Them's The Breaks Novels & Stories

When Coach pairs us for drills, the tension is so thick I can barely breathe. "Cross, you're overthinking it," Coach barks as my third pass goes wide. "Get your head in the game." But my head is across campus, wondering if Jules has eaten anything today. If she's crying in Maya's dorm. If she hates me yet. She should. I hate myself enough for both of us. "Water break," Coach calls. I grab my bottle and slump onto the bench. My knuckles throb where I punched my dorm wall last night, skin split and bruised.

I yelled. "Oh and by the way Aubrey blocked you, just like what I'm about to do. Bye hoe. Nice knowing you. It's a pity that our friendship broke off over your slutty ways." I said before hanging up. She needs to go.

I questioned. “I wanted to see you.” “You sure?” I’d like to say I was teasing him, but I couldn’t force my tone to not be serious. His eyebrows bunched together at my question. “Why wouldn’t I be?” “I don’t know. You tell me.” Dmitry shouted to Maci from across the room. “Hey Maci…Danica’s going on break.” “Hey! I’m working here.” “I know. And now you are on break.” I sighed and crossed my arms. Not wanting to put up a fight, I walked from behind the counter and joined him at a corner table.

He took the pen and wrote three words at the top: Our New Start. "Slower," Ethan said softly, writing the word down on the page. "No rushing. No artificial deadlines." "Sweet," Adrian added gently, his fingers resting over Ethan’s hand. "Just our family, our real friends, and the people who actually care about us." "And grounded in total openness," Ethan said, looking up into Adrian’s eyes. "No secrets. No corporate politics. Just you and me." "Just you and me," Adrian repeated like a solemn vow.

“Now spill.” My hand flew to the bridge of my nose, pinching hard enough to leave a mark. Maybe if I focused on the pain, I could ignore her. “We didn’t break up,” I growled. “There was nothing to break up. It was... transactional.” Victoria’s grin widened. “Oh, transactional. Sounds fancy. What were you, His sugar baby?” I glared at her so hard I thought she might burst into flames. “It’s none of your business.”

I blurted. He laughed bitterly. “Why is that, right? Do whatever it takes, Hernandez. She ran after you so many times, it's time for you to break a sweat too.” “You're buying," he pointed to the glasses and left. I stood there drinking and remembering the night everything started to go wrong. The night I broke Sofia's heart for the first time and all the other times I did it again and again over the years. Yeah, maybe I really needed to make things right.

He saw the suspense on their faces as they waited for him to break the ice. Their eyes now fixed on the me as stood beside Gustavo waiting to be introduced. Emily was more than desperate to hear what the chairman introduces the me as. If I were to be a competition, she would have already lost. She thought I had more class, and looked more confident than she did. "This is Rose. She'll be taking the post of the vice president temporarily." He finally took out the cat out of the bag. He could see the disappointed looks on their faces, he could read their criticism and unacceptance. A woman as the vice president?

I didn't get recovered right away and Brandon hit me with punches and kicks one after the other. In all the close combat contests I participated in, I always won. No matter how big the opponents are, I still manage to win. But in my current situation, with the opponent I'm facing now, it looks like this is my first defeat. My unbreakable record will finally get broken. I didn't try to fight back because based on Brandon's attacking pace, it's impossible to gain a footing again. I just accepted his attacks while listening to the screams of the students. Brandon is really merciless. The bastard even made me a punching bag.

I can't believe this is what I'm getting after going through so much just because of him "Maryam" the bang on the door make me jerk out of fear "Maryam open this door" he said in a dangerous tone "I swear if you don't open this door, I'm going to break it down and believe me I'll do just that" he threatened What? Will he really break it? Is he crazy? If I'm ask to buy that door I'm sure I won't be able to afford it "Maryam before counting of three, open this damn door if not I'm-"

Unheard. Still watching. Still waiting. Not yet. But soon. Very soon. The first crack had already formed. And once something breaks— It never goes back the same way again.