Fractured (BBW Erotic Romance) by Evelyn Rosado Page B

Oh, great – group
work. I hated relying on someone besides myself for grades. He
asked us to raise our hand when our names were called. I hoped it
would be Candace.
    “ Heath Gibson,” the Dr.
Samuels said. No hands shot up. “Heath Gibson,” he said. Mr.
Mysterious’s hand doggedly went up. “Selena Appleton.” I nearly
choked on the water I swallowed. I raised my hand. I looked back at
Heath. His eyes were back on his phone.
    Candace gave me an elbow nudge and smiled at
me. “You. Lucky. Cunt-basket.” She shook her head as the professor
continued reading off names.
    As the desks emptied when the clock struck
9:50am, I managed to catch Heath before he walked out of the door
to exchange information about the project. “Hi, I’m Selena.” I
extended my hand to him. He looked me up and down, then nodded up
as if to say hello. I pulled my hand back and brushed my hair away
from my forehead. “Maybe we should get each other’s phone number so
we can plan a time to go over things.” He remained tight lipped and
faintly nodded. “Sooo. Oookay. My number is 489-783-2341.” He still
said nothing. “Aren’t you going to give me yours?”
    “ 489-920-1390,” he said. His
voice was throaty and craggy. Man of few words, I guess
    “ Okay, so I guess I’ll text
you a time to meet up.” He nodded up and down, turned around and
left. That was interesting. Not at all how I thought that would
go.
    Candace strolled up beside me. “So how’d it
go?”
    “ Weird.”
    “ Weird?”
    “ He didn’t say
much.”
    “ He’s probably hung over,”
she said shrugging her shoulders.
    Maybe, but I wasn’t here for boys anyways, I
was here to put the past behind me.
    A week later
    Bright lights. Icy road. Car swerving. Jenni
and I signing along to the radio. SUV swerving into my lane. Too
late to swerve. Loud crash of metal twisting together. Hot steel
scraping my tender flesh. Intense white light. No sound. White
light.
    “ Good Morning!” I screamed.
I sat up in my bed, my blue night shirt drenched with sweat. My
fist gripped the bed sheet. Veins protruded on my hands from
clenching so tightly. My lungs expanded rapidly and my lips were
twitching. I reached up and felt the fleshy scar on my right cheek.
The green neon digits on the alarm clock read 3:47am. First night
terror in months. Dad wasn’t there to hold me. For the first time,
I was alone.
    Waking up screaming in the middle of the
night was my life everyday six months after the accident. Sometimes
my nightmares were different, but the end result was always the
same – waking up in terror, saturated in sweat. Good morning was
the first words I uttered after I awoke from my coma.
    Later on in the morning, Candace and I
contemplated our collegiate aspirations over hardened bagels and
runny omelets. She was more interested in discussing the penis size
of the team’s starting middle linebacker. I was more concerned with
the dining commons serving peach cobbler for dinner later on.
    The dining area was nearly empty. Most
students had already left for the 8AM classes. Some people were
eating alone which was something I hated doing. I was glad Candace
was there with me. Transitioning to a new city would be difficult
for me if I was alone.
    I got out of my seat to pour another glass of
orange juice when I saw Heath sitting in the corner spooning corn
flakes in his mouth. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt and
headphones – closed off to the world even before noon. I wondered
if he saw me.
    “ Don’t even think about
going over there,” Candace said as I sat down.
    “ I texted him four times
last week and he didn’t respond. And he hasn’t shown up to class
since the first day. I’m not doing the project by
myself.”
    As I walked over to his table, he looked up
at me for a half a second, only his eyes moved but his head
remained motionless.
    Be bold Selena. Be bold. I pulled up a
chair and sat down. I cleared my throat. He still wouldn’t lift his
gaze from