Page 11 (1/2)

"Why here?" I cut her off, not caring about their tragic backstory Everyone has a tale to sob over Rich or poor

Abby looks at me ide eyes "Because if I took you to irl I’ve gotta protectso a cat chase its tail "Another lie"

"I can pretend that’syou want out of the world"

"You’re possibly the most fked-up person I’ve met"

"That’s not news" Abby slides her phone back into her pocket "Now, if we’re done ‘pretending’ to have a conversation, I’d like to go see my best friend And, no, that’s not a lie"

She turns on her heel and heads for the stairs

"Abby," I call out as I shoveand waits forto the bar"

A wicked grin spreads across her face "I could tell you, but there would be absolutely no fun in doing that" And she walks up the stairs

Chapter 9

Haley

Every breath tastes of dust, spilled gasoline and oil Layers of grie andhas it been since Matt abandoned et help--to find sanity in the insane, but nohe left He just left

"Haley!" The voice is far away, yet a nagging inside me says it’s near

Blood soaks my hands It’s Matt’s blood--I think Maybe ue It’s e’re good at, but now it see He hit me I hit him back And somehow neither of us stopped

"She’s cold," Jax says "And look at her eyes I think she’s in shock"

It’s an effort to turn my head toward Jax His whitish-blond hair is spiked into a Mohawk His shirt goes up and over his head and he lays it on my arms and chest, but not my hands No, he wouldn’t let it touch my hands The blood would ruin his white T-shirt

"Haley!" Jax poises his hands nearas if he doesn’t knohat to fix first or worried that if he did make contact he’d become diseased, cursed like nize ed