Fallen Stars and Broken Dreams - C.C. Masters Page 0,86

but he left with the other two, and I wondered if I had just hallucinated that entire interaction. There hadn’t been any threats or attempts to intimidate me, so something weird was going on. My brain and every other part of my body were still in pain, so I tried to get at least one bottle of Gatorade in me as I browsed Netflix.

I wished Ryan was here. We’d laugh about how ridiculous my life had become, make fun of all the weird rich people stuff, and commiserate about how evil my new ‘brothers’ were. I wondered what Ryan was doing right now?

I picked up my phone and texted him.

Me: Miss you.

It only took a few seconds for him to reply.

Ryan: On a date with Brett, talk later?

I sent him a thumbs up and kissy face, but it felt like I was stabbed in the heart with a knife. Ryan and I used to obsess about every little interaction that he had with Brett. I couldn’t believe that he hadn’t called the second they set up the date. He hadn’t called to stress about what he should wear, or even to vent about how nervous he was. This was a huge step for Ryan, and I couldn’t believe that he had cut me out of his life so completely.

Pangs of loneliness shot through me, sharper than ever. Ryan had been my other half for so long that it felt like one of my limbs had been ripped off. How had he managed to move on without me so quickly? The only reason why tears weren’t streaming down my face right now was that my body couldn’t physically produce the moisture needed for tears.

I sank further down in my bed and pulled my blanket up to my chin. Ryan had moved on and started dating the man of his dreams. He probably already replaced me with a new best friend. I’d known Ryan for so long that I knew he wouldn’t be able to keep all of his excitement of dating Brett to himself. He was sharing it with someone, and it wasn’t me.

But wasn’t I doing the same? Guilt flooded through me when I realized that I had kind of done the same thing with Abby. I held back telling Ryan about a lot of stuff because I didn’t think he’d understand or because I didn’t want him to get jealous, but I had been sharing almost everything with Abby because she was a part of this new world that I found myself in. I could ask for her advice about a lot of stuff that Ryan couldn’t help me with.

Coming to the realization that I had stepped away from Ryan just as much as he had done with me didn’t help my sadness - it only made it worse. It was more than just distance between us; it was like we were living in different worlds. Common sense had told me that we would have grown apart at some point in our lives, but it hadn’t prepared me for feeling like my heart had been ripped out of my chest.

I put on a completely random movie, just so there wouldn’t be silence in my room. I didn’t want to be left alone with this empty feeling. I needed something to fill the void. Under normal circumstances, I would have reached for my pointe shoes and danced until I was numb, but I couldn’t even get out of bed. I just laid here like a useless lump of flesh, wondering how I would make it past this moment in my life.

I had lost everything, but deep down, I’d hung onto the hope that everything would go back to normal if I could just make it back home. Now that hope was gone. Ryan had moved on without me, and I wasn’t even sure I’d have a place in the Logans’ home anymore. I was completely and utterly alone.

Chapter 26

Maverik

I made sure Katya’s door was firmly shut before I grabbed Kash by the collar and pulled him into my room.

“What was it?” I growled at Kash as I shoved him to the couch.

He looked at me in surprise. “You wanted to get her to spill the truth. Alcohol alone wouldn’t have done the job – you know that.”

“What was it?” I asked again, the little patience I had left quickly dissipating.

Kash paled once he realized he had made a big mistake.

“I don’t know exactly,” he mumbled. “Just that it would make