Page 56 of The Wicked Love

Can’t break.

“Girl, you were given ten lives of pain that no one should ever have to bear. Especially alone. And you’ve been dealing with it so long by yourself, bottling it up. And if you keep doing this, it is going to kill you, Becca. So, please, I’m begging you. What are you so afraid of?”

Can’t break.

CAN’T BREAK.

She sobs a real sob.

A sob for me.For me.

Something inside me snaps.

For the first time, I show Sophie who I really am.

Damaged, destroyed, unsalvageable.

Break.

I scream a bloodcurdling scream into her chest, ripping through the silence in the car. And when I run out of air in my lungs, I take a deep breath, and I do it again.

I scream. Ibreak.

I cry out in between my shrieks, “Everything. I’m scared ofeverything.”

SEVENTEEN

Callum

Iwant to go after her, but I know she wants space right now, so I’ll give it to her.

Feeling her against me was pure heaven. Seeing her react to my touch—the chills coursing through her, the need—was breathtaking.

But right now, I need to go cool off in the restroom before anyone sees exactly how heavenly she made me feel.

Walking to the men’s room, I pull my phone out and scroll through Instagram. And of course, Becca’s photo is the first one to pop up on my feed.

Three hundred ninety-nine thousand people have liked it. When in the fuck did she get that kind of following? But I guess she’s been on the cover ofPeoplethree times in the last year along with many other magazines.

I know her parents kept her closed off from that life for so long, but when her dad killed himself, that shield evaporated, and she was thrown to the damn wolves.

I’m thankful that she has those two bodyguards with her. It gives me a small peace of mind. I’m ninety-nine percent sure the one with long brown hair is taking steroids. There’s no way he’s that buff naturally. Unless he’s spending ten hours a day in the gym.

After I spend a good five minutes cooling off in the restroom, I take a seat on one of the sofas outside of the restroom.

I miss Becca. So much. But I don’t just miss her now. I miss who she was and every her in between. But most of all, I miss when I could look into her eyes and know exactly what she was feeling. Where I didn’t have to figure it out by her body language. She was bare, all walls down, and vulnerable.

But there hasn’t been one day since she broke up with me where I’ve seen that. Until tonight. Until she looked at me and I saw the battle within her.

She wants this; she wants us—I know it. I can feel it in my bones. But intertwined with that want in her eyes was pain, so much pain. And I could see how much she regretted it—kissing me.

I just wish I knew why. I just wish she would explain it to me. I don’t know why she keeps denying herself happiness when it’s right in front of her.

Feeling my frustration hit a new peak, I decide cool air would be better than this humid-ass club. I stand up and walk with my head down. Looking up would only be torture.

I would see her face in everyone else’s, hear her laugh in the silence.

Someone rams into me, and I quickly recognize Stella.