All-American Princess - Maggie Dallen Page 0,38

affected your parents,” I said. “What it did to your dad.”

I let the silence linger because we both knew what it did to his dad. His father’s ending was well known. He’d gone home with his family for Christmas and overdosed. But how had he gotten hooked on pills? What had led him to drink?

Most everyone believed that the simple, kindhearted hero from the country couldn’t take life in the backstabbing world of Hollywood, and maybe that was part of it.

But his wife sleeping with his cruel, heartless boss?

My guess was that had way more to do with it.

Brandon seemed to come to the same conclusion. I saw the pain ripple across his features even as he steeled his eyes and drew up to his full height so he towered over me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I kept silent. Of course he’d be pissed. I’d be pissed, too… you know, if I had parents I actually trusted and respected.

“Who told you that?” he demanded.

I didn’t answer right away, and he hurried on. “Whoever they are, they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

I kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t about to argue with him. Nothing I said would convince him. The seed of doubt had been planted. If he didn’t want to believe it, he wouldn’t. But if he already had an inkling of doubt that his mother wasn’t the perfect, morally superior, church going paragon of virtue she’d been made out to be, then that seed of doubt would grow.

He’d do his own digging. He’d figure out the truth.

Even if he didn’t, he might doubt whatever arguments she was using to keep him locked away here in the middle of nowhere.

“Is everything okay out here?” Brandon’s buddy Ryan had come out of the cafeteria behind us and hovered nearby.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. What was it about Brandon—big, tall, manly Brandon—that everyone felt the urge to protect him?

Even me.

I couldn’t deny that tearing off that particular Band-Aid hadn’t been easy. Everything in me wanted to wrap my arms around the big guy and tell him it wasn’t true. His mother was the saint everyone believed her to be and his father had just suffered from a terrible accident.

I resisted the urge. When Brandon’s gaze met mine, I didn’t look away.

“Everything’s fine,” I said to Ryan because I knew Brandon wasn’t going to respond.

I made the first move, heading past Brandon and giving his suspicious friend a flirty little wink. The moment I walked away from those sexy, accusatory eyes, the guilt started to wane.

I’d been honest, after all. There was no shame in that. Besides, for the first time in two weeks, I’d actually made some progress. There was now a chance that things here would shift, that maybe, just maybe, Tess and I could get the hell out of here and go back home where we belonged.

Despite the remaining nagging guilt, things were looking up.

My job here was done.

Almost.

Thirteen

Jack

Amber was the one who told me that something was wrong. I looked for Brandon, but he’d disappeared from school. Disappearing when he was pissed wasn’t a shocker—the guy wasn’t one for confrontations or for big blowouts.

He also didn’t respond to my texts or my calls, but that was totally like him. He always said that he had crappy reception out on the range, but I had a hunch that was an excuse. The guy needed alone time. I could respect that. But sometimes it seemed like he had a whole other life.

I didn’t bother trying to chase him down. If he wanted to be alone, he’d find a way to be alone.

“I just,” Amber had gnawed on her lower lip when she’d cornered me in the hall after lunch. “I just want to make sure he’s okay. Things looked intense between him and Lila.”

Lila. Of course this was her doing. I tried to find her at school, but I never caught her. That was fine—it wasn’t like I didn’t know where she lived.

I had to work after school, but after that, I showed up at their door. Tess answered, and she didn’t seem surprised to see me. She also didn’t hold the door open or invite me in. “What are you doing here, Jack?”

“Is Lila here?”

Her gaze turned wary, and she closed the door further so only her head was visible. “Jack, now’s not a good time.”

I heard a voice in the background. A male voice. An angry male voice. I only caught snippets. “…not