Page 167 of Unspoken Rules (Rules 2)

The truth crushes her like a pile of bricks.

She glances at the gun she’s holding and drops it.

She falls to her knees and starts to cry. That’s all she does. She cries uncontrollably.

Here comes the breakdown.

“What the hell am I doing? I almost…” She sobs to herself as she shakes. “What’s wrong with me? I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She wraps her arms around her body and rocks herself back and forth. “What have I done? What have I done?”

The guys look at us as if they expect some sort of explanation, but they figure it out for themselves when they notice Blake passed out on the ground. Haze summarizes the previous events as best as he can. Then, without wasting another second, he gets me off the ground and into his arms. We’re still shuddering from the trauma.

“I’m so, so sorry,” Haze whispers against my hair, and I let my tears wet his neck. I can’t believe this is the second time we’ve escaped death. The second time we’ve stood this close to the edge and somehow managed to see another day.

“It’s okay. We’re okay,” I sob, and he presses his lips to mine. We make out in front of the boys, but there isn’t even a slight part of me who cares. “So much for being just a fling, huh?” I tell him when we pull away and he sighs.

Kendrick stops him from answering. “Get her out of here. Now!”

“What about them?” Haze eyes them.

“We’ll handle them. Go.”

Haze has no choice but to trust that they’ll do the right thing as he picks up my suitcase—that I’m really glad Blake didn’t throw into the ocean—and motions to get into a car I don’t recognize. I don’t ask questions. Just as he’s about to join me, Kendrick calls out to him.

“Hey, Adams?”

Haze turns around and stares at my cousin.

“Thanks for always looking out for her.”

This sentence holds so much more than it leads on. I remember the day Haze told my cousin he was in love with me. Kendrick didn’t believe him.

He believes him now.

Haze stops, his mouth agape, and finally puts an end to the war that’s been raging for far too long…

Haze nods. “You know I always will.”

“Whose car is this?” I narrow my eyes when Haze pulls up into Maria’s driveway and kills the engine. We’ve been driving in silence for a few minutes now. I think we needed a moment to ourselves.

What happened tonight seems unreal, impossible. My brain keeps rejecting the information. It doesn’t want to be told that I almost died again. That Haze’s crazy friend with benefits took being jealous to a whole other level.

I can’t keep living like this. This cannot be my life, no matter how much I love this guy. No matter how many promises we make… It really is time for me to go home.

“You’re not going to like it.” Haze half-smiles before telling me he stole the car from Jackson Miller just as he was about to lose his virginity to a cheerleader. Poor guy. I hope he got lucky.

“You have to give him his car back,” I say.

“Yeah, yeah. I will.” Haze smiles faintly. “Maybe.”

He gets a small grin out of me, which is only something Haze could do in such a serious moment, and helps me out of the car. He refuses to leave my side in case I’m hurt. He insists on helping me get around. We then step inside the house that I’ll be leaving tomorrow.

When I open the door to my bedroom after changing out of my dress, I fight every nerve in my body telling me to beg Haze to come with me. Because I know what his answer will be. He made it clear when we were dancing. He’s not coming. Whether or not he follows, I’ll be on a plane back to Toronto first thing in the morning, and there’s nothing no one, not even Haze, can do about it.

It used to break my heart but not anymore. After what happened tonight, after I got kidnapped for the second time and almost lost my life again, I’m finally ready to accept that going back home is for the best.

Home is safe.

Home has my stepfather and stepsiblings.