Free Broken Series by Dawn Pendleton

maneuvered my way down the steep dirt road and stopped in the tiny parking lot. I walked to the water’s edge and picked up a few flat rocks to skim across the surface.
    It felt like things were about to change. Joe was going to die. Mallory would go back to Boston. And I would be alone. Again. Only this time, I wouldn’t have Joe to guide me and steer me away from disaster. How could I have let this happen again? As if falling in love with Mallory Wells wasn’t bad enough the first time around, I had to go and do it twice, and hurt the people around me in the process.
    Carrie was the one I felt worst about. She hadn’t done anything wrong but I had just treated her like nothing. She knew my past, of course, how hung up on Mallory I’d been. It had taken months to get her to go out with me, and I was only so persistent because Joe insisted I needed to move on. I didn’t disagree with him, but Carrie was probably a poor choice. I compared every aspect of our short relationship to the one I had with Mallory. Carrie didn’t measure up.
    Carrie and I were doomed before we ever even got started because of my Mallory obsession. I just couldn’t get over the leggy blonde with a flippant attitude and a smart remark for everything. Mallory and I were no good for each other, though. I knew that. She knew it too. But there was something that pulled me to her, something inexplicably frightening.
    I skipped several rocks over the water and watched them sink, much like my heart. I had to toughen up if I was going to survive the summer. Mallory wasn’t going to leave until her dad was gone, which meant I would be forced to see her, at least in passing, at places like the grocery store or the post office. I would have to be stronger than I’d been lately. It wasn’t impossible. Highly unlikely? Oh yeah. But not impossible.
    I tossed out the last rock in my hand and before it could sink, I turned away from the ocean with a new resolve. I would ignore Mallory as best I could for the remainder of her time here. I would be polite when the situation called for it, but I wasn’t about to engage her in a conversation. I could do it. I knew I could.
    I hopped in my truck with a better outlook on Mallory and the situation as a whole. I drove back to Casper and went to my apartment. I wasn’t surprised to see Baker’s truck in my driveway.
    He leaned against the door, his arms folded across his chest. I parked and nodded to him.
    “What the hell happened at the hospital?” he asked.
    “Good news travels fast, huh?” I remarked. Small towns were gossip hell.
    “Well, when you took off out of the parking like a bat out of hell, it’s hard for people not to talk. Want to talk about it?” He looked sincere, but I wasn’t buying it.
    “Who called you?” I knew someone would have put him up to chasing me down.
    He smirked. “Carrie. Joe. Rainey. Gabby. Take your pick. My phone has been ringing off the hook. Although I have absolutely no idea how Gabby got involved, since she wasn’t there.”
    Mallory hadn’t called him. I sighed. Stay strong, I told myself.
    “Well, here I am, fine and unharmed.” I tried to keep the anger out of my voice. It didn’t work as well as I hoped.
    “Yeah, you’re as fine as a mad bull. So what’s with the asshole routine? Everyone knows I’m the resident asshole of Casper,” he joked.
    “It wasn’t on purpose. I just got pissed at something Mallory said the other night—”
    “Oh! Mallory. Now it all makes sense. So what did she say?”
    His inquisition pissed me off.
    “What’s with the twenty questions? I don’t want to talk about it, Baker. Leave it alone,” I said, hoping he would take the hint.
    “Not a chance. Spill it,” he said as I went into my apartment building.
    He followed me in and took a seat on my couch. He wasn’t going anywhere until his curiosity was satisfied.
    I sighed. “When I brought her home last night, she was drunk and half asleep in her bed and she