Read Breaking Down Sydney (Sydney West #2) for Free Online

light.
    “Syd—ney? You are wake?” Her voice was low and strained.
    “Did you forget how to speak English?” I asked bitterly.
    She laughed and plopped herself down onto my bed. “No, just wanna talk.”
    I squeezed my eyes shut. “This early? Even the damn birds are still asleep.”
    Amelia wasn’t going to let me go. With a heavy sigh, I rolled back over and gave her my best stink eye. “What do you want to talk about?”
    Her smile slipped. “Do you think Hunter will forget about me?”
    I felt my eyebrows rise. She was back to self-doubt and depression again.
    “What? Of course not. He’s been a mess since we left.” I brushed back a piece of hair from my face. “Jason told me how he wanders around like a zombie.”
    She looked down at her hands, which were resting on her lap. “I feel empty inside, Syd. I talk to Hunter all the time and I’m still hollow. You say Jason’s name like—”
    “I love Jason, but I’m not going to cry about the distance. We’ve already talked about this,” I said, rubbing my temples. I hated talking about the same things over and over.
    She closed her eyes and her lips trembled. “I miss him so much my heart hurts. You don’t hurt?”
    “I hurt,” I admitted. “I even put his picture as my wallpaper.” I showed her my cell phone.
    “You’re getting soft, Syd.” She laughed, then hiccupped.
    I sat up and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She reeked of strawberries and vodka. “The party didn’t distract you like you hoped, did it?”
    She moaned, blinking back her tears. “No. I thought a party would be a happy thing, but my friends wanted to flirt with these guys and one wanted to dance with me. I said no and he danced with another girl. Watching them have fun as I sat by just made it worse.”
    I frowned. I shouldn’t have left my friend in pain. “Why didn’t you call me?”
    “Don’t know, just drank until the world turned hazy,” she muttered. She struggled to keep her eyes open. She was about to fall asleep on me.
    “Let’s get some rest.” I helped her into bed.
    She passed out in a few seconds. I took her shoes off and covered her with a blanket. She softly snored as I sat a trash can by her head just in case. Switching off the light, I went back to bed, only sleep was out of reach. I bit my lip and let it go, remembering when Jason tugged on my lower lip because he wanted me to stop my bad habit.
    Voices and scenes danced behind my closed eyes. I hugged Scooby-Doo and prayed the agony would subside for a heartbeat. If love was such a wondrous thing, why did it hurt like hell?
     
    Love isn't something you find. Love is something that finds you.
     
    A quote by Loretta Young. Perhaps that was the truth. I was trying to hide from love, but I never knew what it looked like, not until it bit me on the ass—hard. Cupid was an asshole and was making me his puppet. Spite and a sharp tongue were always my response. I needed Jason. I needed to know someone cared about me.
     
    Love is what entraps my heart and could be my untimely death.
     
    Now I was making up my own quotes about love. I was hopeless, and my hopelessness only made my thoughts drift back to Jason.
    It was too soon to say with certainty what would become of Jason and me. The holidays drew nearer with each passing day, but it felt like years instead of months before I’d see him again. I wasn’t sure if my sanity would last much longer.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
     
    Two days later, Amelia and I were walking through campus, trying not to think about the California boys we missed. The sky was blue and the sun was beating down on us. It was still hot, and there was no breeze to save us like there was in Malibu. In Arizona, the sun wants to absorb all the water in a person’s skin, turning them into a bag of bones.
    Amelia slid her sunglasses up her nose and said, “I already need tutoring for my pre-calculus class. Don’t know why I have to take it