Our Broken Pieces - M.E. Clayton Page 0,8

taken me aside and told me how important it was for me to keep his secret from Mom. He had explained that he loved and respected my mother so much, he couldn’t do the stuff he did with those women to her. He had made it sound reasonable when he went on to guilt me into making sure my mother was never hurt by finding out. He had sworn to me that it would ruin her entire life. So, I had kept his secret. I kept his fucking secret and I kept my mouth shut every time his friends and those women came over whenever my mom was out of town.

I also kept my mouth shut about how I spent those first few times listening at the door for any cries for help, ready to help those women.

But they never came.

Those women had wanted to be there.

Chapter 5

Mystic~

“I’m so nervous.”

I looked over at Margot, dressed in a stunning green baby-doll dress and nude heels, with her hair pinned up and her makeup looking flawless, and asked, “Why on earth are you nervous? You’re the most people-est person I know, Margot. You do crowds just fine.” The corner of her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth and I was pretty sure she was going to chew the damn thing off. “Margot?”

She rolled her eyes and let out a tiny huff. “I’m nervous because of Chance,” she admitted.

I schooled my features the best I could. “You really like him, don’t you?”

Margot dropped on the foot of her bed. We were in her room as she finished getting ready for her party. I hadn’t wanted to dress up, but she had begged and so we had compromised. She backed off on my makeup and hair as I gave in to wearing a skirt with heels. I had nothing against dressing up, I just felt more comfortable in jeans and hoodies.

“I don’t know, because I haven’t ever really hung out with him, but he gives me butterflies, Mystic,” she continued to confess. I almost groaned at her admission. I knew she was serious when she used my real name. Margot really wanted to start something with Chance McQueen.

“That’s a good thing, right?” I knew all about butterflies, but mine were more like locusts taking their rightful place in the line of the Seven Plagues than cute butterflies of attraction.

She went back to chewing her lip before she asked, “What if it’s a joke, Mys?” I sat down next to her when I realized she was truly worried about Chance’s interest in her. This shit was serious. “What if...I don’t know. Chance McQueen has never asked a girl out. I’m just not sure what this is.”

I grabbed her hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “You’re asking the wrong person these questions, Mar,” I told her. “Only Chance can answer those questions.”

Her pretty green eyes were full of self-doubt, and I hated that. “I just don’t want to be the butt of a joke again,” she whispered, and I wanted to kick Timothy’s ass all over again. That sonofabitch will never know what a good thing he threw away in Margot Cross.

“You’ve never been the butt of a joke, Margot,” I insisted. “The only person who looked like an ass when you and Timothy broke up was Timothy. Everyone sided with you.”

“I know,” she breathed out. “I know that, but...I still felt like a fool when I found out he was cheating.”

“I know, Mar.” And I did know. I was there as she endured her first real heartbreak and it had sucked. It had given me a new appreciation for people who have endured having their hearts broken and have had the courage to open themselves up for love again.

She shook her head and took a deep breath. “You’re right,” she said. “I just need to ask him, point blank, what this is. We’re graduating soon, so if it’s a fling, I can do that. I just need to know that it’s a fling.”

I wanted to argue that I doubted it very much that she could leave this as a fling if she was already tying herself up knots over it, but I didn’t want to bring her down and ruin her party vibe. “It’ll be fine,” I lied. “You could do worse than a fling with Chance McQueen.”

She gave me a sly smile, and I knew she was back. “I bet he’s great in the sack.”

I tried not to grimace. I didn’t want to