Page 36 of Breakaway Hearts

Do not cry, Callie. Do not cry.

“When Austin and I broke up,” I say slowly, “he told me that part of the reason we would never work out is because… I was boring in bed. So I started reading romance novels so I could get better. That’s it.”

Chapter12

Reese

Shock resonates through me as I stare at Callie.

What?

What the hell is she talking about? He actually said that?

When she told me she started reading romance novels because of Austin, I thought she meant she was reading them because she missed him or something. The flash of emotion that burst through me at the thought that she might still want him was so powerful it surprised me, but before I had a chance to really examine my reaction, she dropped this fucking bombshell.

What the actualfuck?

“What are you talking about?” I ask, keeping my voice as gentle as I can manage. I need to keep my cool, for her sake.

She’s crying now, I realize. She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand, brushing away the tears I know she doesn’t want me to see, and the urge to hold her in my arms nearly overpowers me.

“Sorry,” she says quietly, exhaling a sharp breath. “It’s stupid. I don’t know why I started crying.”

“You never have to apologize.” I tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear, then catch her chin and turn her head toward me a little so that she’ll look at me. “I’m just… fuck, Callie, he actually told you that?”

“Yes.” Her voice is low, like she’s ashamed to admit it. “Austin told me… well, I don’t have a lot of experience, and he said I’m bad in bed.”

I drop my hand away from her face, my fingers curling into fists. Hearing her confirm what some delusional part of me hoped I misheard fills me with a blinding rage.

That motherfucker.

That goddamn motherfucker.

I should’ve flattened his ass when he broke Callie’s heart a year ago. I didn’t like him to begin with, but knowing that my gut-level dislike of him was more than just me being an overprotective friend gives me half a mind to go hunt him down and beat him to a bloody pulp.

“Are you serious?” My voice comes out harsher than I intended, and Callie flinches. I take her hands, rubbing her cool fingers between mine.

“Yeah,” she admits, letting out a breath. “I am. I should’ve realized he was an asshole way earlier than I did.”

“Why? What else did he do?”

She makes a little noise in her throat, dragging her lower lip between her teeth. “Nothing big. It was just a bunch of little things that added up to something incredibly toxic. Like, he was always trying to get me to lose weight, talking about how much better I’d look if I dropped several pounds. He’d make me feel lazy if I didn’t go to the gym with him, and he couched it all behind this veneer of wanting to make sure I was taking care of myself—but I’m pretty sure it was really only because he thought I’d be prettier if I was skinnier.”

My jaw is so tight that my teeth ache, and I wrack my brain, trying to remember if I ever saw him talk to her that way. Honestly, I saw a lot less of her when the two of them were together, which at the time I chalked up to the fact that they just wanted time alone. But maybe I should’ve seen that for the red flag it was. I should’ve tried harder to stay in her life, rather than letting that fuckhead edge me out so that he could whittle down her self-esteem.

Fuck. Callie is my best friend, and I failed her.

“I’m sorry,” I say, my voice low.

“It’s okay.” She tries to smile, but it’s shaky. More tears well in her eyes, and when she blinks, one of them spills over her lashes and trails down her cheek. “I did a lot of work on myself after we broke up, trying to figure outwhyI let him walk all over me. He used to always comment on what I wore, telling me if he thought it was unflattering. And when we went out to eat, he’d order me the salad and tell me not to get dessert. He said he was looking out for my best interests, that he just wanted me to be healthy, and I tried to convince myself that’s all it was. But in retrospect, it’s so obvious that he was a manipulative asshole.”

“That’s a fucking understatement,” I growl. My hands tighten around hers for a second, and I have to force them to relax. “Callie… why did you never tell me any of this?”

She swallows, looking almost guilty. “I guess I should have. You’re my best friend, you know that. But there are some things I didn’t want to share, not even with you. What Austin did and said made me feel awful, and the thought of having to repeat it to you? It just made it seem ten times worse. So I kept it to myself and pretended it wasn’t as bad as it was. But when the belittling became too much, that’s when I had to break it off.”

“Fuck.” I finally release her hands, sitting back a little and running a hand through my hair. “That piece of shit. He’s lucky I didn’t know about any of that, or he wouldn’t have fucking survived. I owe him an even harder ass kicking now, to make up for not doing it sooner.”

Callie laughs, and although it’s not even in the top five of her best or most infectious laughs, it’s good to hear the sound from her. Some of the tension in the room eases a little, and she lifts one shoulder in a half shrug.

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