Broken Pretty Things by Amber Faye
Chapter 42
Logan’s party…
“You’re goingto need to sit down for this.”
“What’s going on?” I throw my arm around Aurelia’s shoulders.
I’m getting a little tipsier than I usually do, which can make me, well, huggy. I try not to drink much around Andie, because I love the hell out of Cole, and even before I realized I wanted her more than anything, I was aware of how much I wanted to touch her.
“It’s bad, Gunnar,” she whispers, rubbing her curvy body against me. I regret touching her already. I don’t get why she likes it so much when I’m friendly. I feel like I’ve made it clear that I don’t want to do anything with her by … not doing anything with her.
The smile falls from my face when I hear her words. “Let’s sit down.”
“In private,” she says, slipping her fingers between mine and leading me to one of the smaller rooms in the Palace that over time kids had filled with beanbag chairs, couches, magic eye posters, lava lamps. She closes a door behind us when we find a room, and turns to me, chewing the hell out of her pouty lower lip.
“What is it?” I ask, looking past her at the closed door.
“Gunnar.” She steps to me and squeezes my fingers with her own small hands. She blinks up at me, a tear clinging to her long, thick lashes. “I just saw something and it’s going to change everything. You have to help me figure out how to deal with this. Because we can’t keep it a secret.” She blinks, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. “God. I don’t know what we should do.”
“It’s OK,” I say, squeezing her fingers. “We’ll figure it out together. Just tell me the truth.”
She takes in a deep breath. “I just saw …”
While she speaks, with every word she says, the high-pitched noise in my ears gets louder.
“She wouldn’t,” I say.
Her lips are trembling. “This is going to cause so much drama. I can’t believe it either, but it seems like she’s been doing this, cheating on him, for a long time. It’s just so evil. So cruel. What do we do? Do we tell Cole?”
“We …” I trail off. “She wouldn’t.” It’s impossible. Hurting somebody just isn’t possible for Andie. “I’m getting back to the party.”
The music ends, and then a new song starts. A slow, crooning guitar song with poor production. Doyle. I roll my eyes, but the exasperation turns to pride when I hear people yelling my name. I’ll fix this.
Then I’ll try to figure out what Aurelia really saw.