Breaking Hearts (B-Boy #2)

by S. Briones Lim

  BREAKING HEARTS

  B-boy Series, Book #2

  By S. Briones Lim

  BREAKING HEARTS

  Copyright © 2016 by S. Briones Lim.

  All rights reserved.

  First Print Edition: June 2016

  Limitless Publishing, LLC

  Kailua, HI 96734

  www.limitlesspublishing.com

  Formatting: Limitless Publishing

  ISBN-13: 978-1-68058-685-5

  ISBN-10: 1-68058-685-8

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  Dedication

  To the wallflowers,

  the soft spoken and the shy ones.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

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  Prologue

  “I’ve seen this movie before,” I said blandly, waving my hand through the air. “There’s a thin line between love and hate, right? You’re supposed to sweep me off my feet and together we’ll ride off into the sunset. Well, let me tell you something—it’s never going to happen!”

  “Don’t flatter yourself, sweet cheeks,” Jacob snorted. He peered out the window and tapped at the wooden pane slowly. Despite arguing with me for the last half hour he seemed a bit distant, sad almost. It was enough for me to let my guard down. Of course he had to ruin it by turning around and throwing a sneer in my direction. “You know if it weren’t for you, Kurt would still be talking to me right now.”

  Well, looks like caving in was out of the picture. Rolling my eyes, I pushed a stray strand of hair from my eyes and frowned. “He wasn’t much of a friend. You’re lucky he’s out of your life.”

  Slowly, almost robotically, Jacob walked over to me. I gulped, instinctively backing my way toward the back of the room. As if my retreat awakened some predatory instinct in him, he quickened his pace until he was only inches away from me.

  “Ow!” I yelped when my hip hit a desk. That was definitely going to bruise.

  His tongue poked out of his mouth, swiping its way across his thick bottom lip. A few years ago I would have deemed the act irresistibly sexy and now…well, it was still sexy but in a scary sort of way. “Where do you get off talking about Kurt like that? Weren’t you dating him?”

  God, that made me sound like the worst person ever.

  “I was dating him,” I corrected. “And for your information once I found out what a male slut he is I nipped that relationship in the bud.”

  Jacob paused for a moment before rolling his eyes and once again taking his place by the window. “You are something, you know that? Thinking you’re all special and shit.”

  “It’s what my parents tell me every day.” I grinned widely, knowing it would piss him off.

  It worked.

  Shaking his head, he bared his teeth and groaned. “I wish we’d never crossed paths again! I wish you just stayed away like you were supposed to!”

  “Like I was supposed to?” I repeated dumbfounded. “What are you talking about?”

  “You remember, right? You remember what happened back in college…” His voice trailed off as he once again peered out the dirtied glass. It looked like a scene from a bad music video.

  As thoughts flooded through my mind I couldn’t help but wonder what exactly he was looking for out there. Then again, why should I care? He didn’t deserve it.

  I shook my head and responded in a low tone, “How could I forget? You broke my heart that night.”

  Finally tearing his eyes away from the pane, he looked at me in confusion. “Me? What the hell are you talking about?”

  My eyes glazed over as a distant memory began to fill my mind.

  Chapter 1

  I was never the type of girl guys wanted. I was the shy, nerdy girl who was a friend to everyone but never a girlfriend to that special someone. At eighteen I was beginning to think a relationship was just a fictional plot point in all those books I’d read. Love wasn’t meant for everyone—love wasn’t meant for me. It took some time, but I was finally okay with it. Like I said, I had my books to keep me warm at night.

  Leaving for college was about the bravest thing I ever did. Always the socially awkward one, the thought of leaving my family, my friends—my home—scared me shitless. Nevertheless, I couldn’t just give up a full ride to Cal U. Not only would my parents have killed me—like seriously murdered me—I couldn’t allow myself to chicken out yet again. High school should have been the time for me to explore my interests. I should have acted in a play, ran for student council, or hell, I should have just planted a tree somewhere. Yeah, that’s stuff I should have done. Instead, I chose to stick with my tight little clique of book nerds and lose myself in fantasy worlds instead of facing the real world in front of me. Yup, I was a chicken. College would finally be the time for me to spread my wings.

  At least I hoped it would be.

  The day my parents dropped me off was one of the worst days of my life. There were the expected tears—mine—and the promises of multiple visits, which considering I was across the country weren’t so realistic. When my parents left me alone in my dorm room I felt empty—even broken. Having been the only child and the apple of their eye, it was an odd change to find myself away from my security net and instead sitting on my bed staring at the mattress which would soon belong to my roommate—a stranger.

  “Hi!” I called out cheerfully as the slim, pink-haired girl with bright blue eyes entered the room. “I’m Estelle. I’m an English major. You must be my roommate—”

  “Anna,” she said, without so much as a smile. She pushed back her slick neon colored hair and proceeded to place her earbuds firmly into her ears, ignoring me. At that moment I realized any chance of forging a friendship with her would be futile.

  It was going to be a really long semest
er.

  Chapter 2

  “Hey! Hey, I’m talking to you!”

  My head snapped up from the book I was reading. I was in the middle of a particularly steamy scene and was almost certain my cheeks were flushed, an afterglow of the dirty thoughts swarming my mind. I swallowed and did my best to smile innocently. “Yes?”

  A tall blonde girl stood in front of me, carrying a rolled up vinyl banner. Shifting her weight from one foot to another, she gripped the middle of the gigantic sign and sighed. “Do you mind helping me hang this? None of my friends are here yet and I’m really sick of waiting around in the library…no offense.”

  No offense.

  That comment right there should have warned me to stay away from her, but ever the people pleaser, I pushed my book aside and grabbed the opposite end of the banner. “Where do you want it?”

  Smiling gratefully, she led me to a few bookshelves toward the opposite side of the library. I lifted an eyebrow and glanced over at the librarian questioningly.

  “Don’t worry,” she told me as if reading my mind. “I’ve already cleared it with Clarissa.”

  I nodded silently, not bothering to question how she was on a first name basis with our sixty-something-year-old librarian, and grabbed the tape dispenser from her hand, fastening the ostentatious banner onto the edges of a nearby bookshelf. It seemed a bit sacrilegious to cover up books of any sort, but given they were reference books on the Renaissance period, I was sure they didn’t get much traction.

  The girl stepped back to admire our work, clapping her hands together loudly. I cringed, glancing around the quiet library, expecting to get in trouble. To my surprise even Clarissa didn’t seem to care that we were disrupting the silence. I let out a silent sigh of relief.

  “Thanks for your help.” The girl peered down, eyeing me curiously. It was my first time getting a really good look at her and I was struck by how green her eyes were. Bright emerald and gigantic—they were almost creepy. She extended a pale hand. “My name’s Vivian.”

  “Estelle,” I replied, shaking her surprisingly calloused hand. I beamed, ecstatic that I was probably making my first college friend. God only knew how torturous it was wandering around campus alone only to return to a stoic-faced roommate who blasted scream-o music every waking hour.

  “Estelle? That’s a pretty name,” she responded. She paused for a moment and eyed me up and down. “Do you dance? You look like you dance.”

  Suddenly feeling self-conscious, I hugged my thin body. “No, I don’t actually.”

  “Hmm. Well, can I say you are very blessed then. A lot of girls would kill to have a dancer’s body like yours.” She narrowed her eyes as if examining me. “Not to mention you look a bit like Mila Kunis.”

  “Um, thanks?” My fingers tightened against the sides of my ribcage. I’d always felt a bit insecure about my body. I was, according to my mother, a late bloomer and a bit too skinny for my taste. Feeling Vivian’s probing eyes, I averted my stare, pretending that a nearby book on renaissance architecture was the most exciting thing in the world.

  Throwing me a perplexed look, she shrugged. “Well, even if you don’t dance you should really come.”

  “To where?” I asked dumbly.

  Smirking, she motioned toward the sign.

  B-Boy Battle

  West Commons

  Sunday 4:30 p.m.

  I turned back toward her and frowned. “What’s a b-boy battle?”

  Her eyes widened. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  I shrugged, feeling a bit stupid. “No. What is it?”

  “Where are you from? How could you not know about breaking?”

  “I’m from Virginia. But not from a small town or anything. It’s actually a pretty big city with a trolley system and…” My voice trailed off when I noticed the weird look on Vivian’s face. I snapped my mouth shut and smiled sheepishly. I had a bad habit of rambling when I was nervous, which probably explained my lack of friends.

  Vivian yanked off her black beanie and scratched at her platinum blonde hair. “Virginia, huh? Weird. They have a decent-sized scene there. I would have thought you’d at least have heard something about it.”

  “Can’t say that I have,” I mumbled.

  Still frowning, Vivian exploded into what sounded like a well-rehearsed tirade. “Breaking is a form of dance—it’s a form of art. Not any of that foo-foo stuff mind you, but real hard-hitting stuff. Hell, they even make movies about it!”

  I refrained from telling her that I preferred romantic comedies. “Sounds interesting.”

  “It is! In fact, it’s awesome. And I’m not just saying that because I break.” She paused and eyed me expectantly, as if waiting for a reaction. Not knowing what else to do, I nodded again, causing her to snort. “But seriously, it’s the truth. I can’t even describe the profound feeling you get when watching a battle. You should really come to the event and check it out for yourself. It’s a life-changer.”

  Though she really didn’t exactly answer my question about what exactly went on in a battle, I felt inclined to accept her pseudo-invitation given how passionate she was about it. Heck, if it meant making a friend, I was all for it.

  Gnawing on my lip, I stammered back in reply. “Um…um okay. I…I guess I’ll swing by to check it out.”

  “Good.”

  I glanced at the sign again and scratched my head. “Kind of an odd place to advertise a dance competition. In a library, I mean.”

  Vivian smiled wickedly. “Figured there would be people in here like you who may need some spice in their lives. So yeah, see you at the battle, okay?”

  She turned and walked away before I could give her a response, but honestly I had no idea what I would have said. I merely stood there gaping after her with the realization that I didn’t have the right to feel insulted. I did need some spice in my life. It was a horrible truth.

  Chapter 3

  I spent the rest of the week Googling “Break Dancing” and in typical Estelle fashion took notes. Notes! I’m sure note-taking went against all that was associated with the breaking culture, but I really didn’t want to show up to the event looking like some sort of noob.

  While I was in the middle of watching a battle, which basically reminded me of an old dance competition I saw once on MTV, I felt warm air brush against my bare shoulder. I yelped out in shock and spun around to see my roommate, Anna hovering over my desk.

  “Funny, I wouldn’t have pegged you as a b-girl,” she said thoughtfully.

  I don’t know whether it was because I was startled or just completely sick of being viewed as that naïve girl from Virginia, but as I gripped my chest to steady my breathing I lashed out, “Funny, I wouldn’t have pegged you to have any sort of interest in what I was doing. I also wouldn’t have pegged you as the type to have the ability to speak, let alone know about anything else past that crap you listen to every day.”

  My chest rose and fell quickly, my breaths strained as my heart struggled to retain its normal rhythm. I shot my roommate a sneer as I gripped at the neckline of my camisole, suddenly feeling as if I were burning up.

  The look on Anna’s face was priceless. At that moment, I thanked the heavens I was still listed as a dependent under my parents’ insurance plan because I was sure I was going to get a beating. As Anna glared down at me I couldn’t help but wonder if plastic surgery was covered under their plan just in case a broken nose was in my future. Luckily, her face softened and she began to laugh.

  “Did I miss something?” I asked hesitantly.

  A grin stretched across her rouge-covered cheeks. “I was wondering when you were going to grow some balls and talk to me. You have no idea how it feels to live with a roomie you think doesn’t like you.”

  I scratched my head in confusion. “I actually know that feeling pretty well. I do room with you, you know.”

  My usually stoic roommate’s smile faltered, but remained in place. “Fine, I guess that’s fair. I’m pretty sure I’ve b
een somewhat aloof over the past few weeks.”

  “You think?”

  Shaking her head, she extended a hand. “Let’s start over. Hi, I’m Anna.”

  “Estelle,” I said, feeling a bit weirded out. What the hell was going on?

  Noticing the look of bewilderment on my face, she sighed and walked back to her bed, which was positioned only a few feet from my desk. The old mattress springs groaned as she shifted her weight on top of it. “Listen, I know our first meeting was a bit…off-putting.”

  “Not to mention the silent treatment I got every single day after that,” I pointed out.

  “True…but it’s not as if you tried to reach out to me either, remember?”

  She had a point there. After our initial meeting I basically wrote her off, not counting the brief ‘do you know where the remote is’ questions that we’d randomly shoot back and forth.

  Anna took my silence as a yes. “See?”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter if I tried to reach out to you or not,” I blurted out. I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted slightly. “It didn’t look like you wanted to be reached out to.”

  “You didn’t either,” she shot back.

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Truth be told, I wanted nothing more than a friend.

  “Well, let’s see.” She tapped her chin in show and tucked her legs underneath her. “For one, you come in here with your head hung low. I never even see you without your nose in a book. It’s almost as if you have an invisible ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign hanging around you constantly.”

  “I don’t mean to come off that way,” I said in my defense. “I’ve just always been a bit…introverted, that’s all.”

  “Mmhmm,” she responded, but not unkindly. After a brief moment’s pause, she tilted her head and tightened her lips together. She opened her mouth only to shut it again.