler.

The only one who seems unaffected by Louis’s potential wrath is the bar owner, Maurice. He’s invited me to play pool a couple of times, which I’ve sucked at, to be fair, but it’s still fun to interact with people who don’t seem to judge me.

When I told Louis these exact words, he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“You think he’s just being nice?”

“Yeah, why not?”

Louis gave me a meaningful look, and I gasped as understanding dawned on me.

“He’s not …interested, is he?”

“Oh, he’s interested all right,” Louis grumbled. “But he knows I’ll break his fingers if he ever tries anything with you.”

“Wouldn’t that get you kicked out of the club?”

“You think I give a fuck?”

At that moment, my heart melted into a puddle at my feet, and it felt like I was walking on clouds for the rest of the day.

I enjoy Louis’s protective nature most of the time—morethan enjoy—but not right now. Right now, he’s annoying the crap out of me.

“But I want to go!” I urge him again. “You’ll be there; you can keep an eye on me.”

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