Make My Move (Hannaford Prep #5) - J. Bree Page 0,42
Her eyes dart around everywhere like she doesn’t quite know where to look and my gut churns over it. I’m pissed off, I’m embarrassed, I’m fucking gutted, but I can’t say any of that.
There’s silence as we work, thank God.
When the excruciating hour is almost finally over, Avery gets a phone call and ducks into the bathroom for privacy. I shouldn’t do it, I know I shouldn’t, but I finally fucking snap, “You’re such a hypocrite. You ran straight to Avery.”
She blushes like an innocent little fucking maiden as she nods, and my heart squeezes in my chest. “I know. I told her exactly how embarrassed I was with my actions and I owe you an apology.”
What the fuck?
She clears her throat and fumbles over her words a little. “Look, I’m sorry I was staring and making you uncomfortable. I was tired and not thinking straight. I’m also sorry Avery yelled at you for the whole…thing, I was embarrassed that you had pity kissed me and I moped to her about it. You know how she gets when she’s in protect mode. Can we just forget it and move on?”
Pity kiss?
She thinks I’m uncomfortable?
When am I ever going to understand what the fuck goes through this girl’s head? I’d put good money on never.
I can’t help but gnaw on my lip as I think. I can’t just say whatever pops into my head because that’s how we got into this mess in the first place.
She’d kissed me back before I opened my fat mouth.
“That’s not what I was expecting you to say,” I finally murmur.
She shrugs, her eyes dropping back down to her hands in the perfect pose of sheepishness.
I get one chance to fix this and make her mine.
But the moment I open my mouth again, Avery walks out of the bathroom and pegs me with a look.
Fuck.
Fuck.
I don’t want her meddling in our shit, there’s already too many people involved in this, so I play it off. I raise an eyebrow at her, all of my cocky attitude back in spades now I have a little more of the story.
“Where did you get that lovely black eye from, Morrison?” Avery croons, poking at me to start a fight. She struts into the kitchen and begins to make hot cocoa. Two mugs, so I’m not getting one, but I don’t drink the shit anyway so no skin off of my nose.
I deflect her question, because it’s both true and none of her business. “Arbour was defending his love. He thinks I’m trying to steal his girl out from under him and he can be a jealous shit.”
Lips starts to fumble around with her supplies, avoiding both of our eyes, as Avery snarks back to me, “I didn’t know he had a girl.”
He doesn’t and maybe, just maybe, she might pick me instead. I grin and pack away my textbooks and notes. “Try telling him that. Have a good night, girls. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ash
Father called, he has a new crop of sluts coming in from Europe. I’ve picked one out for you already; she looks so much like the Mounty slut that you might just break and play with her too.
I don’t understand how exactly it is that I spend all of my time trying to stay the fuck away from Joey but he can still read me like a fucking book.
The morning I wake up to that text only gets worse as the day goes on. It’s almost impossible to push down the blind rage inside me, the need to walk over to my brother’s room and just fucking slit his throat so consuming that I take an hour in the shower. The cold water does nothing to put the burning in the pit of my stomach out. Fuck, nothing is going to calm it down today.
Nothing.
I eat breakfast with everyone and thankfully the Mounty doesn’t join us. I can’t fucking look at her right now, not without seeing that text in my mind over and over again, until I’ll lash out and fucking ruin everything.
I get angry at her for being here all over again.
I can’t afford to have something else for Joey to use against me. Protecting Avery is a full-time fucking job, even sharing some of the load with two other people, and adding another vulnerable girl to the mix just isn’t fucking smart.
Even if she has invaded every aspect of my life like some sort of insidious disease.