Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
She flies upright. “I would never. Not at work, and certainly not with some child.”
“That’s not what I was going to say.” But I see it on her face. That defensiveness. The shields she’s honed after a lifetime of people assuming she would. The little teenage punk believing she would. Even though she’s his boss, eight years older than him, and light-years better than him. “I was going to say that I hope you didn’t feel like your position as his boss meant you shouldn’t kick him in the nuts.”
She swallows. “Obviously, I tried to handle it professionally, but he was persistent, and it got a little . . . ugly.” She turns her head, her gaze shifting to the lockers, the shower stalls, anywhere but my eyes. “There are some moments when I’m not sure why I thought coming back to Jackson Harbor was a good idea.”
The pain on her face does something to me—a tug in my chest somewhere between an ache and a need to act. It’s the way I felt when I watched my father die, when I watched my mother fight cancer. The way I felt when Sara disappeared and cut herself out of my life so completely that I had no way of knowing if she was okay.
I exhale slowly and return my focus to her foot, digging my thumbs into her heel before taking her other foot into my hand and giving it the same treatment as the first. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you came back. And not just because you’re my girlfriend or because there’s no one else I’d want in your position.” I swallow hard. “You make me happy, Molly, and despite the assholes, I think you’re blossoming here, and so is Noah.”
She turns back to me. “Why are you so nice to me, Brayden?”
I hate that she even feels like she needs to ask. As if she doesn’t deserve the same kindness as everyone else. “Would you rather I be cruel?”
She pulls her feet from my lap and scoots around to the seat next to me, never taking her eyes from my face. “I don’t know what to do with kindness.” A smile—wobbly and unsure, but a smile nevertheless. “Typical fucked-up girl with daddy issues.”
“Don’t.” The word comes out harder than I intended, but I don’t rush to soften it. I let it sit in the air between us, simmering with all the frustration I feel. When I speak again, my words are quieter, but the same steel is behind them. “Don’t talk about yourself as if you’re unremarkable, like you let them believe you were in high school. As if you’re worth nothing more than the cheap pleasure you can give the nearest asshole.”
“Why not? I earned it—my reputation. I earned it by blowing dozens of guys before I could vote. Austin didn’t do anything most of the men in this town wouldn’t do.”
“That’s bullshit.” Anger simmers in my words.
“Wanna bet? Follow me around someday and see how they treat me.”
“That’s not what I mean. I mean it’s bullshit to think that you deserve to be treated like that. How many guys in your high school fucked every girl who spread her legs? How many would take action from the easiest target?” She blinks then lifts a shoulder in a careless shrug that I don’t buy for a second. “And if you walked up to them now and demanded sex just because they handed it over so willingly before, would that be okay?”
“Of course not,” she whispers.
“You don’t owe anyone any explanations for the decisions you made, and you sure as fuck don’t owe me an apology for firing an asshole kid who dropped his pants and expected you to—”
She leans forward in a flash and presses her fingers to my lips. “Don’t say it, okay?”
I exhale, letting go of the words I know she doesn’t want me to say. I focus on the feel of her skin against my lips, her taste a breath away. I dream about this skin. About these fingers. I constantly think about this amazing woman I love, and sometimes I’m not sure love is going to be enough to make her understand what I see when I look at her.
I knew about Molly’s reputation that night we were together in New York. We weren’t in high school at the same time, but my brothers talked. Hell, guys my age talked. I didn’t care about her reputation or about the choices she made back then. Some guys sleep around, and some girls sleep around. It doesn’t matter to me.
But all that time, I thought Molly gave herself to those guys because she enjoyed it. Until she moved back to Jackson Harbor, I never knew the truth of what drove her—her history with her stepfather. If I’d known, I would have understood why she begged me not to take her home that night eight years ago, and I would have done everything in my power to put a stop to it then. If I’d known, I’d have made different decisions during my visit to the city last spring. Maybe I’d have wooed her and seduced her slowly instead of taking her to bed and making her think I was just another asshole who wanted to get her naked and nothing more.