Damaged Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,60

endure one more night of this?

I opened the spare bedroom door and saw the figure of Noah in the bed.

I crept through the room to check on him.

Damn me for having a heart, but I kind of cared about him. He was in pain. That was for sure. His home life hadn’t been as easy as it looked. Financially, sure, he was well off. But emotionally, he was poorer than a Troc.

His parents didn’t love him.

His father took care of another kid right in front of him.

In a way, I understood that kind of pain.

My mother left and I always wondered why she did it.

I still didn’t have the full answer, even with living with her.

My mother was an evil bitch.

And I had some of that in me.

I also had plenty of care and honesty in me too.

I stripped away the emotion and hatred for Noah as I stood at the side of the bed.

He was out cold.

His mouth partially open.

There was dried blood on his top lip.

I reached down and touched his shoulder.

I moved my hand to his cheek.

My fingertips moved up and down his cheek.

What are you doing, Winter?

I wasn’t sure.

I was a tiny bit tipsy.

I was feeling emotions.

Yet that voice and fire in the back of my head reminded me that Noah - along with Easton and Xavier - had wanted me to die.

My nails curled and I dug into Noah’s cheek.

My lip curled.

“Motherfucker,” I whispered. “You were going to tell me the truth. I fucking hate you, Noah.”

He moved his head to shake my fingers away, but he didn’t wake up.

I moved my hand away and just stared at him.

I blinked fast, almost wanting to cry.

I didn’t want to hate. I didn’t want to seek revenge. I didn’t want to be the person I was. I didn’t ask for this… any of this…

My bottom lip quivered.

I sucked in a breath.

And a hand moved over my mouth.

I was pulled back a few feet before I started to thrash.

My entire body had completely frozen up.

All I could think was that they were right. That whoever had been following me was here at this rich persons gathering thing, and they were coming to get me. They were going to kidnap me, hurt me…

I kicked my legs and threw elbows.

When that didn’t work, I resorted to biting the person’s hand.

“Ouch!” Easton yelled.

He let me go and I jumped forward and spun around.

“Easton?” I asked.

“Shhh,” he said. “Don’t wake him up.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I growled in the best whisper I could manage.

“What?”

“You scared the hell out of me,” I said. “You asshole.”

He put his pointer finger to his mouth and nodded to the door.

We exited the bedroom and Easton went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of something to drink.

“Come on,” he said. “I want to show you a secret.”

I walked with Easton toward the large master bed at the end of the room.

The entire room was quiet, telling me that Xavier was asleep on the couch.

Right next to the bed there was a window.

Easton handed me the bottle and then opened the window.

“There’s a big ledge out here,” he said. “We can sit out here and relax. Nobody will see us.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Why not? Live a little.”

“And if I fall and break my neck?”

“Hey,” he said, pointing at me. “Maybe if you fall and hit your head, you’ll remember everything again.”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” I said. “Because if you did, I’m going to throw you out of that window. And I don’t think anyone would really mind.”

“Well, that’s just really mean to say.”

“I’m mean,” I said.

Easton climbed through the window.

I hesitated but followed him.

I first stuck my head out just to see what was there.

The ledge was huge enough for me to climb out without being too afraid.

I then sat next to Easton.

I could just faintly hear the music coming from the tent.

“This is the only good part about this,” he said.

“It’s not all that bad,” I said.

I waited a few seconds.

“Hey,” I said. “What happened down there…”

Easton and I looked at each other.

“What about it?” he asked.

“That got tense. And then it exploded.”

“That’s just Noah,” he said.

“I’m talking about you, Easton. Something was said…”

“Don’t worry about my life, Winter. I know how to navigate through it. Can I tell you a secret?”

“Sure,” I said.

Easton leaned closer to me. “I’m smarter than most people think. I don’t need to hurry up and act. I don’t need to pump it twice