Page 168 of Did They Break You

He nods, and the timer for the microwave goes off, bleating behind him, but neither one of us moves. “I know it seems like it, Cort, but they don’t actuallyownthis town,” he finally says, shrugging as he drops his hands by his sides, swinging his arms.“You ever seen a corpse?” he asks me quietly. A perfectly normal Storm question, it still throws me off.

I frown. “No, man, I haven’t.”

“When you do,” he says, looking down, “you’ll realize we’re all just flesh and blood. No amount of money makes us immortal. No status can save us from a bullet to the head, cancer, a car crash.” He looks up at me.“A fire.”He shrugs. “We all end up dead.”

I arch a brow. “Are you saying I should kill Chase?” I’ve been thinking about just that a lot lately.

He rolls his eyes. “No, I’m saying that you shouldn’t scream about dating Remi to the world, even when you want to. And you should expect some… shit.”

I chew the inside of my cheek, hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

“And yeah, it may get a little too much, and maybe, for her sake, you’ll have to back off.” He turns from me, pulling open the door to the microwave, taking his plate out and closing the door back, setting the plate down, shaking out his fingers like he burned himself on it. “But don’t let flesh and blood dictate what you can and can’t do.”

I furrow my brow, shaking my head. “I’m confused,” I tell him, my voice edged with anger.“Youwere the one who said this wouldn’t work. On the way to Grim Mountain. Now you’ve had a taste of her, you changed your mind?”

He turns to look at me over his shoulder. “Nothing to do with that.” He looks back at his food. “I just hadn’t seen a corpse then.”

I blink at him, but decide not to push it, letting his weird shit go. But before I can cross the kitchen to the hall, he looks over at me again.

“I saw those cuts on her arm.”

Trepidation rolls through me as I meet his gaze.

“It might be all fun and games to you,” he twirls spaghetti on his fork, bringing it up to his mouth. “But if you fuck this up, you could drive her over the edge.”

I grit my teeth before I answer him. “It’s not fun and games.”

He sets his fork down, glancing at the counter. “She’s not healed. And whether we did or we didn’t, it’s all very real in her head.Don’t push her.”

“I’m not,” I tell him. “If I did,” I shrug, “I’d jump with her.”

CHAPTER

FORTY-FIVE

REMI

“I can’t just leave,Cort, Sloane will?—”

He puts his hand over my mouth, silencing me. From the dash lights of his truck, I see his eyes boring into mine. “Lie to her,” he says, his words hushed. “Come with me. I need more time with you.” There’s something urgent in his tone. Like he can’t stand another night without me.

He loosens his grip on my mouth, sliding his hand down and smoothing his thumb over my bottom lip. “I’m sorry, I just...” He looks away, his hand around my back gripping me tighter. “I want more time with you. I don’t wanna give you up for the night.”

My throat is tight with those words. With knowing wewillhave to give it up. That it’ll end at some point.

Whatever healing this is, it’ll break me into pieces all over again when it’s done.

But even still, I glance at my dorm building and imagine Sloane with the apple she’d had in her hand, eyeing me as I lied to her that I was going to the library after Cort texted me that he was in the parking lot.

I know she knows I’m lying and have been, for the past few weeks.

But what can I say?

How could I ever explain this?

It just doesn’t make sense.

“She won’t believe anything I tell her,” I confess to Cortland, his thumb still smoothing over my bottom lip. “She knows I don’t...” I trail off, averting my eyes. “Do anything.”

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