Free Glass Hearts by Lisa de Jong Page A

to me.
    He uses his foot to shut the door to his apartment before carrying me to the bedroom and gently placing me on the bed. My whole body trembles as all the things Dane could have to tell me play over and over in my head. In the back of my mind, I think it must be pretty bad if he felt he had to lie about it, or keep it from me.
    “I’m going to make sure Nolan comes back and then we’re going to talk.” I nod and wait to hear the door click shut before I lean forward, placing my head in my hands. This is too much. It feels like every time we settle into each other, something throws us off balance. I think fate brought us together, but I feel like it is also constantly testing us.
    I grab my phone out of my purse and quickly call Jade. She’s the only person besides Dane who can put me in my place. I trust her, and she doesn’t sugar coat anything. “Hi,” she yawns into the phone.
    “Jade,” I say, trying not to cry. Hearing her voice reminds me of how much I miss her.
    “Alex, is that you? Are you okay?” Her voice is panicked.
    “Yeah, it’s me. I had a really bad night, that’s all.”
    “Oh, honey, what’s the matter? Did something happen to Dane?” she asks, her voice full of concern.
    “No, he’s fine,” I sigh. “We ran into Dane’s ex.” I’ll never get the image of Nolan screwing Bree on the couch out of my head.
    “What? Where?” she asks, raising her voice a few notches.
    “Well, she sort of slept with his brother tonight, in our apartment,” I say, biting my lip.
    “What?” she gasps. “Why is his brother in your apartment?”
    “He’s staying with us for a couple days. It’s a really long story. Anyway, Dane told her to leave, but she kept going on and on about something that happened a couple months ago, and I’m so confused. What if he slept with her? We weren’t together, but he told me there was no one else. How can I trust him if he can’t be honest with me? And why did it have to be her?”
    The tears are rolling down my cheeks again. I’m emotionally spent. Dane and I have only been back together for a week and our relationship is already a roller coaster ride. Is this how relationships are supposed to be?
    “Are you sure he slept with her?” She sounds angry. Maybe I’m not overacting.
    “No, I mean, I don’t know what to think. She knows something, and it was pretty obvious that he didn’t want her to tell me. He couldn’t get rid of her fast enough, and it wasn’t just because she was making us both uncomfortable.” I’ve gone over it repeatedly and I can’t think of anything else. I keep seeing the grin on Bree’s face and it eats away at my heart. The thought of them together before I met Dane is hard to swallow, but thinking of him with her after is choking me.
    “You need to talk to him,” she says in her best “don’t argue with me” voice.
    “I know. I tried to leave, but he said I always run from things and called me weak.” He was right. I always want to run.
    She laughs. “He has a point. You’re living with him now. You can’t just run whenever something happens and upsets you.” She stops laughing. “But seriously, Alex, you’re stronger than you think you are. You need to hear him out. Always.”
    “Okay,” I whisper.
    “But call me if you need me. I can come get you if you need me to. You always have a place with me.”
    “Thank you. I’ll call you later.”
    “You better. Good luck,” she says before I hear the phone click. She convinced me that I’m doing the right thing by listening to what he has to say, but it doesn’t help the uneasiness in my stomach.
    I throw my phone onto the bed and return my head to my hands. It’s throbbing more and more with every second that ticks by. I’m not sure how much time passes, but the tension is overwhelming when Dane finally returns to the room. He looks so tired, and I am too, but I can’t go to sleep right now and pretend like today never happened. I need to find out