Flawed Heart: House Of Obsidian - Bella Jewel Page 0,8
tonight I’m not even close to feeling it. That probably makes me a pussy—I’m okay with that. I walk farther down the beach until I see a lone figure sitting on a rock, staring out at the ocean. As I get closer, I realize it’s Belle.
She came.
Something squeezes in my chest as I move closer until I can see her face in the moonlight. She’s wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a loose black tee that falls down around her ass. She’s got on a pair of black boots and her hair is out, flapping about in the breeze, but she doesn’t seem to notice. She doesn’t even hear me approach.
“You came.”
She jerks and whips her head around, then sighs with relief. “You have to stop sneaking up on me.”
I smile and flop down onto the rock beside her. “You know the purpose of a party is to actually join in?”
She frowns. “My friend convinced me to come, or more to the point, to drive her home, but I’m not really into it. It’s much nicer down here.”
I nod in agreement. “You’re right about that.”
“What about you, captain popular? I wouldn’t imagine you’re the type to walk off down the beach alone?”
I snort. “My girl is being difficult and my buddy is drunk. It’s not exactly fun.”
She goes silent.
I look over to her and she’s staring back out at the ocean.
“You have a boyfriend, Blue Belle?”
She looks at me again. “Why do you call me that?”
I study her face, focusing on her blue eyes. The eyes that I can’t seem to shake from my thoughts. “Because you’ve got the most intense blue eyes I’ve ever seen, and your name is Belle. It makes sense, right?”
She smiles. Fucking beautiful.
“I guess it does.”
“Now, back to the question . . . do you have a boyfriend?”
She scoffs. “Gosh no.”
“No?”
“No.” She smiles down at her hands.
“How come?”
She crosses her legs, fidgets, then uncrosses them. “I just haven’t met anyone.”
“A beautiful girl like you?”
She frowns at me. “Are you trying to charm me, Max? Because last time I checked you had a girlfriend.”
I throw my hands up, grinning. “I’m just telling the truth, Blue Belle. I didn’t realize you had difficulties accepting compliments.”
She sighs. “I don’t, it’s just . . . Why are you talking to me?”
“Because I want to.”
She pouts. “That’s it?”
“Does it truly need to be anything more? I might be a jock, and a player and all the things you’re thinking, but I’m not an asshole. I can have real conversations with people, you know?”
She flushes with embarrassment, as if the idea of offending me upsets her. “I know, sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just no one ever really talks to me. I’m so used to being invisible.”
I reach over, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She shivers, but doesn’t stop me. “You don’t have to be,” I say in a low, raspy voice.
She shrugs. “Y-y-y-yeah, maybe.”
I lean back again, but I keep my eyes on her face. “I could use another friend.”
Her brows go up. “I thought the entire school population were your friends?”
I stare out at the ocean. “You know, you’re the first person I’ve had a decent conversation with in such a long time. I forget the last one I had. I might be surrounded by people, Blue Belle, but none of them know me.”
She fully turns to me, her eyes wide and shocked. “I could never imagine how having that many people around could actually make you lonelier. I’d kill for so many people to talk to.”
“And yet those people don’t really want to talk to you; they just want to be seen with a status symbol.”
She nods, studying my face.
“Max?”
We both flinch and I turn to see Demi storming—well stumbling—across the beach. I stand, looking down at Belle. “I should go.”
She tears her eyes from Demi and looks up at me. “Okay.”
It comes out as a whisper. Fuck. I want nothing more than to stay with her, but I know Demi will just pitch a fit, and it’ll only make this amazing conversation shitty.
I turn and walk towards Demi, but stop after a few steps and look back over my shoulder. “Hey, Blue Belle?”
She looks up at me.
“Does this mean we’re friends?”
She smiles.
Fuck yeah.
CHAPTER FOUR
NOW – ANABELLE
I can’t stop thinking about Max.
It’s been two weeks since he came past, and in that time I’ve thought of nothing else. I keep repeating his words over and over in my head. The