AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t know about that.”
She frowns slightly, a single vertical line appearing between her dark brows. “What does that mean?”
“I saw you jump…I guess I’m worried you might do something like that again.”
Those green eyes go cloudy once more, this time with anger instead of confusion.
“It’s none of your business whether I do or don’t,” she says coldly.
“Maybe not.” I shrug. “Still, I feel invested.”
“Ah,” she says, mockingly. “I know how much your investments mean to you. But I’m afraid this one won’t pay off.”
She surprised me with that one. I laugh a little. “What do you know about my investments?”
“That’s why you’re always passing little packets back and forth all over campus, isn’t it,” Zoe says, steady and unblinking. “You don’t work for the hell of it—I’ve seen your grades. You must be saving for something.”
I don’t know if I’ve ever been speechless before.
“Zoe . . .” A smile tugs at my lips. “Are you stalking me?”
Now she can’t help smiling back just a little, though she doesn’t want to.
“You’re the one that followed me up on the wall. What were you doing up there?”
“Just passing by.”
Coolly she says,“I’m not going to thank you.”
“I wouldn’t really deserve it—it was Jasper who caught you.”
Her upper lip draws up in a snarl, showing sharp white teeth. She gives an impatient shake of her head.
“I won’t be thanking him either.”
There’s an uncomfortable silence while the unspoken weight of Rocco Prince hangs over us.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
It’s simultaneously a pathetic, meaningless statement, but also the only thing I can say to her. The only way to express my sympathy for her tragic situation.
“Don’t pity me.”
Again I see that fire in her eyes. That spark of rebellion that drove her to leap off a cliff rather than let Rocco put his hands on her.
“You know,” I say, “I always thought you were a Mozart kinda girl. That was pretty fuckin’ metal.”
“That impresses you?” Zoe raises a soot-black eyebrow. “Jumping off a cliff?”
“I mean . . . yeah. Assuming you survive.” I swallow hard, looking at her closely. “You are gonna survive, aren’t you, Zoe?”
She’s silent for a moment, then she lets out a sigh.
“Yeah,” she says. “For now.”
It’s the closest thing to a promise I’m going to get out of her.
And besides, who am I to make her swear she won’t try to kill herself again?
