Page 75 of Breaking You Open

“Is he one of the latter?”

“You bet. But that one?” Nathan jerks his head to the door to the reception. “Not so much. Trust me, kid; I know these things.”

“Don’t call me kid. You’re barely older than me.”

Nathan looks at me for a while, sizing me up with his intense green eyes, and a shadow passes over his face. “No, I suppose I’m not. But I know what you’re up to.”

“What I’m up to?”

“Yeah, and it won’t work.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re trying to handle your past by being with that mountain of a man out there. But it won’t work.”

“Shut up.” I start to sweat, and Nathan looks at me with something like pity in his eyes.

“Do you love him?”

“Yes,” I whimper, and the moment I do, the door starts banging.

“What’s going on in there?” Louis bellows. “Sparrow?”

Nathan hisses a curse under his breath. “Well, tell you this, kid: You’re not getting out of here with that dog. You tell that to your asshole boyfriend. Now get the fuck out of my sight, or I’ll set my dogs on you.”

Back in the reception, Louis grabs my shoulder. “What the hell was that?”

“Nothing.” I wrap my jacket tighter around myself and rush toward the exit.

“Where’s the dog?”

“Wasn’t there.”

Louis hisses a curse under his breath. “Yeah, sure it wasn’t. I better go back there and—” He stops when he sees my trembling lower lip and eyes filled with rage and tears. “What’s wrong?”

I shake out of his grip and head toward the bike.

“Sparrow,” he calls out behind me.

“Let’s just go. Please.”

“Fine,” he grumbles. “I need a drink anyway; we’re going to Moe’s. But don’t think you’ll get away from telling me about this once we get there.”

I manage to keep from crying until Louis starts the bike, but then I smear a wet puddle of tears on the back of his leather jacket.

I refuse to believe that what Nathan told me is true. Louis promised me he’d never hurt me. He’s insisted again and again how it’s so important that I can say no when we have sex, but he’s clearly hurt someone before, and that means…That means he was lying to me. He tricked me.

Oh god…He can’t be the same as the horrible situation I ran away from. My heart can’t take any more running. I can’t be cut loose again, can’t be unwanted again, can’t be alone again…I can’t. But if Nathan was telling the truth, I might have to.

Louis called me a liar, but maybe he’s the biggest liar of them all.

Chapter 24

Louis

Eyes flock to usas soon as we enter. They’re all here: Maurice; his wife, Tara; Ravi…And Joshua of course, the little shit.

I order two whiskeys and hand one to Sparrow, thinking it ought to help him with that worried look in his eyes. He’s been on edge ever since we left the animal shelter, and I have no idea why. It’s just like what happened at Mumphrey Hill, and it frustrates the living shit out of me. Sure, the job of retrieving Joshua’s dog failed miserably, but all that aside, Sparrow and I are fine, right? I sure haven’t done anything wrong.

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