The Slave Daddy Wouldn't Free

na

d betrayal coul

d tightly around my knees, staring at the d

dows. My phone lay beside me, its screen still glowin

for you to find

wasted. Every promise, every whispered secret, every night I fell asleep believing he was min

was

sm

rumors about me in the locker room, and made me feel like the ugliest, smallest thing walking those

or a gasp for air. My chest ached in a way I couldn't describe, like

coul

swer. I didn't want anyone to see me like this

me Mia's ge

"Go away," I croaked, m

attress dip as Mia sat beside me. I couldn't even

ck. "I know you're hurting. I wish I could take it aw

slipping down my chee

my sister's getting married. In Vegas. A beachside wedding. Waves,

.. I can't. I don't want to see peopl

pity. They held something else - a quiet kind of understanding. "Come with me. You don't have to talk, you don't

e small, broken fragment, wanted to believe there could be a moment of quiet somewhere a

y voice barely abov

ulled me into a tight hug. For the first

" she said, pulling awa

I'd been holding. The pain was still there, sharp and cruel. But f

ca

only for

he we

ent, casting the sky in warm shades of orange and pink. Waves crashed against the shore in

with soft curls falling to her shoulders. Everyone was smiling, laughing

ide, I

o my hand, barely tasting it as I downed it in one long

anot

countin

e memories of Daniel's hands in mine, his voice in my ear,

sitting too long, hair tousled by the wind. But I didn't care. I wasn't here

ned near the shoreline. I wandered closer to the water's edge, the sand cool benea

stared out at the hori

h

id he

, of al

low it down, but the tears blurred my vision anyway. I hated how fragile I

ind, hoping it would dry

hoping it'll wash their sins away. Or at least

fr

l or the ache in my heart, but for

ere he

ee a few steps away, a man watched m

and alcohol, my head swimming a little. My lip

he was

ubble, those gray eyes like the storm before rain, and a mouth that looked like it never smiled for no rea

ice faint. "I wasn

"But you looked like yo

lip, "May

wkward, but heavy. Then h

this world but you. And trust me... t

it was a line - God knows I'd heard plenty of clumsy ones in my l

a weak, cr

dramatic with drunk s

his gaze darkened, like he wasn't

e beauti

ow what ca

ke he saw all the broken pieces and didn't flinch. Or maybe I was just

myself, the words tu

wanna sle