What We Thought We Knew by Bridget Bloom

Author:Bridget Bloom [Bloom, Bridget]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-24T16:00:00+00:00

Jax

I watched Rowen’s shoulders curl forward as she caved in on herself, accepting Toby’s words as the truth. Her face stricken, eyes brimming with unshed tears as she listened to Toby’s confession. It was the same look she had on her face the day I let her catch me making out with Violet Sommers.

Utter betrayal.

“Are you happy now, asshole?” Toby shouts at me over all the voices talking at once.

No. I’m not happy.

I strike at him before he even knew to duck. My fist makes full contact with his nose, giving way to a satisfying crunch of cartilage, sending a spray of blood to cover his face. He drops to his knees, clutching his face, howling. Taylor pushes herself against the wall like I’m a crazed animal who’s about to come after her next.

“Jax,” Blake’s hand comes down on my shoulder.

I shake him off. “Don’t you ever forget that I’m the one who brought you down.” I growl at Toby.

Toby looks up at me. “Maybe, but at what cost?”

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Anthony whistles from the front door, gaining my attention. “Rowen took off down the street. You goin’ after her, or am I?”

There’s a war inside me, making my skin feel too tight. Go after Rowen or continue to beat the shit out of Toby? He sees me weighing it, everyone does. The room is suddenly too still. They’re all waiting to see what I’m going to do. Blake puts his hand back on my shoulder. “It’s over, man. Go after her.”

I look my best friend in the eye. He’s trying to convey something to me that I can’t see past the rage clouding my vision.

Cami stumbles up to Blake, her eyes wide in shock and that’s when I notice for the first time that she’s wearing dark purple glitter on her eyes. The same dark purple glitter stuff that Rowen was covered in on Monday.

Blake is right. It’s over. I won. So why don’t I feel like it? I put my hands up and take a step away from Toby.

I take off jogging down the street and find Rowen at Yellow Duck Park a block over. She’s swaying side to side on the old swing set that probably predates our parents.

With only an old, yellow streetlight to see, I walk through the mulch to the swing set. Rowen doesn’t look up as I pass in front of her and take the swing next to her.

Her face is tear streaked, but her eyes are dry. If she tried to kick my ass right now, I’d probably just sit here and let her.

“I didn’t intentionally try to hurt you this time. I just didn’t stop you from getting caught in the crossfire,” I confess.

Rowen’s toe digs into the mulch. I want to yell at her because she’s not yelling at me. I used her, set her up again, she should be ripping into me right now.

“I knew Toby was cheating on me,” she says, finally.

“What? You knew and continued to date him?”

“No.

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