Read Online Glass Hearts by Lisa de Jong - Free Book Online Page A

ex-girl, are you?” Nolan asks me, pissing me off even more. As I step closer to him, he backs away, pulling Bree with him. The guy can be an idiot, but he knows he won’t win a battle with me, especially when I’m sober and he’s not.
    I watch as he guides her towards the stairs. “Dane, call me!” she yells down the hall. I don’t reply. I’m done with her, and I have a lot of explaining to do to the girl standing beside me. I catch a glimpse of Alex; she looks confused and angry. I want to reach out and touch her, but I know it’s not a good idea. I just pray she will let me touch her again after she hears what I have to say.
    “Alex,” I say, breaking the deafening silence that had fallen over us since Nolan walked Bree out of my building, and hopefully, out of my life.
    She turns her back to me and by the way she swipes her hand over her face, I can tell she’s crying. It breaks me inside. We were fine an hour ago and now this. It’s amazing how quickly things can change when you’re least expecting it.
    “Alex, please, look at me,” I beg, placing my hand on her shoulder.
    She turns towards me, the tears rolling down her cheeks. “You lied to me. Why did you lie to me?”
    “What are you talking about?” I ask, reaching up to wipe the tears from her face. I quickly change my mind and pull my hand back when she turns her head away from me.
    “You said there was no one else. Now I find out that you were hanging out with your ex while we were apart. I hate being lied to, Dane,” she says, turning her attention back to me.
    “Let’s go inside. I need to tell you something, but it’s not what you think,” I say, grabbing for her hand.
    She pulls back even further, shaking her head. “I have to go. I can’t do this.”
    “Where are you going? You live here.” I can tell by the way her face contorts that I won’t like her answer. I haven’t seen this much pain on that beautiful face of hers since the day I left her in the park. She bared her heart to me that day, but I just left her standing there. Every part of me felt like she deserved it at the time, but as I look at her today, she doesn’t deserve this. She left her old life behind and chose me, but my old life keeps crawling back to me. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever escape it.
    “I’ll find somewhere to stay, or I’ll call Jade,” she answers before turning to walk toward the stairway. She stops suddenly, turning to face me one more time. “Maybe this was all a bad idea.”
    Why would she say that? I step back as my mind starts racing and I realize she’s leaving me. I need to make her stay; I would do anything to keep her here until the day I take my last breath.
    “Alex!” I yell. She takes a couple more steps and I feel her slipping further and further away from me. I regret not fighting for her more the last time she left me, but I’m not going to regret today. “You promised me. You promised me you would never leave me, and now you’re just going to walk away? I need you,” I plead. I hate that I feel like crying, but it’s hard to stay controlled when I think about losing her again.
    I step toward her until I’m close enough that I can reach out and touch her. I wait for her to say something, anything, but she remains frozen in front of me. “Please, I need you to hear me out. I’ll tell you everything, and if you still want to leave after that, you can. I won’t stop you.”
    I watch her shoulders slump forward. “I just can’t do this right now, Dane.”
    She starts moving away from me again and my heart feels like it’s breaking piece by piece. I will not lose her over this. “When are you going to stop running? You can’t run every time things get tough, Alex. Fighting through it only makes you stronger, and right now, you’re weak.”
    Fuck, I can’t believe I just said that to her, but I mean every word of it. My heart is beating out of my chest as I wait for her response.
    She finally turns, pointing