Broken Kingdom (Royal Hearts Academy #4)(61)

He presses a kiss to my forehead. “But he wouldn’t want the people he loved—especially his baby sister—spending the rest of her life blaming herself for something that wasn’t her fault.”

With that, he gets off the bed.

As much clarity as Oakley’s given me just now, it also fills me with a deep sense of sadness.

Because, he too, is one of the broken people.

Just like Liam…

Just like me.

“So how do you cope?” I ask as I watch him put on his clothes. “If you won’t turn to your dad or your friends, how do you—”

“Drugs.” My heart caves in as he grabs his keys and ambles toward the door. “Addicts are people who are trying to numb the pain, too. Only difference is, they aren’t dead…yet.”





Chapter 28





Bianca





“Can I ask you a really messed up question?” I whisper into the darkness.

Oakley and I are currently lying side by side on the small rug in my dorm because I felt like inviting him to lay on my bed when I have a fiancé would be wrong.

We’ve been talking so long I don’t even know what time it is.

Not that I care.

Time feels like it stands still whenever I’m with him.

He shifts on the carpet so we’re face to face. “Sure.”

I chew my bottom lip nervously. “Promise you won’t get mad?”

“I won’t get mad,” he assures me.

“Your mom ran off with a drug dealer, right?”

I immediately regret bringing it up when I see pain slash across his face.

“Yeah,” he says softly. “Yeah, she did.”

“I guess I’m just wondering why…” My voice trails off because I don’t have the courage to finish that sentence.

“I became one?” Oakley finishes for me.

I nod.

He rolls over so he’s on his back and stares up at the ceiling. “I don’t know.” His throat bobs on a swallow. “I didn’t really think about her when I started working for Loki, but maybe subconsciously I was hoping she’d find me or some shit.” He snorts. “Christ. I’m a fucking idiot.”

“No.” Absentmindedly, I run my fingernails up and down his forearm. “You’re a lot of things, Oakley, but an idiot isn’t one of them.”

He angles his head so he’s looking at me. “My shitty life choices beg to differ, baby girl.”

“Then it’s a good thing it’s not too late for you to make some better life choices, huh?”

He sighs. “Trust me, I’m trying. It just seems like no matter which way I turn I keep hitting walls.”

Before I can stop myself, I reach for his hand. “Then we’ll break them down together.”

A frown pulls at his lips. “I don’t get it.”

“Get what?”

“Why you’d want someone like me in your life. You know what I did, what I’m responsible for. I almost killed you and yet you keep treating me like I’m—”

“Worthy of forgiveness?” I interject. “That’s because you are.”

And even though it’s the truth, I know it’s more than that.

So much more.

Not only did I trust him enough to divulge some of my darkest secrets, Oakley has a way of making me feel…free.

Like I can be myself around him—whatever that is—and he won’t ever judge me.

“Or maybe it’s because I feel something with you that I don’t feel with anyone else. Something good and raw and pure…and every time I have another flashback it just confirms you’re not the heartless asshole everyone seems to think you are.”

And whether anyone likes it or not, I know he belongs in my life.

I feel it in my marrow.

He shakes his head. “I don’t even know what the fuck to say to that.”

“Don’t say anything.” Ignoring the strange hurt in my chest, I squeeze his hand. “Just don’t leave me.”

Because if he does? Something inside me will snap and I’ll never be able to fix it.

His face is a mask of hurt and purpose as he holds his pinky up before swiping it through mine. “I won’t. Not this time.”

My chest caves in because pinky promises were me and Liam’s thing. Yet, I can’t bring myself to feel one ounce of resentment about it.

On the contrary actually. It’s almost comforting.

We lay there staring at each other for what feels like eternity before he breaks the silence.

“We need to talk about your shithead fiancé.”

Oh, boy. Here we go.

“He’s not a shithead. Although what he said to you was fucked-up and wrong, so I get why you would think that.”

Stone wasn’t right for what he did, but I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t understand why he went postal when he saw us together. In his mind, Oakley is responsible for almost killing me because he was intoxicated and that’s something Stone won’t ever forgive.

A flash of rage flickers in Oakley’s eyes. “I don’t give a fuck what he said to me. I don’t like the way he was talking to you.”