Beautiful Broken Rules (Broken, Series #1)(103)

He had written that he hoped he could be standing next to me when I realized how beautiful and strong I was. There was a moment when I thought those things about myself, he brought them out and reminded me daily. In a way, he had been beside me when I comprehended it. He just didn’t stick around afterward.

I knocked all of my notes and books off of my bed and crawled under the covers. I reached under my pillow and grabbed the t-shirt I had taken from Jaxon’s room the first time we slept together. He knew I had it here, but he never asked for it back. I pulled my knees up to my chest and tried to fight off the tears.

Just to dig the knife in deeper, I heard music begin playing through the wall coming from Jaxon’s bedroom. It took me a couple of minutes to recognize it as the mixed CD I had made, which I had never heard him listen to before. In fact, he hadn’t even mentioned it since I had given it to him, not that we had discussed much of anything since then. Why, now of all times, had he pulled it out? To my torture, he played the disc four times in a row that night. When it finally shut off, I succumbed to a restless sleep.



Chapter Nineteen

My Rule Still Stands

Halfway through midterm week, Cole and Jace asked Quinn and I to come over to their place and have a couple of drinks. I didn’t drink anymore, but it would be nice to just hang out with them again in a quieter setting than a loud house party. Jace reassured me that Jaxon was gone for the night. I tried not to dwell on where he was staying overnight. I can’t say that the idea of him spending the night at some girl’s house didn’t enter my mind a dozen times, but I was strong enough not to ask.

We all had our textbooks out to at least pretend like we were going to study together. Jace was the only one actually studying; he seemed a little more stressed out over his tests than the rest of us were. I tried to help him by quizzing him from the back of his books. He was insanely smart; I don’t understand how he could remember even half of this material. After hours passed with me stumbling over numerous medical terms and body parts I couldn’t pronounce, he let me off the hook with an appreciative grin. I only had one exam tomorrow and it was in English, so I wasn’t really worried at all about staying up too late.

Around midnight, we were all yawning. “Come on, Quinny, let’s go to bed,” Cole said, mid-yawn.

“Aw, I haven’t been able to spend enough time with Em lately. In a couple of months, she’s going to leave us for Africa. I think I want to stay out here with her,” she whined. Lately, she’s been bringing up my summer departure more and more. The most we had ever been apart was a week, so three months was going to be torture for both of us.

“It’s okay, Quinn, we’re all going to bed anyway. I’ll see you in the morning,” I told her.

“Come on, Ems, come get in bed with us too. I’d never say ‘no’ to two women wanting in my bed,” Cole joked, while Jace started laughing at him.

“I don’t think I ever said I wanted in your bed,” I nudged him in the ribs.

“Just grab her, Cole,” Quinn told him. Before I could protest, Cole threw me over his shoulder and grabbed Quinn’s hand with his free one.

He laid us both down on the bed, got up, and grabbed two of his large t-shirts from the dresser, tossing them at us.

“Y’all change, I have to hit the bathroom,” he said.

After our jeans and shirts were thrown on the floor and we were in ‘pajamas,’ we lay down under the covers and Quinn held my hand.

“Night, Ems, I love you.”

“I love you too, Quinn,” I whispered back.