Isa loomed over her, pausing to stare her down, but Aria wouldn’t look at him.

“Little-ass girl, man,” he scoffed before walking out.

Aria slammed the door behind him, and damn if her eyes didn’t betray her, but she refused to let a tear fall. There was no point in crying. She couldn’t stay, and although she knew Isa was being crass because he was hurt, she would rather have an angry goodbye than a regretful one, so she would take his insults. It only made her feel better about choosing her brother over her man.

4

I remember when my heart broke

I remember when I gave up loving you

Morgan sat at her vanity; her earbuds filled her ears with a ballad that told the secrets of her heart. It was so loud it drowned out all sound. She gripped the pen in her hand and wrote the lyrics across the paper in front of her. She didn’t know why she wanted to write them down. It just seemed appropriate. It seemed like these lyrics were ripped right out of her diary. Was heartbreak universal? Did men just hurt women to the point where the pain was recognizable by other women? Shared experiences of heartbreak connecting her to a sorority of other broken hearts? She hated that this song was so on point. She hated that she had been inducted into the sisterhood at all.

Morgan was restless. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard gunshots. Her heart had been running rampant ever since the shooting, pounding, overbeating it felt like. It felt like she was having a heart attack, and she just wanted the panic to ease some. She was fine. Her kids were fine. Still, she felt it. The anxiety. The pure terror of what could have happened that day. It could have been her or the twins in a grave right now. Even losing Aria would have obliterated Morgan. Even the thought caused her room to shrink. Morgan cinched her eyes and took in deep breaths, but she was choking. She glanced back at the bed where Bash slept. She couldn’t breathe. She wanted to wake him, but he no longer felt like peace. He was a part of her storm too. Her entire life was so fucked up. The chaos felt unending, and Morgan didn’t know the way out. She stood, creeping quietly from the room. She didn’t even put on shoes as she slipped out her front door. She couldn’t wait on the elevator. She took the stairs all the way to the bottom, bursting out the door to her building and gulping in air. She fisted her hair with one hand and placed the other to her heart as she sucked in oxygen.

It took a while for her to still her heart.

Beep! Beep!