Read Online After We Fell by Anna Todd - Free Book Online Page B

head.
    â€œYou’re an unpleasant son of a bitch.” Before I can react, he adds, “Just how I like ’em.”
    THREE DRINKS LATER, I can barely sit on the bar stool. Richard, who obviously drinks for a living, literally, appears to have the same problem, as he’s leaning way too close to me.
    â€œSo then when I get out the next day, I had to walk two miles! Of course it started raining . . .”
    He continues on, telling me about the last time he was arrested. I continue to drink and pretend that he isn’t talking to me.
    â€œIf I’m supposed to keep your secret, you should at least tell me why you told Tessie you were expelled,” he says at last.
    I somehow knew he would wait until I was full-on drunk to bring this up again. “It’s easier if she thinks that,” I admit.
    â€œHow’s that?”
    â€œBecause I want her to go to England with me, and she isn’t exactly thrilled with the idea.”
    â€œI don’t get it.” He pinches the bridge of his nose.
    â€œYour daughter wants to leave me, and I can’t let that happen.”
    â€œSo you tell her you got kicked out of school so she’ll go to England?”
    â€œBasically.”
    He looks down at his drink, then over at me. “That’s really stupid.”
    â€œI know.” And it does sounds really fucking stupid when spoken out loud, but it somehow makes sense inside my fucked-up head.
    â€œWho are you to give advice to me, anyway?” I say to him at last.
    â€œNo one. All I’m saying is you’ll end up just like me if you keep it up.”
    I want to tell him to fuck off and mind his own damn business, but when I look up at him I see the resemblance I noted when we first sat down at the bar. Fuck.
    â€œDon’t tell her,” I remind him.
    â€œI won’t.” Then he turns to Betsy. “Another round.”
    She smiles at him and begins to make our drinks. I don’t think I can handle another.
    â€œI’m good. Right now you have three eyes,” I tell him.
    He shrugs. “More for me.”
    I’m a shit boyfriend , I think to myself, wondering what Tessie— fuck , Tessa—is doing right now.
    â€œI’m a shit father,” Richard says.
    I’m too drunk to comprehend the difference between thinking and speaking, so I don’t know if him saying this is coincidence or I was speaking out loud—
    â€œMove down,” a gruff male voice says to the left of Richard.
    I glance over to see a short man with an even fuller beard than my drinking companion’s.
    â€œThere aren’t any more stools, partner,” Richard replies slowly.
    â€œWell, then you better move,” the man threatens.
    Fuck, not this. Not now.
    â€œWe aren’t moving.” I dismiss the man.
    The man who then makes the mistake of grabbing Richard by the collar and roughly yanking him upright.

chapter ten
TESSA
    T he walk back to my car after yoga feels much longer than usual. The heaviness of Hardin’s expulsion and the move to Seattle were lifted from me during meditation, but now, outside the walls of the classroom, the weight is back and multiplied by ten.
    As soon as I begin to pull out of the parking spot, my phone vibrates on the passenger seat. Hardin.
    â€œHello?” I stop and shift the gear into park.
    But it’s a woman’s voice that barks through the speaker, and my heart stops. “Is this Tessa?”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œGood, I’ve got your father and . . .”
    â€œHer . . . boyfriend . . .” I hear Hardin groan in the background.
    â€œYeah, your boyfriend ,” she says snidely. “I’m gonna need you to pick these two up before someone calls the cops.”
    â€œCalls the cops? Where are they?” I shift back into drive.
    â€œDizzy’s on Lamar Avenue; you know the place?”
    â€œNo, but I’ll Google