Page 2 of Unbreakable

Lennox

Cassie. He apologized.

Cassie.

An apology doesn’t undo what he did. Or didn’t do.

Lennox

No. But it’s a start.

I don’t respond because there’s no point in arguing with Lennox. She’s like a freight train once she decides something is happening, unstoppable and completely certain of her moral righteousness.

Which is why, at seven in the evening, I’m standing outside Carter’s apartment building, steeling myself to go inside and pretend I don’t want to strangle Tyler Morrison or maybe I could.

Carter answers the door with a beer in one hand and genuine happiness on his face. “Cassie! You came!”

“Lennox said I didn’t have a choice,” I moan.

“She’s right. You didn’t.” He pulls me into a hug that’s become familiar over the past year. “Come on, everyone’s already here.”

The apartment is warm and chaotic, and that happens every time this group gets together. There’s Lennox on the couch, looking smug about forcing me to come. Isla and Sebastian in the corner, talking about something that makes Isla laugh. Marcus and Lilah arguing about something completely inconsequential. Maya and Ryder wrapped around each other like they can’t stand to be more than a few inches apart. Priya and Jackson by the kitchen, unable to keep their hands off each other now that they’re actually public.

And there, by the window, is Tyler Morrison. I can feel it inside, building, the rage to kill him.

He’s talking to one of the other hockey players, completely unaware of my presence. He looks different than he did sophomore year. More thoughtful. His hair is longer, his expression more serious. He’s wearing a henley that fits his athletic frame, and I hate that I notice these things about him.

I hate that my body recognizes him as something other than a villain. My body is stupid. Yes, he’s good looking, always has been, yes he has one hell of a body, but he is still an asshole.

“Cassie!” Priya sees me and waves me over. “Come here, we’re discussing gap years and life choices.”

I cross the room, turning my back to Tyler. “How’s the deferring going?”

“Terrifying and amazing,” she says. “Jackson’s trying to convince me to travel before the gap year is over. I’m trying to convince him that maybe I should at least look at my medical school options.”

“She’s going to do both,” Jackson says, kissing her temple. “Because she’s brilliant and brave and can do whatever she wants.”

It’s sickeningly sweet, and I would normally make fun of him for it, but the genuine affection in his voice makes it impossible to mock.

“You should travel,” I say to Priya. “Take time to actually figure out who you are before you commit to being a doctor for the rest of your life.”

“Says the girl who’s been writing since she was five and somehow ended up as an English major,” Maya says with a grin. “Did you even consider other options?”

“Of course I did. I rejected all of them in favor of my true passion.”

“Which is?”

“Calling out bullshit,” I say, and I feel Tyler’s eyes on me before I even see him. He’s moved closer, somehow, without my noticing. “In written form, mostly. Sometimes verbally.”

“I’ve noticed,” Tyler says, and his voice is different than I remember. Softer. Less cocky.

I turn to face him, my expression carefully blank, and I remind myself he is the villain and an asshole. “Have you?”

“Hard not to. You’ve written several opinion pieces for the campus paper about toxic masculinity in sports culture.”

“Observations based on lived experience,” I snap at him.

“I know.” He meets my eyes, and there’s something in his gaze that looks like regret. “I read all of them.”