Page 32 of Only When We Fall
Her frown deepens. “I haven’t told anyone.”
“Not what Landon said.”
“I swear,” she says, putting her bowl in the dishwasher. “I haven’t told a soul, especially not Landon.”
I don’t get a chance to ask her anything because Landon walks in. We both freeze.
Zara gasps. “Jesus, what happened toyou?” His eye is swollen, an ugly bruise already forming beneath it, and there’s dried blood on the collar of his shirt. She rushes over, gripping his chin and tilting his face toward the light. “Landon, are you okay?”
He winces and pulls away. “I’m fine.”
“You’renotfine,” she snaps. “Who did this?”
His eyes cut to me, cold and sharp. “Your ex.”
My stomach lurches. “Kai?”
“Yeah,” Landon says, shaking his head like he can’t believe it either. “I saw him at the bar. He was all over some girl, had her on his lap, hands everywhere.”
The breath catches in my throat.
Landon keeps going, his voice hard. “I told him he should have more respect, that it wasn’t fair to mess with your head if he’s out doing that. And the next thing I know? He swings at me. No warning. Justbam.” He gestures to his face. “I didn’t even hit him back.”
Zara swears under her breath. “That psycho.”
But I barely hear her over the ringing in my ears. “He was with someone else?” I ask, barely above a whisper.
Landon shrugs. But his eyes never leave mine. “Guess he moved on quicker than we thought. But if that’s not proof you need to do the same, Em, I don’t know what is.”
I want to defend Kai. Say it doesn’t sound like him. That he wouldn’t do something so cruel, so violent. But the words won’t come. Because deep down, some part of me wonders if I ever really knew him at all.
I head back to my room. I turn my phone on and see last night’s messages from Kai. Did he send it whilst chatting to someone else? I scoff, tears stinging my eyes. And then it pings.
Kai: Truth 5. The night we kissed, I wasn’t thinking about anything else but you. Not the dare. Not what anyone would say. Just you. And how you looked at me like I was better than I knew I was.
A sob escapes my throat and bile rises, threatening to make me vomit. It’s almost a slow torture with his constant contact, yet when out of sight, he’s fucking around campus like I don’t mean shit.
Me: Stop messaging me, Kai. I’m not interested.
His reply is instant.
Kai: I know I broke something in you. I want to be someone who helps you heal, not dig the crack deeper. I’m not asking for forgiveness right away, just a chance to earn it.
Me: I saw Landon. He’s a mess!
He reads my message and a second later, my mobile lights up with his call. I cancel it and he tries a second time. I throw the phone on my bed, letting it ring out. I don’t want to hear more lies.
I must fall asleep, because the next thing I see is Zara’s face over mine. She grins as my eyes flutter open, alarming me enough to roll away in panic, and almost fall off my bed.
“What are you doing?” I cry, clutching my chest to try and calm my racing heart.
She giggles. “I tried to wake you, but you were out of it. I was checking you weren’t dead.”
“As you can see, I’m alive.”
“Anyway, these got delivered,” she says, gesturing to a bunch of dried flowers on my bed. I sit up, grabbing them. “Are they dead?” she asks, plucking the head off a daisy.
I shake my head. “Dried,” I whisper.
