Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
“I got it. Thanks, man.” He gives Dunc a chin nod. Oh, now they’re bonding. More like ganging up on me. I know I shouldn’t be mad at Dunc or Sadie because they are trying to do the right thing. And what Dunc said is the truth: I was uncomfortable. I’m just not ready to admit it out loud.
“Sorry.” Sadie gives me a small wave goodbye.
Van pulls me toward him then closes the car door.
“It’s really no big—”
“Don’t.” He traps me between the door and him. Now I see why he closed it. “You’re being flighty about it, so that means there’s a problem. I thought maybe I saw something when I asked you who he was, but I was driving.” I chew on my bottom lip. A wave of unexpected emotion rolls over me. I am pissed about everyone being in my business or caring. “Shit. Don’t cry.”
“I’m not!” I blink quickly, trying to stop my eyes from watering. He pulls me into his chest, dropping his chin to rest on the top of my head.
“Stay with me this weekend.”
“What? I can’t stay with you.” Why is that offer so damn tempting?
“Yeah, you can. You’re eighteen.”
“You live with your parents.” I shake my head.
“Like they have room to talk. Mom got knocked up at sixteen.”
“Oh, no. I’m on birth control so—” I trail off. “Why do you make words come out of my mouth that I don’t want to?” I huff into his chest. Why does he also have to smell so good?
“Good information to know.”
“That is not information you need to know.” I put my hands on his chest to push him away, but instead my fingers grip it.
“Stay with me. You think Dunc isn’t always sneaking into Sadie’s room?”
“We wouldn’t be sneaking. I'd stay on the couch or something, but that’s beside the point.”
“What’s the point? You keep giving them, and I keep knocking them out.”
“I don’t know! It’s just against the rules or something. Girlfriends and boyfriends can’t spend the night together at their parents' home.”
Van lets out a sigh. “Well, this is all fake. Remember?”
There he goes knocking down another point. Thank God my face is still in his chest because that burned, and I’m sure my face shows it. “I was rude to your mom, I think.”
“Trust me. She’ll love you.”
“Can I trust you?”
“Every damn time.”
I hope that’s not fake too.
Chapter
Fourteen
VAN
The lights are on in her apartment when I pull up. She squints, trying to make out who is home.
“Stay here. I’ll be right out.” She unbuckles her seat belt, but I’m fast and am out of the car and at the passenger door before she can sling her purse over her shoulder.
“That’s a negative.”
“My mom isn’t going to let me go with you. I know she seems like she doesn’t have many opinions on what’s going on, but I know she’ll draw the line at me sleeping over at your house.”
“It’s not my house. It’s Dunc’s house. Dad and I are just…” I pause because I don’t really know the state of Dad’s future in the Donovan household. He’s staying there because it makes the most sense for Mom and our new weird family. She missed out on eighteen years with Cooper and her first love, Duncan’s uncle. But Dad won’t want to stay there for the rest of his life. It’s too awkward. As for me, I’m leaving for college next year, so I’m just waiting it out. “We’re long-staying guests and you can be one of those.”
“Mom isn’t really going to care about that.”
I thread my fingers through Fleur’s. “You underestimate me, babe.”
Upstairs, Fleur’s mom isn’t the problem. She nods her head and smiles positively when I explain that I’m taking Fleur over to my house to spend the night with Sadie and my mom. I spin up the tale about how Mom wants to get to know all of Duncan and Sadie’s friends since she missed out on so much. “And since Dunc and Fleur were childhood buds, Mom’s dying to meet her,” I finish.
“I never knew you and Duncan Donovan were so close.” Fleur’s mom looks genuinely surprised.
“They’re selling you a bunch of bullshit, Krystal,” interjects Richard. He looms behind Krystal’s small frame like an ugly shadow ready to devour both women.
Without thinking, I step forward, putting my frame between him and Fleur. This action doesn’t go unnoticed by Richard, who narrows his eyes and scowls. “Admit it, son, you are trying to do the deed with this girl.”
I run my tongue over the top row of my teeth and order myself not to be antagonistic. “Sebastian York is my daddy.” Not you, asshole. “Fleur’s just coming over to the Donovan house to eat a piece of strawberry shortcake my mom has whipped up, trade stories with Sadie, and whip my butt in a game of Monopoly.”