All Chapters of Pieces of Me He Never Protected: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The day started like any other. The campus buzzed around us, but I couldn’t hear it. My thoughts were louder than the chatter of hundreds of students.I walked beside Josh, pretending to laugh at something he said. But inside, anger simmered. A slow, quiet heat that had been sleeping for weeks — now awake.He checked his phone. Again. And again. His thumb hovered over the screen like it held secrets meant to exclude me. My chest tightened. My hands curled into fists inside my bag.“Are you even paying attention?” I snapped.He blinked. “I… what?”“You!” I said, my voice sharp enough to turn heads. “You think I don’t notice? That I’m blind to the way you check your phone, hide messages, and act like everything’s fine?”He opened his mouth, but I didn’t let him speak.“I’m angry, Josh! Angry that you think I would sit quietly while you play with my trust. Angry that you smile at me like nothing happened, while I know better!” My chest heaved. I poured out everything I had held inside —

I had always known he had friends. That wasn’t new. What I didn’t know was how much they were part of the game — the quiet, calculated, almost ritualistic game of collecting girls, testing boundaries, and watching each other thrive in chaos.Josh laughed, leaning back on the sofa in a dimly lit room. Around him, the air was thick with music, cheap cologne, and the kind of confidence that made people bend to his orbit. His friends lounged around him, each one a mirror, reflecting the same careless charm, the same dangerous charm.“Bro, she’s cute. You should hit her up,” one whispered, a smirk dancing across his face.Josh shrugged, leaning closer to his phone, casually typing. Another name popped up. A smiley emoji. A kiss emoji.I could feel my chest tighten just watching, imagining everything I wasn’t supposed to see — every party, every girl, every smile he’d used on me and then thrown elsewhere.“Man, you’re lucky she even talks to you after all that,” another said, slapping him l

The next day, campus felt different. Not the campus itself — it was the same crowded walkways, the same lectures, the same laughter echoing off the walls. But I was different. Everything was different.I didn’t walk beside him today. I didn’t glance at his phone. I didn’t answer his casual jokes with the same warmth. I didn’t laugh at the things I used to.Josh noticed, of course.He tried subtly. A brush of his hand when we walked past each other. A lingering gaze when he thought I wasn’t looking. A smile — that same, familiar smile — meant to charm, to reassure. But it didn’t reach me.I felt the fire simmering in my chest as I watched him try. And it was intoxicating and terrifying at the same time. I could see him beginning to feel the weight of the distance I’d created, and the power that gave me surged quietly, like an unseen current under calm water.In the cafeteria, he leaned closer to me, voice low, attempting casual intimacy. “You’ve been quiet lately… everything okay?”I k

It started like every other conquest he had ever planned.Josh remembered the first time he saw her — Diamond. Her laugh had cut through the noise of the cafeteria, bright and unassuming, like it didn’t belong to him yet but was screaming for attention anyway. Her eyes met his once, and something in him stirred — not curiosity, not interest, just a flicker of amusement.“She’s cute,” he had told his friends later that day, smirking as he leaned against the wall. “I’ll get her. Easy. Just like the others.”The plan was simple: charm her, tease her, make her laugh, collect her like a trophy, repeat. Nothing personal. No feelings. No complications. That was the code he lived by — attention, flirtation, conquest. He had played the game expertly for years, guided by his friends, reinforced by every girl who had ever laughed at his jokes, leaned too close, or whispered secrets.But Diamond… she was different.From the start, she noticed things he didn’t plan for. She noticed the casual char

Josh’s nights were a carefully choreographed chaos. His phone never left his hand; names, emojis, and texts scrolled faster than anyone could read. Some girls were gone, others still present, all of them living in the orbit of his charm. Each one required a balance, a rhythm, a careful calculation he had perfected over years.“Yo, bro, you even sleeping?” one of his friends laughed, tossing him a drink at a party. “You’ve got texts from three girls waiting. And it’s barely nine.”Josh grinned, leaning back, eyes flicking between his friends and the buzzing screen. “I manage,” he said, voice smooth. “It’s all about timing.”Timing. Strategy. Control. That was the code. The rules. The way he kept the game running without letting it fall apart. Every girl had her place some casual, some serious enough to feed attention, some disposable. Every message, every smile, every party visit had to be calculated. One slip, one jealous glance, and chaos could erupt.He scrolled quickly, sending a