Our Broken Pieces - M.E. Clayton Page 0,13

feel my chest cave in.¶

I’ve had guys ask me out before, but I’ve never had a guy be so forward as to just grab my hand and start calling me babe. The last time a guy just...took me, it had been three years ago when Gage had followed me into the park and had dragged me into the empty park restroom.

I had screamed, thinking I was being attacked, and I had been. It just hadn’t been the kind of attack I had anticipated. When Gage had slammed me up against the wall and I had seen it was him, the struggle had become real. I hadn’t fought Gage because I had been afraid of him, though. No. I had fought Gage because I hadn’t been afraid of him. I had fought Gage because I knew he was in there to unleash his inner demons, thereby, unleashing mine.

The sex had been brutal, painful, emotional, and mostly, life altering. Anyone watching would have been sick with the violence of it all, but I had welcomed what he was doing to me and Gage...well, Gage had thrived on being able to do it.

The very next day, I had convinced my mom that my periods were so horrible that I needed to be on birth control pills. She had believed me and had set me up an appointment with a gynecologist. A gynecologist who I begged and begged not to tell my mother that I was no longer a virgin, mind you. I had also been secretly blessed with not being able to get an appointment for a week. It had given me time to heal from Gage’s attack.

It had also been the beginning of a very sick and twisted relationship where we ignored each other as much as we could, but when Gage could no longer stand it, he’d seek me out and use me until he was sated. This horribly unhealthy addiction always had Gage seeking me out. I never went looking for him.

Ever.

I watched in horrid fascination as Dillon pulled me behind him, but before we could get too far, I felt a tight hold on the wrist of my other hand. The squeeze was solid and sure.

The message was also loud as hell.

I looked up at Dillon as confusion marred his face when he took in the hold Gage had on my wrist. A hold preventing me from following Dillon any further. He threw his chin up towards Gage. “What are you doing?” The edge in his voice implied that Gage was overstepping, and Dillon had all the rights here.

Oh, how very wrong he was.

My fingers eased out of Dillon’s hold at the same time Gage yanked me towards his side. He straightened to his full height, and with six little words, he ruined everything. “Don’t ever touch my girlfriend again.”

Chapter 8

Gage~

I wanted to beat Dillon Mills until an ambulance had to be called to carry his body out of the party.

He dared to touch Mystic, and the tightrope I’ve been balancing for the past few years snapped, and there was no stopping what I’d done.

I knew there were plenty of guys at school who would have loved to date Mystic, but I never witnessed someone actually hitting on her or else I would have outed us sooner. My control where Mystic was concerned was limited to not attacking her in the hallways at school, but that was about it. Once I knew what it felt like to be inside her, I stayed away from her as much as I could in public. It was only when my psyche threatened to snap, or my mother was out of town, that I’d seek her out, so I could use her body to exorcise my demons.

That’s why Chance dating Margot was a bad idea. That’s why coming to this party had been a bad idea. I knew there was a chance some guy would want to dance with her or hang out or something, and I have always known I wasn’t strong enough to withstand witnessing something like that.

Mystic was special.

Mystic was the only thing that kept me from killing someone-possibly my dad-and made it possible for me to function somewhat normally.

If it weren’t for Mystic, I wouldn’t be able to hold onto my facade, and the whole world would see just how fucked-up I really was.

She reined in the madness, and Dillon Mills just, unknowingly, unleashed it.

“What?”

“Girlfriend?”

“What the fuck?

I ignored Margot’s question of clarification and Chance’s shocked utterance and kept looking