Page 67 of Bad for You

I put down the phone and gripped the edge of the desk, fighting back tears.

He was wrong about me, about everything. I knew that, I did. But my parents wouldn’t feel the same way. They would never forgive me after this.

They were terrible parents. The way they’d treated Kate and me wasn’t something I would ever forget. But they were still my parents, and yes, I wanted their approval, despite it all. My ridiculous dreams of being a family again one day, after Jarod spoke to them, would never happen.

I wouldn’t have parents anymore.

And it hurt. It didn’t matter what they’d done to me. It still hurt.

The look on Jarod’s face, the horrible things he’d said echoed through my mind, and that hurt as well. He was nothing to me. But they still cut.

Dread filled me. He’d tell everyone his twisted version of my life, the people from our church, people who I used to think of as friends.

My mother would hate that more than anything. It was only a matter of time before she came for me.

Chapter Seventeen

Jesse

I climbed out of my truck, glad to finally be out of it. I’d been gone four nights and had come straight here when I hit Rocktown. All I wanted was Lila.

Unfortunately, my girl was trying to avoid me.

The lights were on inside. So she wasn’t “busy working” like she’d said. I wasn’t cool with that. I thought we’d finally had some kind of breakthrough, and now she was pulling away. Fuck that.

We’d planned to spend the night together before I left, but she’d canceled on me—Addie had needed her due to some drama. Had that been all bullshit?

I’d been gone longer than I’d planned, tying up the last of the loose ends left by Trip, and the texts, and one call she’d actually answered, hadn’t cut it. Not when all I wanted was to kiss her, touch her, slide inside her and forget all the bullshit I’d had to deal with because of my useless brother.

I knocked on the door.

The relief when it finally opened and she was standing there hit me with force.

Christ, she was beautiful. Lila took my breath away, had from the moment I first saw her.

Her head tilted back, looking up at me, and she pushed her glasses up higher on her nose. “You’re back.”

I walked straight in, kicked the door shut behind me, and backed her up until she was pressed against the wall. “What’s going on, Lila?”

She looked up at me, those gorgeous eyes making my damned heart skip a beat. “What do you mean?”

“The whole time I was away, all I could think about was getting back here to you. I sure as shit didn’t get the goodbye I’d planned. Then I’m finally coming home and you’re busy. Work? Seriously? You telling me there’s some kind of fucking book emergency?”

She blushed.

“You’re avoiding me.”

“I’m not.”

“Bambi, you are.” Her breath hitched when I leaned closer, my lips brushing hers. I gripped her hip, soft and round, and tugged her closer. “Talk to me.”

Her eyes slid shut for a moment, then lifted back to mine. I couldn’t read what I saw in them, but I didn’t like it. “Fine,” she burst out. “You’re right, I have been.”

“Talk to me,” I said again. What the hell was going on?

“I don’t want to,” she whispered.

Because I wouldn’t like it. She was worried how I’d react to whatever this was. “Fucking talk to me, Lila.”