His Trouble Maker

Chapter 32

JESSICA

| feel so bad. So fucking bad. But Pierce toldMom’s coming hand | need to fix myself.

Soltry.

I've wiped my face a dozen times, I've told myself to breathe, to calm down, to hold it in for five damn minutes-

but it just keeps coming. My chest hurts. My ribs feel like they're caving in. My throat’s raw from trying not to sob

out loud.

Pierce is next to me. He's not saying anything, thank god, but | can feel him watchingout of the corner of his

eye. | hope he doesn’t ask hope to god he doesn’t touch me, if he does, Ill fall apart right here. I'll scream. I'll

throw up. | don’t know

Mom's car pulls up. When she entered the house and give us a warm hug, | try to pretend I'm glad | saw her. |

press my face to her shoulder and try not to cry. “I'm happy you're home,” | whisper.

She pulls back just enough to lock at me, her brows knitting as she tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. Her

fingers are soft against my cheek. “You okay, Jess?”

“Y-Yeah”

“You look pale,” she says, brushing her thumb across my cheekbone. “Have you been eating?”

| choke on a laugh that almost comes out as a sob, “Yeah,” | lie again. “I'm fine.”

Pierce shifts beside me. | know he wants to say something, maybe callout, maybe help-il don’t know-but he

stays silent.

Mom doesn’t push. She just pullsclose again, arms wrapping around me.” Aw. Both of my babies are so

sweet” Pierce growls in the background, makinglaugh. He hates it when mom call us babies, “Did Pierce take

care of you while I'm recovering, Jess?”

“He tried,” | say, smiling a little because that’s what she wants-what she needs. | can’t give her the truth, so |

give her that.

Pierce snorts behind me.“ did take care of her. She's the one who didn’t make it easy”

Mom laughs like that’s the cutest thing in the world, completely missing how tight my voice is. How stiff my

shoulders are

in the kit

After eating dinner with mom and waiting for her to sleep, Pierce and | are left in the kitchen doing the dishes. |

mean, I'm the only one doing the dishes He's just standing there, watching me.

“What?” Lasked, bothered.

I scrub at the sdish twice.

Finally, he says, “You gonna talk about it!”

I don’t look at him. “Talk about what?”

| stare at the sink, at the swirling soap, trying to pretend that if | just keep washing, | can scrub the whole damn

memory away.

He sighs. “Jess...

“Don’t,” | whisper.

He hesitates, then straightens, coming closer. “You were shaking. I've never seen you like that. He didn’t he

didn’t hurt you, right?

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09:47 Tue, 5 Aug

Chapter 32

| whip around. “No. Jesus, Pience. No.

“Jess,” Pierce says again, firmer this time. “Was he hurting you?”

“No.” My voice cracks, | turn around fast, clutching the towel like a shield. “No, he never he didn’t hurt me. Not

like that”

Pierce looks unconvinced

Imeet his eyes anyway.

“He didn’t hurt me, | repeat, “I swear,”

Grayson just broke my heart. He shattered it.

“Jess

“I don’t want to talk about it.” | shake my head, fast, desperate.” can't. If talk about it, | start crying again and

Mom will hear and | can’t-i can’t ruin her first night back with this.”

Pierce moves like he’s about to reach for me.

| step away and that makes him stop.

clutch the edge of the sink tighter, my knuckles going white, my breath hitching high in my chest because it

feels like if let go of this stupid fucking dish towel, if let my hands go slack for even a second, Ill fall apart all

over the floor.

“Jess,” he says, quieter now, like he’s trying not to scareoff. “You're not okay.”

| squeeze my eyes shut

I know I'm not.

| feel like my whole body's bruised from the inside out, my heart cracked wide open and bleeding down into my

stomach, makingsick, makinghollow.

“I just need to get through tonight” | whisper. “Please, Pierce. Just letget through tonight.”

There's a stretch of silence where neither of us moves, | can feel the words he’s holding back, the way he wants

to push, to fix, to be the big brother who drags the truth out ofwhether | want it or not

But he doesn’L

instead, he shifts his weight like he’s hurting too, like he’s still seeing the pieces ofi can’t hide fast enough.

“You know,” he says slowly, voice tight, “if you just said the word... I'd fucking kill him.”

Something insideshatters all over again, Pierce has and will always be protective of me. | know that Tears

burn hot at the back of my throat. | shove the dish harder into the sink, hearing the porcelain crack against the

steel, but | don’t care.

“I don’t want him dead,” | whisper. “I just want him to stop hurting me.”

My voice breaks on the last word. | cover my face with my hands and suck in a breath so sharp it stings my

lungs.

Pierce curses under his breath. The next second, his arms are around me, pullinginto him whether | want it

or not

| try to shove him away. | try to push at his chest, beat my fists against him because it’s not fair, it's not fair that

he’s being kind when all want

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Chapter 321

to do is drown in how much this hurts.

But he doesn’t letgo.

And somewhere in the fight, my legs give out and | collapse against him, silent sobs tearing out ofas I cling

to his shirt like it’s the only thing keepingstanding.

“I've got you, Jess,” he mutters into my hair, holdingtighter. “I’ve got you.”

| don’t know when the fight leaves me.

Maybe it's somewhere between the second and third sob. Maybe it’s when Pierce tightens his arms like he’s

trying to hold all the broken

pieces oftogether.

Maybe it's when the truth claws its way out of my throat before | can swallow it back down.

“I liked him,” I gasp into his chest, the words ripping out of me, ugly and broken and raw. “I really liked him,

Pierce.” His hand moves up and down my back, rough, desperate. “I thought- My voice snaps, cutting off into a

choked, humiliating noise. | drag a hand across my face, smearing tears everywhere, but they just keep falling,

hot and relentless. 1 thought maybe | shake my head because | can’t even finish the sentence. It's too stupid.

Too pathetic.

Maybe he lovedtoo.

be | wasn’t just a thing he used up and threw away.

Maybe |

But now the only thing that’s real is the way Grayson looked at me, cold and guarded, like | was a problem he

was finally solving by leaving

And that look hurts worse than anything he could have said.

“I'm sorry,” | whisper into

his shirt, the words tasting like iron in my mouth. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, | didn’t mean for any of this-

“Jess,” Pierce says, rough and sharp, draggingback, “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

| sob harder, pressing my forehead to Pierce's shoulder, my whole body wracked and trembling. The ache in my

c my ribs might split apart just trying to contain it.

chest is so deep it feels like

It’s not fair.

None of it is fair.

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