Page 124 of Wrong For Me

Leo

The last thing I want to see when I get home after a long damn day of driving all over the place is Bodhi’s overly excited face.

“Dude,” he yells the second I enter the apartment. “Why the hell haven’t you been answering your phone?”

At first, I don’t think much of his agitation. Bodhi being worked up is hardly something new. I ignore him, wanting nothing more than a glass of ice water—on top of everything else, the AC in my shit car is acting up and the last hour of that drive was damn uncomfortable. But something about my friend’s expression catches my attention as I push past him to the kitchen, making me pause.

His normally perfectly-styled hair is sticking up in messy spikes, as if he’s been tugging at the strands. His eyes are wide, expression more than overexcited. Bodhi looks worried. Worried, and really upset.

“Bodhi?”

“Why haven’t you been answering your phone?” he demands again, pacing in front of me.

“My battery keeps dying.” Tension is settling over me, fear growing in my belly. Something is wrong. “What’s going on?”

He finally stops pacing and meets my gaze, his familiar brown eyes filled with so much concern my breath catches. “My mom?” I whisper.

He shakes his head quickly. “Not your mom. Rose.”

Her name punches me in the gut, the ferocity of the terror that rushes through me making my knees weak. I have to actually reach out and grab the wall to keep myself from falling on my face.

“Shit,” he says, grabbing my shoulder. “I didn’t mean—she’s okay, Leo. She’s not hurt or anything.”

My relief is minor. It’s obvious there’s something seriously wrong here. Bodhi takes a firmer hold on my shoulder and pushes me into the kitchen and down into a chair at the table. He hurries to the sink to fill a glass of water. “Breathe, man,” he says, placing it in front of me. “You look like you’re going to pass out.”

“Just tell me what’s going on!” I demand. My fucking phone. I should have replaced it months ago. I should have stopped somewhere to check in. I’ve been gone all damn day and haven’t said a word to her since this morning. If she needed me and couldn’t reach me—

“There’s a story going around the celebrity gossip blogs.”

I still, horrific images of Rose hurt or sick all by herself momentarily fading from my mind. “A story?”

His eyes are very sad when they meet mine. “I think you should just see it.” He slides his phone across the table and when I take in what’s on the screen, my blood goes cold.

Rose Ransome Resents Mother for Suicide Attempt.

“Oh, shit,” I mutter, gripping the phone. This is bad. Rose is probably freaking the hell out right now. My strong girl who tries to hide all the hard things in her life because she’s determined not to upset her parents. Something like this? It’s going to wreck her.

“Can I call her on this?” I ask, already pulling up his contacts. “Shit, have you heard from her? Is she freaking out?”

“Leo.” He places his hand over mine, stilling my fingers. “You need to read the whole thing.”

I glare at him. “Ineedto talk to Rose. This is going to upset her so much—”

“Leo.” His voice is tight. “Read the article.”

I don’t like the look in his eye, don’t like the tone of his voice. There’s something else upsetting him here, but what could be worse than that damn headline?

A few seconds of skimming tell me the answer.

Rose confesses all to new boyfriend; Daisy Ransome’s mental health issues and their negative effect on the family.

“No,” I mutter, rubbing at my eyes as if I might be able to make the words change. No luck. “She doesn’t think—fuck, they’re not saying this was me?”

But a look at his face tells me that’s exactly what the world must think. “You’re mentioned by name later in the article,” he says softly. “There’s a picture of you guys together on campus.”

I slam my hand into the scratched and stained kitchen table. “You’re fucking joking!”

He starts to respond but I’m already out of my seat, pacing the room. “Have you talked to her?”