Breathe into Me Read Online Free

like he was trying to smile, but the expression warred with how he really felt. “What do you mean, no?”
    I cringed away as another voice spoke up. “Are you illiterate as well as stupid? The lady said no.”
    The dark-haired boy I’d been trying to ignore all night was staring at Macon, eyes narrowed. Macon’s lip curled in distaste. “Fuck off, loser.”
    Everett moved in close, narrowly insinuating himself between us until he was face-to-face with Macon. Macon was taller by an inch or two, but Everett had more muscle. Everett’s face was motionless and chillingly blank, but Macon turned red with fury. “Who the
fuck
is he?”
    “Hey.
HEY!
” Glass shattered behind the bar, and all our gazes swiveled toward Cherise. The bartender held the top of an empty beer bottle, jagged glass points still dripping with the remains of the liquid inside. “You two,” she said, indicating at Macon and Everett with the jagged weapon, “can take that outside, but
she
stays here.”
    Macon let me go and I stumbled back to the wood bar. The crash had drawn unwanted attention; our disagreement had been lost in the roar of the club noise until then. Mortified, I couldn’t do anything more than cling to the wood, wishing this were just some bad dream.
    I cringed away as Macon reached for me, but he just smoothed a strand of hair behind my ear. “C’mon, baby, I’m not mad. Why don’t you stop making a scene and just come with me. You don’t want to disappoint me, do you?”
    Disappoint me
. He said that to me a lot. That line, I realized, always made me go back to him. Even now, I could feel what the words were doing, eating at my soul and begging me to apologize for whatever I’d done. But I still felt my lips form my response, even if it was too low for anyone else to hear. “No.”
    I knew what was about to happen the instant I saw Macon’s face twist. I flinched away, waiting for a blow that never came. Macon’s hand was wrenched from my arm, and there was a popping noise of flesh on flesh. I turned back just in time to see Macon fall flat on the floor. Everett, his face still cool, stood in front of me, fists at his side as he stared down at the blond man. He was so still now, I wouldn’t have known he’d knocked Macon to the floor if I hadn’t seen it. His motions had been a blur, and he stared coldly down as if daring Macon to get back up.
    “The lady’s spoken,” Cherise said behind me as two big men in dark shirts appeared. “And you can go to hell if you think you’re ever coming back in this bar again.”
    “I don’t see any
ladies
here,” Macon snarled at her, wiping at his mouth.
    Cherise’s lips thinned, the hand around the broken bottle tightening. “Take this piece of shit out of here before I do something I
won’t
regret.”
    One man picked up Macon from the floor while another reached for Everett. I laid my hand on the bouncer’s arm and looked at Cherise. “He’s with me,” I said, not wanting to see him tossed out.
    The bouncer looked over at Cherise, who nodded. The second man took Macon’s other arm and the two dragged him out of the bar.
    “You little
bitch
,” I heard Macon shout over the din of the bar before he was ejected.
    Once they were out, everyone around us turned back to whatever they’d been doing before the spectacle. My legs were too shaky to walk in the narrow heels I’d worn to the club. At the edge of the crowd I saw Ashley watching me, distaste written all over her face.
    “Do you need a ride home?”
    I looked up into Everett’s face, then back down. His voice was soft, even in the loud bar, and the kindness was almost too much to take. Close to tears, I nodded and fished through my purse for the keys. I was supposed to be Ashley’s designated driver, but I didn’t care what happened to her now. “See to it that my ex-friend gets these, please.”
    Cherise nodded. “Will do.”
    I stared at the floor, wishing it would swallow me whole. Eyes around the