The Struggle (The Things We Can't Change Book 2) Read Free Page B

us or Cameron, and he’d rather be with us. I know, however, that it’s just a matter of time before my friends lay into me.
    Sure enough, Koby is staring at me, and I give him a look. “Don’t start.”
    “I’ll start if I feel like it, it’s called free speech,” Koby snaps. “I swear, if you get high tonight and start doing something stupid again, I’ll tackle you down and tie you up.”
    “Sounds kinky. Will Tessa be around to help?” I ask nonchalantly, and then stand because I don’t really feel like getting lectured. I’ve been getting enough of that from my dad lately.
    “Her too!” Koby cries. “Zeke, you used to do everything you could to avoid her. She’s hooked up with everyone at the country club, why are you hanging out with her?”
    I shrug. It’s because it all helps , all this distraction. If I’m smoking or drinking or painting or hooking up with a girl, I’m not thinking about Cindy, about love or connections or worry and especially not Evie or Tony. Or about my anger, or doing anything about the anger that I feel.
    “You don’t understand,” I finally say shortly, because they’re both staring at me like they want a real answer.
    “You could try making us understand,” Dominic says, and his voice is low. He’s looking at a point over my left shoulder, and I can tell it’s because he’s uncomfortable with the topic of conversation.
    “I’m not going to talk about it,” I warn, and my voice is a low growl. “Just lay off, got it? I’m fine.”
    “Whatever,” Koby snaps, and gets up and leaves the table.
    Dominic hesitates, but then he finally gives me a nod and we walk together to our next class. “You know he’s just worried about you,” he comments, and I give him a hard look. He holds his hands up innocently. “Look, I’m even less into all this emotional shit than you are, okay? God knows my own parents aren’t all there. I’m just saying, fall all you want. But don’t fall so far that you can’t get back up. Know what I’m saying?”
    I nod, even though I already know the truth of the matter.
    I know I’ll never want to get back up.
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Evangeline
    26
     
     
     
    I thought I was ready for this. Now, however, as I see my hand shaking, the liquid in my crystal cup trembling and sending out ripples, I know that I am anything but ready. It’s all converging on me, the sights and sounds of the crowd, people pressing in on me, touching me, the whispers and sideways looks from everyone in the room. For a long moment I just stand there, sure I’m about to space out, lose myself, and then I look up and meet a pair of green eyes set into a dark face and everything around me seems to quiet and dim, fade away.
    For a long moment, Zeke and I just stare at each other from across the room, and then we turn away at the same time. My heart aches as I make my way to a corner of the big banquet hall, away from the thickest part of the crowd. I lean up against the wall, glad for the respite from my screaming nerves and the chance to be unnoticed for a little while. My eyes follow Zeke almost unwillingly, watching as he moves slowly through the crowd, a tray balanced in one big, strong hand.
    He is certainly no less tall and commanding, but he seems thinner and leaner, as though he’s lost weight. There is a new sharpness to his cheekbones that wasn’t there a month ago, and while the circles under his eyes hint at very little sleep, they do nothing to distract from the beauty of those light eyes against his dark skin. The haunted look almost seems to make him look ethereal, tragically beautiful instead of just devastatingly good looking.
    I haven’t said two words to Zeke since the accident, since I heard about Cindy and what Tony did. I don’t know what to say to him, since I myself know so well the inadequacy of those bland words, I’m so sorry for your loss . It seems like Zeke rescuing me and the accident should have brought us