Curvy Girls Can't Date Bad Boys - Kelsie Stelting Page 0,51

the cove and the early morning. But the sky was growing lighter by the second. Reality was calling, and it wasn’t the kind of thing you could decline or avoid.

“I’ll shake out the blanket,” he said.

“Meet you at the bike.” I walked toward the motorcycle, where it gleamed against the eastern rays. My clutch sat on the back, and I figured it was time to see what was waiting for me. What hateful messages I’d surely received from my father. But when I went to turn it on, it was dead.

Great.

“Anyone worried about you?” Ronan asked as he approached me with the blanket folded.

It struck me that we’d shared so much, but he hardly knew about my present, about the pressure from my father or the friends who had my back or the future I hurtled toward.

I shook my head and put my phone back in my clutch. “Not anymore.”

We got on his bike, and it took a couple of hours to get to my house in Brentwood—my father’s house in Brentwood, I corrected myself. It wasn’t my home anymore. No, this immaculate southern-style home with modern flare was the farthest thing from home.

Home was somewhere you could trust the people inside. And I didn’t. Not anymore.

Ronan slowed by the keypad, and I typed in my code.

Error flashed across the screen. Narrowing my eyebrows, I tried again.

Error.

I could feel Ronan’s eyes on me as I tried the code again and received yet another error message and then one to contact security. I pushed the red buzzer, and one of the regular security guys came on the screen.

Recognition crossed his face immediately, and he frowned. “I'm sorry, Zara, your father asked us to change the code.”

“Can you please let me in? I’d like to change. I’ll be right back out.”

Even on the black and white screen, he seemed sympathetic. “Sorry, kid.”

I wanted to argue, but the screen went black. Angry tears burned my eyes, and I pushed the button over and over again, with no luck. Finally, Ronan covered my hand with his and then made me look him in the eyes. “What's going on, Zara?”

I couldn’t hold his gaze for long. “My dad locked me out of the house. Can I use your phone?”

He seemed like he had a million questions to ask, but he simply reached into his pocket and handed me the phone. I typed in the only number I remembered: Beth’s. After a few rings, she picked up. Her voice was a balm to the acid in my soul.

“Beth, it's me. Security won't let me in.” My voice cracked, this close to breaking.

“Your father told me this morning, but when I tried to call you, your phone was dead. What happened?”

I glanced at Ronan standing beside me, not ready for him to overhear the whole story. I'd rather tell him myself than have him overhear it. “Can you do me a favor?”

She paused. “Anything, honey. What do you need?”

The moisture built up in my eyes. I had a whole room, a whole closet, and all that I owned was sitting in Jordan’s car. “Nothing,” I said finally. I wiped at my eyes. “But can I say goodbye?”

“Of course,” she said, her voice breaking. “I'll be out in a few minutes.”

Thirty-Two

I hung up his phone and extended it to him. He looked at it like it was a foreign object, then gestured toward the house. “You had a fight with your father?”

Slowly, I nodded.

“Did he hurt you?” Ronan’s eyes were clouded with rage, some of it I knew for his own stepfather and not my own.

“No.” I shook my head quickly. “Not physically. It’s just...my father had a whole life planned out for me, and I finally told him I didn’t want it.”

His chest rose and fell, and he gave a clipped nod before hugging me to his chest. “Do you need a place to stay?”

“Do you think Brock would give up his bed?” I teased, which got a little smile from him. “No, I can stay with one of my friends. I’ll be okay.”

Maybe I was convincing myself more than him, but I needed to keep going right now. Stopping to think about everything that had gone wrong would only steal attention from the things going right.

He took my bare shoulders in both of his hands and held me at arm’s length. “If you need anything, let me know. I’m here for you.”

With a quivering smile, I nodded and whispered a thanks before I could fall apart