One Percent of Love

I was falling fast. My bones rattled, my blood seemed to run backward, and my head buzzed.

Somewhere above me Ethan was shouting, panicked. "Nora! Are you insane?"

Just when I was sure I was about to die, I hit something huge and soft, a fire rescue airbag.

Ethan came down too. He pushed through the crowd and stood over me.

His voice was full of scorn. "Huh. Still alive?"

"Nora, you really know how to put on a show. Can't even die from a jump. You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

His friends laughed along. "Yeah, she just wants Ethan to feel sorry for her."

Ethan stood and brushed the dust off his knees. "Even if you'd jumped and actually died, I still wouldn't have married you."

"You die, I marry someone else. You live, don't expect me to pity you."

I opened my mouth. The taste of blood welled up from my throat, thick on my tongue.

I forced it down, and my voice came out shaking. "Ethan, I don't want you to marry me."

"As of today, we're even."

Ethan's smile froze for a second. Then his surprise hardened into anger.

He crouched down and leaned close to my face, a cold smile at the corner of his mouth. "Nora, did the fall knock something loose?"

"You think you can play hard to get with me? That's a cheap trick. You think if you say you don't want me, I'll go chasing after you?"

"Let me tell you something. To me, you're nothing."

Five years, a hundred demands, and in the end it all came down to a single sentence from him: you're nothing.

I wanted to laugh at myself, but the moment my mouth moved it pulled at the cut on my face, and I sucked in a sharp breath.

Behind me came the quick click of heels.

Vivian shoved through the crowd, hair loose, breathing hard, and ran to Ethan's side to grab his arm.

"Ethan, that scared me half to death. I thought she really—"

She broke off with a little yelp and lifted her right hand, frowning.

"My hand's cut. I must have scraped it on something on the way down."

She held her finger up in front of Ethan. There was a thin red line across it, the skin not even broken, not a drop of blood.

But Ethan's face changed instantly.

He cradled her hand, his brow knotting tight, his voice all tenderness. "How did this happen? Does it hurt?"

Vivian's voice went tearful and her eyes rimmed red, like she'd suffered some terrible wrong. "A little."

Ethan pulled her against his shoulder. "I'll take you to the emergency room. We don't want it to scar."

Vivian glanced back at me. "What about her?"

He shot me a dismissive look and scoffed. "She's so capable, isn't she?"

"She can find the one spot with an airbag to jump onto. Calling an ambulance shouldn't be too hard for her."

He helped Vivian into the car. The door shut, the taillights came on, and they disappeared around the corner.

I don't know who lifted me into the ambulance. Later I learned that a stranger had called for help and had the airbag laid out in time, and that stranger saved my life.

I was lying in the hospital bed when my phone rang. It was my mother's doctor.

"Ms. Bennett, your mother has made a full recovery. She'll be able to go home soon."

I hung up, closed my eyes, and let out a slow breath.

I could finally leave Ethan for good.