Free Breaking the Wrong by Calia Read Page B

gave that away.”
    An image of him in only his swim trunks fills my mind. It’s a thought that sneaks up on me and leaves my cheeks red because it’s not a bad thought at all.
    I stare ahead and pretend to tighten my ponytail. “How long have you been swimming?”
    “I started swimming at eight. Before that, I would stay in the shallow end. I couldn’t swim worth a shit. One time, as a joke, three other boys held me under.”
    I’m frantically looking for the off button, because what he says makes me feel a bit of sympathy. Just a bit. But I want to feel nothing.
    “That sucks,” I murmur lamely.
    “Not really, Emilia.” I look over at him with my brows furrowed and he shrugs. “It scared the shit out of me, and after that, I started taking lessons. The only embarrassing thing after that was being the only eight-year-old in a group of five-year-olds.”
    A smile slips through my armor. “I could see that.”
    He smiles back and I feel another tiny crack in my defenses. “I just remember how I felt that day and it pushes me a bit further.”
    “And that was your payback?” I blurt out.
    Macsen gives me a strange look. “I guess ... you’ve never wanted to prove someone wrong, show them what you really have inside you?”
    All the time. Every day. I shake my head, even though I want to nod and smile anxiously. “No.”
    I swear he knows I’m lying. His eyes narrow for a brief moment. “I do.”
    He stares directly at me, past my skin and everything I work so hard to hide. His green eyes hold me in place. My hands have the cushion of the seat in a painful grip, but I still don’t attempt to look away.
    “There you are!” Tosha walks up to me, with Chris behind her.
    My body pops out of the chair. Macsen slowly stands and blinks repeatedly at me, like his eyes are adjusting to the light. 
    “Sorry, I was just...” I search for the paper and find it in my chair. “I was reading.”
    Chris and Tosha look at me skeptically. “Okay,” Tosha says slowly. “I’m ready to go. Are you?”
    “Yep.” My voice is way too perky.
    I grab my bag and move toward the front door without looking at Macsen. He doesn’t let me slip away that easily. “I’ll see you later, Emilia.”
    When I turn around he’s standing there with his arms crossed, looking at me curiously. I stare at him with no response and follow Tosha outside. 
    “Did you have fun talking to Mr. Macsen?” she asks with a devious gleam in her eyes.
    “I wasn’t talking,” I mutter. “I was listening.”
    She digs through her purse for her car keys. “No, you were talking. And that’s freaky because I always thought you were mute when it came to guys.”
    “I’m not mute.”
    “You’re right. You aren’t. You just choose to be.” She stops on the sidewalk and gives me a look. I slide my sunglasses on to protect my eyes from the sun and from my friend who’s trying to figure me out. “Macsen is always quiet,” she tells me with a pointed look.
    Adjusting the strap of my bag, I look away. “Is he?”
    “All the time. Hates talking to people. But he was talking to you.”
    I only shrug my shoulders before I step off the sidewalk and toward her car. When Tosha unlocks the car, I go to open the door but her words stop me.
    “Emilia, is there something go-”
    “Nope,” I interrupt her quickly. “There is nothing.”
    She doesn’t bring it up in the car. We switch to a lighter subject and I’m grateful. Inside, I’m confused and angry. This isn’t adding up. In one hand, I hold what was done to my sister, and in the other I’m discovering more about Macsen.
    Is it wrong for me to want to quickly leave and run back to all my comforts in New York?

Chapter Nine
    MACSEN
     
    Emilia scrunches up her top lip whenever she’s confused. I look back down at my book, knowing that when she is completely stumped she’ll ask for help.
    When I first saw her, I knew she was trouble. But the minute she opened the door to the tutoring the