Read Online Crazy Ever After by Kelly Jamieson - Free Book Online Page A

began to glow as dusk approached. He sat down on the wall, one foot hooked around the back of the other leg so that he faced her.
    “I came to find you to apologize,” he said, his voice low and velvet-rough.
    She looked at him.
    “I shouldn’t have been so antagonistic,” he said. “I’m sorry. I know you’re going through a rough time.”
    She opened her mouth to dispute that then closed it, realizing how ridiculous that was. She was working on that stupid tendency she had to argue, but he seemed to bring that out in her. His sympathy, or whatever it was he was expressing, grated on her, irritating her like nails on a chalkboard. She didn’t want his sympathy. Not now, and not seven years ago when he’d humiliated and hurt her. That was the last thing she wanted from him.
    “I’m going to go stay at a hotel,” she said.
    He stared at her then rolled his eyes. “Oh, Christ, here we go again.”
    “What? Why would I stay here?” She sat up straight on the swing seat. “You and my mother are both treating me like a child. Telling me to eat my dinner because I’m too skinny, for god’s sake.”
    “Maybe because you’re acting like a child.”
    “I am not!” She glared at him, breathing fast. “You...you...” For once in her life, she was speechless. “If I’m acting like a child, you’re acting like an arrogant, bossy prick.”
    They stared at each other through the twilight, the air charged with an electric energy that shimmered between them.
    “Don’t hold back, Samara,” he murmured suddenly, his mouth kicking up at one corner. “Tell me how you really feel about me.”
    Her own lips quivered with reluctant amusement, and then she fell back into the swing, setting it in motion again. She blew out a long breath. She hated being like this. They had sounded like two children bickering. Why were she and Travis always at odds? Why couldn’t she act like a mature adult around him?
    “Look. I know we have some...history...” Travis began.
    Samara’s heart leaped at him bringing that up. That was the last thing she wanted to talk to him about. But maybe it was best to take control of this discussion. “History? Oh yes. You mean the time I humiliated myself by coming on to you. When you rejected me and made me feel like a speck of dirt on the floor.”
    Travis shifted on the stone wall and set both feet on the patio. “Um...yeah.” He coughed. “Samara, you were only seventeen years old—way too young for me.”
    She looked at him now across the patio through the dusky light, the remembered pain just as acute as it had been then. “So you said.” Though she knew that hadn’t been the only reason. “Forget it. It’s not that big a deal. Really. I had a little crush on you, just a silly teenage thing.” She waved a hand, forcing a smile. “It was a long time ago.”
    “Then why are you still so pissed off at me?
     
     
    * * *
     
     
     
    She stared back at him, then her gaze slid away. “I’m not.”
    “Bullshit.” Travis almost laughed but didn’t want to hurt her feelings again. “Jesus, Samara, since you’ve walked in here, you’ve practically bitten off both our heads, mine and your mother’s. I have no idea what happened between you and her, but hell, I know what happened between us, and you’re clearly still mad at me.”
    She pressed her pretty lips together and met his eyes defiantly. “You don’t know what happened?”
    He frowned. Between her and her mother? He had no fucking clue. He sighed and shoved his hand into his hair. “Look. Your father would want me to look after you. Can’t we just forget about what happened seven years ago?”
    She sighed, fatigue drawing her features down, but she straightened her shoulders and looked him square in the eye. She spoke in a calm and quiet tone that made him listen. “I told you already I don’t need to be looked after. I’m a grown woman, even though you don’t seem to realize that. I’ve been on my own for seven