Beautiful Broken Rules (Broken, Series #1)(48)

“Sneaking out?”

I jumped at the sound of a voice. “Holy Crap, Jace. Why are you awake?”

He was pulling ear buds from his iPod out of his ears and gestured at the four textbooks lying open in front of him. “Damn, those two are still going at it?” He pointed toward Cole’s room and scowled at the noise.

“Yeah, that’s why I need to get out of here.” I was only half-lying.

“Right… it doesn’t have anything to do with a certain guy that might resemble me, does it?” He smirked.

“I’m not sneaking out. Thanks for telling him about last night by the way.”

“Em, he came back here in a pissed-off mood last night and all I said was that it wasn’t a picnic for you here either. I swear.” I nodded at him. “Oh, and if you actually do happen to be sneaking out, I’d hurry it up. He never sleeps in.”

With that, I slipped out the door quietly and walked down to our apartment. I decided I needed to go for a run before I had to go to work. I made a quick breakfast for my empty stomach and changed into a running bra and shorts. As I was tying up my sneakers, I heard the beeping tone of a text message on my phone.

Jaxon: You snuck out. Can I come over?

I decided I didn’t have time to text back. I needed air immediately. I stepped out of the apartment and jogged down the hallway. When I made it outside and down the stairs, I almost got to the street before I heard my name called from across the parking lot. I pretended that I didn’t hear it and turned for the road.

I usually ran toward the beach; it was a good marker for me to know how far I had run. The beach was also a good spot to stop midway and rest. Today I decided to run in the opposite direction for a change of pace.

I wasn’t sure what I should do about Jaxon. I liked being around him, and it wasn’t just the sex that I enjoyed with him. I liked the way he made me feel that I didn’t need to sleep with anyone else. Hell, I didn’t want to, for that matter. I thought two weeks would be difficult without sex, but the only reason they would be hard is because I can’t sleep with him for two weeks. I loved the way he made me feel so safe when I was around him, like he would protect me no matter what, even if I didn’t need it. Why couldn’t I just let him protect my heart as well? Why couldn’t I just live in the moment, relationship-wise like everyone else in college? Quinn and Cole were finally doing it. I’m worried about the future, about deaths and cheating. I can’t handle being left behind again like my parents left me, hurting a trail of people in their departure. I just need some distance from him to gain some perspective. Once I’m not around him all the time, I’ll remember the reasons I originally had for not getting into a relationship. I was too easily distracted by a deep sexy voice, miles of muscles on a tall body, and blue eyes that could read your soul.

Running toward the east there were more hills than I was used to running. It felt good to push myself harder. Today I needed to be pushed. I ached for that runner’s high and that little bit of euphoria that I could only get from pounding my feet into the pavement. I didn’t know how long I had been running until I passed a bank and the sign read almost nine forty-five.

Crap, I had been running for over an hour and a half. I needed to hustle back if I was going to get home to shower and get ready for work on time. As I started to spin back around, my feet hit some loose gravel on the sidewalk and I went down face first. Luckily, I only scraped my lip across the gravel before my hands finally caught the rest of my face from smashing. Great, now my lip was bleeding and my palms were all scratched up.