Page 121 of The Fractured

“Yeah, but you’ll be in pain the entire time.” I tightened the laces firmly and tied them off.

“I’ll be fine.” She took her foot back with a small smile. “After last night, at my parents’ house—”

“Which we’ve still gotta talk about, by the way—”

“—I think I need to smash something. As do you.” She poked the tip of my nose.

She wasn’t wrong about that. Gabriele’s threat clung to my mind like mold. I would give anything to smash in his teeth for what he said.

And reuniting with an ex-school bully was the cherry on top.

As Lily moved away, I started on my laces, wearing the boots I arrived in. My eyes went to Lily as I secured knots in the laces. She bent to pick up her belongings, but stopped short and pressed a hand to her lower back.

“Ow,” she groaned.

I grimaced and stood. “You sure you wanna go through with this?”

“Yep.” She smiled stiffly. “I just won’t make any sudden movements.”

I scooped her things off the floor, along with my stuff. “It’s a rage room, Lily.”

“And I’ll rage carefully.” She gave me an uneasy grin and turned for the change room door.

I followed, half smiling. “I think that’s the most you thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

As we walked through the door, she jokingly muttered, “At least I can mark getting my back blown out against my bedroom door off this year’s bingo card.”

I raised a brow. “What else is on this bingo card of yours?”

“What’s that about bingo cards?” Kira asked as she stepped out of the change room she shared with Seb. She was tying off the braid in her hair, completely unaware of what we were discussing.

“Nothing,” Lily smiled quickly.

I slung an arm around her shoulders.

Seb walked out of the change room next, grinning already and rubbing his hands together excitedly. “Who’s ready to smash some shit?”

Chapter 41

Dean

“Fore!” Seb called before swinging his golf club into an old flat screen TV. It cracked through the center, glass flying.

I swung next, slamming my metal baseball bat into the TV’s side. The frame dented inward, and the screen popped from the front.

At the same time, across the room, Kira was pummeling a row of mannequins with a sledgehammer. It was easy to guess whose face she was picturing on each one.

“This day has been the best decision we’ve ever had,” she exclaimed.

Next to Kira, Lily was smashing vases and dishes against the wall. They were easier to break and caused the least strain on her back when she threw them.

“Take that!” she cried, throwing another plate at the spray-painted target on the wall.

Seb hoisted a glass floor lamp onto our table and didn’t hesitate to swing at it. Debris flew out, and I ducked behind my arm, chuckling at the carnage unraveling in the room.

I lifted an old microwave to the table and briefly looked at Lily as I did. I guess it was to see if she was still enjoying herself.

She brought her gloved hand from her neck to check her fingers. A frown was on her face as a tiny line of red bloomed on the side of her throat.