Broken Empire A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance - Callie Rose Page 0,17

almost-real.

But it wasn’t mine.

My eyes stung, but I blinked away the tears that tried to well up. I wouldn’t let this ruin me. I wouldn’t.

I had missed one opportunity, but there would be others. With physical therapy and hard work, maybe I could audition again in a year or two—if not there, then somewhere else. My life wasn’t over.

“It’s fine,” I choked out, looking up to meet the Princes’ gazes. They had all moved even closer, gathering in a tight knot around me, and I could see the tension in their bodies as they watched me try to contain my emotions.

Mason shook his head, his green eyes blazing. They burned with intensity as he reached out with both hands to clasp my face, leaning in to rest his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes, letting him soak up some of my pain. Our lips were so close that we shared breaths as he held me like that, quiet and still.

Then he moved again, pulling away so fast my whole body jerked from the loss of his. He was across the room in several long strides, and before I could register what he was doing, his fist hit the wall.

“No, goddammit! It’s. Not. Fucking. Fine!”

Each word was punctuated by another strike, until he’d made a hole in the plaster, leaving the white paint smeared with blood.

Breathing hard, he yanked the door open and stalked out, slamming it shut behind him.

Shock made me forget my sadness for a second, and I stared after him with wide eyes.

What the fuck just happened?

“What…?”

I didn’t finish my question, but Finn answered anyway.

“He just needs a minute, Tal.” He squeezed my hand, which he’d picked up while I was talking to Gregory. “He’s pissed as shit. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Mason’s a hard guy to talk out of things.”

A noise that was almost a laugh fell from my lips. “Yeah. I figured that out.”

“He thinks it’s his fault this happened to you. The wreck,” Cole said, his voice low.

A sudden memory sprang into my mind of Mason and him murmuring late at night in my hospital room. I couldn’t remember everything they’d talked about, but hadn’t Mason said something like that then?

“Why?”

Elijah shook his head. “What we did to you was fucked up, Talia. We basically gave the whole school the go-ahead to mess with you. We told them to do it. And Adena has always been one of the worst. She went after you so hard at first because she was trying to get in good with Mace. Trying to win him back, I guess. When that didn’t work, when he started paying more attention to you instead of her, she went after you out of spite and jealousy.”

“Yeah.” Finn snorted. “Although she’s not doing it to try to win his approval anymore. Not since what he said to her after she pushed you down the stairs.”

There was something about his tone that made my brows draw together. I assumed whatever confrontation he was talking about had happened after Mason had left my dorm that day. And judging by the way he spoke, whatever Mason had said to Adena had been… not nice.

“Just give him a little time,” the blond boy added. “He’s just mad. At himself more than anything.”

Then he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me toward him until my less injured side was tucked tightly against his body. I breathed in his clean, citrus scent and felt my muscles relax a little.

“I’m sorry, Legs,” he murmured against my hair, pressing a kiss to the side of my head. “I really am sorry.”

“Adena won’t mess with you again.” Cole’s jaw clenched, and for a second, I thought he’d follow in Mason’s tracks by punching a wall and then bolting. But instead, he stayed planted right where he was, his sky-blue gaze burning into mine. “We’ll keep you fucking safe.”

Chapter 6

Jacqueline noticed the hole in my wall the second she stepped into my room the next day, as if it were a blinking red beacon instead of just a small, ragged indentation. Her eyes widened before her gaze flew to my hands, checking my knuckles for signs of damage.

There wasn’t any, obviously. But I didn’t say anything about what’d happened, and she didn’t ask. She just shook her head sharply and walked out. Maybe she thought I was turning into a crazy, vicious psycho like my mother had—but I’d rather let her think that than tell her Mason