Free Broken Holidays: A Broken Series Novella (The Broken Series) by Maegan Abel

Explain why men are such selfish assholes.” She leaned her head against the back of the couch as she shifted to face me. I took in her features, the dark circles under her eyes, the tightness around them. She didn’t look like she’d been feeling well or sleeping.
    “Um, because we all think with our dicks?” I answered, not sure what else to say. I didn’t know what her comment meant. We were, for the most part, selfish assholes. God knows I was. I couldn’t really give an answer as to why, though.
    She laughed but the sound was derisive as she shook her head. “As insightful as that was, I think I’m going to bed.” She started to stand and I reached out, grabbing her arm.
    “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I just don’t really know how to answer that,” I said, watching as she rolled her neck. It was then that I caught the smell of what was in her cup. Tea. Herbal, of some kind. I tried to think back, but off the top of my head, I’d never known Lili to drink hot tea. A horrible realization started forming in my mind and I hoped, for her sake, I was wrong. “Are you pregnant?”
    She froze, her face turned away from me. “Why would you ask me that?” Her words came out in just above a whisper.
    I sighed. “You’re not alone in this, Pixie—”
    “Don’t,” she laughed, shaking her head sadly. “Don’t make some big declaration to me because you think it’s the right thing to do.”
    “What makes you think that’s what I’m doing?” I asked, feeling guilty. That was exactly what I was doing. I cared about Lili; she was one of the only people left in the world that meant something to me, but what would I honestly do if she were pregnant? I would be her friend. I would support her and help her out in any way I could.
    “Because I know you. You don’t even…” she trailed off and shook her head.
    “Is it his ?” I asked pointedly, wondering if she would answer. We didn’t really talk about him if she could help it. In fact, she’d made a point of making sure I never even met him.
    “I’m not pregnant.” Her voice came out flat but I didn’t miss the flinch at the mention of him. She stood before I could stop her, letting the blanket fall back on the couch. “Look, I appreciate the chance to talk but—”
    “But you’re going to blow me off, assume that whatever your problem is, I couldn’t possibly understand or help.” I cut her off, nodding. “Fine. I get it, okay? Just stop thinking you have to take on everything by yourself. Believe it or not, there are people here who care about you. It doesn’t have to be you against the world anymore.”
    She dropped the mug onto the coffee table hard enough that I was sure it was going to break. Covering her face with her hands, she let out a frustrated growl. “You really want to know what my problem is?” She dropped her hands, turning to face me from the other side of the table. “He ended our arrangement because he wanted more than just sex and I didn’t. We had a deal. It was just sex, nothing more. But he had to go and start trying to…” She huffed, dropping into the recliner across from me like just talking about it was exhausting her. “We had a deal,” she repeated.
    I watched her as she avoided my eyes, her face on the TV again. She was clearly upset by this. “Have you thought about—”
    “No,” she cut me off, shaking her head slowly.
    “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
    She turned to face me, her eyes hard. “Have I thought about giving him a chance? Have I thought about trying it out to see what would happen? Have I thought about the price of rice in China? It doesn’t matter, the answer is no.” She blew out a heavy breath. “Have you ever wanted more with any of your fuck buddies? I know you’ve had a few. Things have always ended. It’s not a big deal. I’m just… frustrated.”
    “I haven’t wanted more with any of them, but I’ve also never cared when things ended. You obviously do,