Shattered Promises 02 - Fractured Souls Jessica Sorensen (top 10 novels of all time TXT) 📖

whimpers, clutching onto his arm for support. “I swear to God, man, if you come any closer, I’ll break your fucking neck.”

Alex rolls his eyes. “No, you won’t,” he says, lowering his hands to his sides.

Laylen shakes his head and his lip curls up as he snarls. “Oh, I will. I’d be more than happy to in fact. Maybe it would finally put you in your place.”

“And what place would that be?” Alex asks coolly.

“The place where we all live,” Laylen spits. “The place of self-hatred. The place where I live.” His dark eyes skim to me. “Where Gemma lives. The place where you feel miserable all the time and utterly hate who you are inside and out. The place where you wish you could get away from, even if it means being dead.”

I get what he’s saying way too well. There were countless times where I thought about ending it, not seeing a point. Every fucking day was exactly the same, no feeling, no movement inside, no emotion. Then I finally felt it, sadness, for the very first time. The emotion was overwhelming and hard to cope with. It is the same, even now, like how I felt when I was with Nicholas. I sometimes wish I could get rid of it, even if it means giving up everything forever.

“Everyone lives there,” Alex says, rocking forward and reducing the space between them. “Everyone in their own way knows what it’s like to hate themselves. Look at all the shit I’ve done to people over the years… how could I not hate myself?”

The rawness of the moment makes me glad I’m here to witness it, even though there’s so much pain and anguish carried in it. It reminds me that everyone feels pain and sometimes they try to turn it off because it’s easier than feeling it. Ultimately, though, our emotions own us and we have to take the good in with the bad.

Laylen shakes his head, but then releases the woman go. She crumbles to the ground and he sinks to his knees with her, sitting in the gravel and dirt. He cradles his head in his hands, brings his knees to his chest and it sounds like he’s sobbing.

Alex glances at me and then nods his head at Laylen. “Check on him and I’ll see if she’s okay.”

I nod and sit down beside Laylen while Alex makes sure the woman’s all right. I place a hand on Laylen’s shoulder and he tenses. “Are you okay?” I ask cautiously.

He sucks in a sharp breath and then leans away from my touch, his fangs retreating back into his mouth. “Don’t touch me… I think I killed her… I could feel her blood running out.”

“No, she’s okay.” Alex walks over and stands behind me. “She’s unconscious, but still breathing and has a pulse.”

Laylen elevates his head and I instantly notice how watery his eyes are. “It doesn’t matter. It’s still there.” A tear drifts down his cheek and I watch it slide to his jaw.

“What’s still there?” I reach forward and wipe the tear away.

“The…the hunger and need to feed.” He chokes. “God, I can’t get it out of my head. It’s worse than before… something about almost dying changed me.” There’s so much torture in his voice; my heart aches to take it away from him and bear it myself.

“It’s going to be okay,” I repeat, rubbing his tear between my thumb and my finger. He may be part Vampire, but I’d like to see Alex or Aislin question his humanity now. His tears are as real a mine—as real as anyone’s. “We’ll get through this.”

He rests his forehead on his knees. “You and me?”

“Of course.” I brush my fingers through his hair. “You’ve always been there for me and now I’m there for you.”

It doesn’t take much convincing after that. We prop the woman up against the door where someone’s sure to find her and then we get back in the car to drive a way. No one speaks the entire drive and I tell myself that everything will be okay. That we got him back and that he didn’t kill the woman, although I can’t help worrying that he’s forever changed. And what if he is? What if the Laylen I met is gone?

***

When we arrive back at the beach house, morning is kissing the land. Laylen goes straight into his room and says he is going to bed. I’m afraid he might leave again, but Alex promises that we’ll all take turns watching him. We wake up Aislin and reluctantly fill her in on what’s been going on. She’s upset, however she still wants to help Laylen. I sit in the living room for about an hour listening to Alex and Aislin argue over what to do while the seashell clock on the living room wall ticks the wasted time away.

“I might know a spell,” Aislin says, crossing her legs and leaning back in the chair. She has a tank top on and a pair of pajama bottoms with little pink hearts on them. “One that might help him get in the right state of mind.”

“Right state of mind?” I ask, unzipping my hoodie to take it off as the heat of the day gets to me. “You mean out of the Vampire state of mind?”

She narrows her green eyes at me. “Look, he hasn’t always been like this. He didn’t used to crave blood until you came along.

“Aislin,” Alex warns, helping me slip off my jacket. “Don’t.”

“You know it’s true,” she says. “I can tell that you think it.”

“You can think whatever you want.” I get to my feet as the prickle does a nagging dance on the back of my neck and I fill vindictive. “But I’ve actually talked to him about this long before he even bit me, and he told me the craving is always there.”

She gives me a cold, hard stare. “Well, you forced him to delve into it.”

“You know what, you’re