Page 4 of Fragile Hearts

“Because…” she starts before trailing off in frustration. “Because I just can’t,” she eventually huffs out.

I straighten, walking over to where Sloane stands, her body stiffening in that defensive way she has whenever someone, mostly me, gets too close. “Sloane,” I say, my tone softer now as I gently rest my hands on her shoulders. Her gaze drops at my touch, but I don’t take my hands away as I dip my head to meet her eyes. “It’s totally fine, okay? I have the room, and it’s not like we’re strangers. You need a place to live. Come and live with me.”

She swallows hard, her eyes wide as they dart all over the place, looking anywhere but at me. I know this scares the hell out of her. I’ve heard enough about her background from Nate and Alana to know that Sloane doesn’t really like to rely on anyone.

“What about your cousin? I thought you lived with him?” she asks.

I smile, letting out a quick laugh. “Nah, Eli’s over on Oahu, doing his training and shit. Won’t be back for ages.”

She blows out a breath, and I know she’s running out of reasons not to stay with me. “What’s the rent?”

With a smirk, I glance over at Alana again, tempted to say it’s free, but I know that will result in a solid no from Sloane because she hates getting handouts or being treated like a charity case. “A hundred a month?”

“A hundred?” she scoffs, not bothering to hide her disbelief.

Behind her, Alana points a finger at the ceiling as though telling me to go higher, and I turn back to Sloane and say, “That’s rent, yeah, then another hundred for utilities. Sound good?” It’s way below what I should be charging, but fuck it, it’s Sloane.

I would do anything to help this girl.

Alana rolls her eyes at this, but she’s smiling as she gently pokes Sloane’s shoulder and says, “It’s a good deal, Sloane, and at least you know you’ll be safe with Owen. Better than living with some randoms.”

Safe with Owen.

I like the sound of that.

It takes Sloane another week to commit to the idea of moving in with me, but when she finally does, I am over at her soon-to-be-old place to help make it happen. I don’t even bother going home after the surf lessons I did with Malo, just head straight over there.

The guys had already given me a solid amount of shit this morning about the whole Sloane moving in with me thing while we were out catching waves. I expected it, and to be honest, I didn’t care one bit.

I’m excited about the idea of her moving in with me, of sharing her space and getting to see her in ways no one else does. Getting to just hang out with her with no one else around too.

Although I’m fully expecting a solid wall of resistance with all of this.

I take the stairs up to the front porch two at a time before knocking on the door. Daisy throws it open only moments later, her wet hair all piled on top of her head as she hits me with a smile and says, “Hey, Owen.”

Chuckling, I pull her in for a hug. “Daze,” I reply.

“Sloane’s in her room,” she says when I let her go, gesturing toward a half-closed door. “Good luck.”

Grinning, I give her a quick wink. “Nah, not gonna need luck,” I say, which only makes Daisy laugh. I’ve known Daisy for years, Alana too, and when Sloane became their friend, I made a point to try to get to know her as well.

Okay, to be fair, I didn’t just want to get to know her; I wanted her too. She’s fucking gorgeous and smart, and even though she’s closed off to almost everyone, every now and then I catch glimpses of the fun girl underneath. I’ve been asking her out on a date for the better part of the past year, but she’s never once said yes. I’m kind of hoping being stuck in close proximity to me might change that.

Of course, it could also earn me a kick in the balls. Jury’s still out on that one.

I rap my knuckles on Sloane’s door before sticking my head in to find Sloane throwing her clothes into bags, her back to me. On the small desk beside the bed sits a bunch of textbooks packed in a still-open box, and I walk over to it. “This good to go?” I ask, picking it up.

Sloane turns, jumping a little at finding me in her room, and it’s only then I realize that she has pods in her ears. “You don’t need to help,” she immediately says, taking them out and looking more shaken than I’d expect.

“It’s cool, I got this,” I say, walking out of her room before she has a chance to respond.

In the end, most of her stuff could’ve probably fit in her car, but I make a point of putting some boxes in mine so my trip over here isn’t a complete and obvious bullshit excuse to make sure Sloane really does move in with me.

“That everything?” I ask, leaning against my truck.

“Uh huh,” Sloane says, blowing out a breath as she stands beside her car, Daisy next to her.

“K, you wanna follow me?” I ask, jerking a thumb at the road, even though Sloane has been to my house before.

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