Beyond What is Given(92)

I lost the ability to breathe, my lungs searching for air that simply wasn’t there.

Her room was empty, furniture and all. I laced my fingers on my head and walked a small circle in the room. I’d only been gone two-and-a-half hours. That was it. But she’d erased herself completely, like she’d never been here at all.

But my pulverized heart wore the scars that proved she had been.

She’d given up. Left. Didn’t trust me to love her.

How the hell could I fight for someone who had no faith in me?





Chapter Twenty-Six


Sam


“There you are, you vampire,” Avery said as I walked into the gym.

“Hey, yourself,” I replied, and plopped my bag on the desk.

It was a fitting description really, since I felt like the living dead. In the three days since I’d left Grayson, Maggie had been nice enough to move my shift to nights, when I knew from Jagger that Grayson was flying.

So what if my schedule revolved around his? At least it meant that I had no chance of running into him, which was exactly what I needed. It also helped that Paisley hadn’t told him that I’d taken over her room and now lived with Morgan. Not that he’d asked. Or texted. Or called. Or…anything.

“What brings you out during daylight hours? Connor is on shift right now.” She didn’t bother taking her eyes off Grady as he worked on his lats.

“Your mom needed help with the schedule.” Of course I’d said yes, then waited until after six thirty p.m. to come in.

“Mmmm,” she replied.

“How’s your homework?” I waited for her to respond, then bopped her on the head with a pencil when it became obvious that she wasn’t going to. “Avery. Homework.”

“Ow!” She rubbed her head and finally looked over at me. “Whoa. You look…um.”

I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Swollen?” she answered with a smile.

That’s what happens when you can’t quit crying for three days. “Rough few days. Enough about me, what’s going on with homecoming?”

Her eyes flew toward the machines again. “Nothing.”

“Does he have a date yet?”

She shook her head, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I don’t know why I’m holding out hope, really. I’m just like…his office supply store.”

“You don’t know that,” I said. “You’re beautiful and smart. Grady would be lucky to have you as a date.”

“Sure, if he liked dating the bottom of the social food chain.” She tapped her pencil on her trig book and sighed.

I couldn’t hide my smile.

“What? You think this is funny? This is my life.” Her forehead hit the book.

Oh, to be seventeen. “One, stop being so dramatic. I was thinking that you remind me of my best friend. She had this thing for this ultra-popular hockey player when she was a sophomore. He was a senior so she thought she didn’t have a chance. She didn’t do anything about it, and he went off to college.”

She rotated so her cheek lay against the book. “That’s the most depressing story ever, but thank you.”

“Not really. Turns out he’d had a thing for her all along.”

She sat up and leaned in. “Really? What happened?”

“They met up again when they were in college, and they’re madly in love. Like off-the-charts kind of love. They’ve been together over a year now.”

Her gaze flickered toward Grady.

“See, it’s possible, so don’t be so hard on yourself. Stop letting where you think you rank, or anyone’s opinion define you. You’ll be a hell of a lot happier once you do.” I sorted the mail and started to work on the next week’s schedule.

“What, like you’re happy?” she fired back, working on the next problem.

“With who I am? Not yet, but I’m realizing that I might not ever be. I am a glorious work in progress, Avery. Stand back, I may spontaneously combust at any moment.” I winked at her.

“And the tears?”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Yeah, well…sometimes love is just…complicated.”

She glanced at Grady and let out a dramatic sigh. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

I hid my smile a little better as I turned on the computer to fire up Excel. “Hey, have you had any luck on our computer problem?”

Her eyes lit up. “They’re all looped, each one responsible for the other, so I just need to find the one origin email that began the chain. But I can tell you that they all originated in Colorado.”

Fucking Harrison. “Thanks, Avery. I really appreciate it.”

She shrugged with an impish grin. “I like doing it.”

A weight clanged to the ground, and Grady bounced on one foot. “You okay?” I called out.

“Grady, you all right?” Avery said at the same moment.

He turned scarlet and picked up the small dumbbell. “Yeah, all good.”

I didn’t miss the way his eyes dropped away from Avery when he picked up the weight. Interesting. He quickly retreated to the locker room.

I finished the next month’s schedule quickly and printed it as Grady walked out of the locker room, his black backpack slung over his shoulder. “Is that the same backpack he uses for school?”