Broken Knight (All Saints High, #2)

by L.J. Shen

Most kids liked fighting each other. Not me. I only wanted to hurt myself. When my body ached, my heart didn’t. Simple math, and a pretty good deal.

I didn’t care what Vaughn said. I was never going to want to kiss this girl. God help me if she ever asked me to.

you'll eat those words bud

She waved at me to come down. I threw a pinecone at her shoulder in response. “Rexroth.” What? her quirked eyebrow said. She could tell me a thousand things with her eyebrows alone, this girl. Sometimes I wanted to shave them off just to spite her. “I always get even. Remember that, cool?” Cool, her eye roll huffed. “Now, come up.” She motioned toward my bike, stomping her foot. “Leave the stupid bike.”

I didn’t even like riding my bike. It was cruel on my nuts and boring to the rest of my body. I only rode it so I could hang out with Luna. Same reason I colored. I loathed coloring.

I picked out a pinecone and threw it at the sinking sun, over the edge of the mountain our tree was rooted upon. I wondered if the pinecone made it to the ocean, if it was wet and cold now. If it hated me.

We are working with some serious self loathing here. why?

“I’m fine.” I sniffed, choosing another pinecone. “It’s fine.” “I hate that word. Fine,” Luna signed. “It’s not good. It’s not bad. It’s nothing.”

She dropped her head down and took my hand, gave it a squeeze. Her touch was warm and sticky. Kind of gross. A few weeks ago, Vaughn told me he wanted to kiss Cara Hunting. I couldn’t even imagine touching a girl like that. Luna put my hand on her heart. I rolled my eyes, embarrassed. “I know. You’re here for me.” She shook her head and squeezed my hand harder. The intensity of her gaze freaked me out. “Always. Whenever. Forever,” she signed.

I breathed in her words. I wanted to smash my stupid bike on Vaughn’s stupid face, then run away. Then die. I wanted to die in desolate sands, evaporate into dust, let the wind carry me nowhere and everywhere. I wanted to die instead of Mom. I was pretty...

I didn’t want to kiss her. I wanted to zip open my skin and tuck her into me. Hide her from the world and keep her mine.