Page 127 of Heartless Beloved

“Alex,” Ella intervenes. “Calm down, babe.”

“Just because she can’t figure out her relationship with Wren doesn’t mean she has to come and ruin mine.”

“You don’t have a relationship,” Peach retorts. “He just snaps his fingers when he wants to fuck you and you run to him. He does that with every girl.”

“Okay, enough,” Ella barks. “I have had it up to here,” her hand comes above her head, “with you two not being able to have a civilized conversation for more than one minute.”

We both stop talking, our mouths hanging open. Ella is in a bad mood, and that never happens.

“Sorry,” I murmur like a scolded child. “Are you okay?”

Peach leans toward me, whispering, “Ghost from the past called her last night.”

“Chris called you?” I squeak.

“No!” She shakes her head. “Well, yes, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t mean anything. Just…”

“He was drunk,” Peach adds in my ear, but Ella can still hear everything.

“Enough,” she warns.

“He told her he wanted to break up with his girlfriend for her.”

“Peach, shut up,” Ella snaps. “Oh my god,shut up.”

“That’s big,” I say. “Ella, what are you going to do?”

There are a lot of things that got in the way of Ella’s relationship with her ex. He was a senior when we were freshmen, but Ella retook a year, so he was only two years her elder. He also now goes to Harvard, which would make it complicated for them to be in a relationship again. But the main issue was and will always be that he is her brother’s best friend. And Luke, her brother, has always been extra protective of her. She would never want to ruin their friendship for the sake of a man. No matter how in love with him she was in high school.

Ella runs a hand across her face. “She’s right. You’re so gullible.”

“What? Why?”

“Because he was drunk, Alex. He’s a man. He was a drunk man.” Her annoyed, pale blue eyes dig into mine.

“Okay, he was a drunk man. So what?”

“So they do that,” Ella tells me as if I’m a kid. “Guys will say they want to leave their girlfriend for you just to keep you close. So that you don’t move on from them because they like having options. Chris doesn’t care about me.” She scratches her throat as her eyes dart away. “He never has.”

“Plus, you’ve already moved on from him. Right?” Peach insists.

Ella licks her lips, and her eyes fall to her fingers playing with her earphones. “Yeah. Of course.”

The lie is so evident on her face my heart aches for her.

“Men are fucking shit,” Peach huffs. She points at me with her thumb, “and in case they weren’t shit enough, she also decided to pick the playboy gangbanger from the North Shore. Just to make it worse for herself.”

“He’s not a gangbanger,” I hiss at my friend.

“Alex.” Ella gives me a pointed look. “He is. And if you would rather believe his lies than us, check his left shoulder. That’s where his tattoo is. A dagger with the letters NSC on the hilt.”

I press my lips together, not wanting to argue with both of my friends. We’re a trio. Usually, if two have a point, the other is in the wrong. “Maybe you saw wrong…” I say tentatively.

Ella suddenly realizes something. “Wait. How have you not seen it yet? You guys had sex.”

It’s only now that I realize I have never seen Xi topless. Whenever we’ve had sex, he somehow stayed practically wholly dressed. Is that because he’s hiding his tattoo?

“Well…” My ears heat up and my friends look at each other.

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