Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
A couple minutes later, I sent the photos.
Horror sets in as I read the last text.
Her BJs are the best, aren’t they, bro?
Iciness seeps into my veins before gradually spreading throughout the rest of my body.
Jasper.
He did this.
I don’t know how, but he’s the one behind the photographs.
Hot tears prick the backs of my eyes. And here I’d foolishly thought that I’d managed to escape him unscathed.
Guess the joke’s on me for lowering my guard.
DELILAH
“Call if you need anything,” Duke says as my fingers wrap around the handle of his pickup truck as it idles near the curb.
When the door creaks as I open it, I hesitate and meet his concerned gaze. At the moment, he’s the only friend I have, and I’m grateful for his support. Thick emotion wells inside me.
“Thank you.”
The edges of his lips lift into a rare smile. “There’s nothing to thank me for. We go way back. We’ll be friends no matter what.”
The one lesson I’ve learned in life is to never take anything for granted, and that includes friendships.
“Still…I appreciate it.” My attention is reluctantly drawn to the tiny house that sits in the middle of a postage-stamp sized yard. “I should probably head inside and face the music.”
The thought of doing that is enough to make the muscles in my belly contract.
He follows the direction of my gaze. “Yeah, my guess is that Carrie is gonna shit a brick when she sees you.” He refocuses his attention on me. “I would have texted her from your phone, but I didn’t know your passcode.”
I blow out a steady breath, emptying my lungs. If he’d done that, Mom would have demanded that I get my ass home and been irate when I didn’t walk through the door ten minutes later. Either way, it was going to be a damned if I do and damned if I don’t situation.
“Thanks again for the ride. I’ll see you Monday,” I say before forcing my feet into movement and exiting the vehicle.
As soon as I settle on the grass near the curb, I suck in a deep breath and then force it out again. This is one conversation I’m dreading. My relationship with Mom has shifted drastically in a short span of time. Barely does it resemble what it once was.
My mind tumbles back over the past couple of weeks. Everything changed when I accidentally walked in on her and the headmaster of Hawthorne Prep locked in a passionate embrace in the copy room. Not only is he her boss, but he’s married with kids who attend the elite prep school. Add in Jasper filling her head with lies and her own preconceived notions about the Hawthorne family, and our house has become a warzone. I’m constantly creeping around so as not to set her off.
Me waltzing into the house the morning after I should have come straight home from the game is a powder keg of a situation just waiting to explode.
Each forced footfall along the narrow concrete path that cuts through the lawn feels more like a walk to my death. Nausea continues to grow inside me as I cautiously push open the front door and step inside the tiny living room. As soon as I do, Mom pokes her head around the corner of the kitchen.
Her icy blue eyes skewer mine in place as she snaps into the phone, “She just walked in the door. I’ll call you later.” Her voice escalates, ratcheting up several notches with each word. “Where the hell have you been all night? I was worried sick!”
I cringe as guilt suffuses me and blurt, “I’m really sorry, Mom.”
She straightens to her full height. “You’re sorry? That’s all you have to say for yourself?”
My shoulders collapse under the weight of her fury. She’s practically bristling with it. “I, ah…fell asleep.”
“Fell asleep?” She stares at me like a horn has just sprouted from my forehead. “Where the hell were you all night?” She flicks a glance at her narrow wristwatch. “It’s after nine o’clock in the morning. I could have sworn that I told you to come straight home after the football game.”
Unable to hold her gaze, mine darts away as she stalks from the kitchen to the dining room before planting her fists on slender hips.
When I remain silent, she snaps, “Well? I’m waiting for an explanation.”
There’s no way I can tell her that I attended a party and then blacked out. That would go over like a lead balloon.
I clear my throat and cautiously wrap my lips around the lie. “I was with Duke. We were, um, watching a movie, and I fell asleep.”
Her eyes narrow as she studies me. I can’t help but shift beneath her relentless scrutiny.
“What the hell were you were doing at Duke’s house? Once the game ended, you were supposed to come straight home. That was our agreement, Delilah.”