Loving Alek came easily. Being indifferent to him was the hard part.
If I wanted any chance of surviving this breakup, I needed to get my acting skills up to par though because something tells me that his walking out the door to go to her is only t...
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I study my best friend as she flips through the racks of fancy dresses, trying to find one for Friday.
She smiles and laughs just like always, but I'm noticing her shoulders seem to carry a weight that wasn't there before.
Has she been hiding her pain because she's been worried about mine?
God, I feel like crap that I'm just now noticing things aren't okay in Everleigh's world.
"Hey, Ever," I call softly.
She peers over her shoulder at me, but she's not fast enough to mask the pain on her face.
I hang the dress I was looking at back up and give Ever my full attention.
Reaching over, I cup her cheek in my palm and turn her towards me to get a better look at her.
She tries to smile, but I catch the slight wobble to it this time. Her eyes are usually so expressive and full of fire, but they're bruised with pain hidden in their depths.
"Oh, Ever," I murmur. "What happened?"
She keeps her face blank, but the tear running rogue down her cheek reveals how much she hurts.
It's constantly humbling when Everleigh doesn't hide her vulnerability from me. I'm so used to her being this vital force in my life that it's easy to forget she's also human-she loves and feels deeply just like the rest of us. She's always been afraid to express that side of herself, and I never understood it because her parents have the most beautiful relationship I've ever seen.
Maybe there's fear in that itself, though.
I catch the stray tear with my thumb and hold it between us. "Is Grimm responsible for this?"
Everleigh sneers at the clear liquid droplet that holds a piece of her pain. "It's the only one that stupid, rotten dick biker will ever have from me."
"Do you Want to talk about it?" I ask, rubbing the tear between my fingers and then showing her as if I had done something magical.
I didn't really, but Ever's face smooths out now that there's no visible evidence of her hurt.
"Nope. Not yet, anyway. Mister President of the Godless Souls MC can go fuck himself in the ass with a barbed wire bat coated in poison for all I care."
That's a lot of anger behind her words, so whatever he did, he fucked up badly, and he'll be lucky to ever see her face again.
I love my girl, but she does not forgive easily.
"You know I'm here when and if you want to talk, right?"
She squeezes my hand back when I reach out. "You always are. I'm just not ready, Vinnie."
Her voice cracks on my name, betraying her.
"Then what do you say we find you a sexy as hell dress and hit the spa for our appointment? We're about to be surrounded by freaking musicians, Ever! You ain't gotta do anything, but if seeing you with pictured with some handsome men tends to make a certain ass bag biker regret what he lost, then I say make sure you look banging."
Everleigh smirks. "I always look banging, babycakes."
I laugh, grabbing the dress I picked out. "That you do. That you do."
Hours later, I drop Everleigh off at her place with a promise to see her tomorrow.
Watching her walk inside her house with her shoulders drooped and her steps dragging, I hurt for her.
She cared more about Grimm than she had any of the guys she had been with. To know he did something to betray those feelings breaks my heart for her.
When she's ready, I just hope she comes to me so I can be there for her like she's been for me.
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A/N:I know. I know. This one is super short. Especially coming from me, but the next part is pretty long and I needed to break it up. Lol.
