Read Online Life After by P.A Warren - Free Book Online Page A

the door, Avery falls very ungracefully into the bathroom. Grabbing my towel tightly I glare down at him. He has the decency to blush and quickly rights himself putting a hand in his back pocket.
    I’m so not used to living with guys. Huffing I cross my arms and look at him, arching an eyebrow, “What the hell do you want?”
    “I was just wondering what you were doing.”
    “What did you think I was doing in the shower and why the sudden interest in what I’m doing?” I ask him suspiciously.
    “What, I can’t be concerned about you, Hadley?”
    “No.” Avoiding his eyes I scan the room for a way out but he is blocking the doorway.
    Walking up to me he and puts his hand underneath my chin tipping it so that I’m looking at his face. “I’m worried about you. It’s your first holiday without your family and I’m here for you no matter what, okay? Don’t do anything drastic or anything. Come to me even if you just need me to keep the nightmares away, okay? I’ve been where you are. One day I might tell you about it.”
    Looking around at the bathroom I suddenly have the urge to crawl under the rug. He shocks me when he pulls the scissors from the rug. “What’s this for?”
    Oh crap, thinking quickly I spout out the most logical answer.
    “I needed to trim my hair?” Yes that’s a good response. Smiling I look at him in triumph.
    He gets closer to me and grabs my wrist turning it over he lifts it up and sees the red line. “What’s this then?”
    “Nothing! Leave me alone.”
    Slamming the door in his face I look at the scratch and realize what I almost did and that Avery knows what I was going to do. I am so angry at him. Why does he have to stick his nose in business that isn’t his? Leaning against the door I recall the devastation on his face when he saw my wrist. Why should he feel that way? We hardly know each other.
    This is so utterly unexpected I’m still standing there in my towel staring at the door ten minutes later. I finally pull myself out of the daze and get dressed heading into the kitchen, dreading it more then I should. Shaking off the shower incident I take a deep breath to prepare for Thanksgiving.
    When I walk into the kitchen it appears to be a hectic time for Jenny from where I’m standing. She is elbows deep stuffing the uncooked turkey and saying some pretty unpleasant things to the turkey. “What did that turkey ever do to you?” I nod towards the turkey and walk towards the fridge and grab a glass of orange juice.
    “First the son of a biscuit wasn’t fully unfrozen—then I had to pull the bastards organs out that were not in a bag like they should be and now I am trying to stuff the jerk and my back itches and I can’t itch my back because I have my hands up a turkeys butt.” Jenny gives me a death look as I hold back a laugh; walking up to her I scratch her back for her.
    “ Ahhh that feels good, thank you. I can now defeat the turkey!”
    “What do you need me to do?” I ask, taking a sip of my orange juice.
    “I thought you’d  never ask. You can sit at the table and peel these.”  She hands me the bag of potatoes.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    We’re putting the finishing touches on dinner. Stretching my hands I feel the aches in them, I never want to peel another potato again. The guys are watching football and randomly yelling at the television, I’ve dropped a plate twice now due to their shouting. I mean really, I understand the need to cheer for your team but I’m about to whack one of them over the head with a frying pan. Jenny even had me make the pumpkin and apple pies for dessert and with how busy I am I haven’t had a chance to sit down and wallow in grief and self pity. I’d never admit this to her but it made me feel important to make the pies. Yes, eighteen year old me has never made pies before. My mom rarely let me in the kitchen. Here is hoping they taste good.
    Jenny calls the guys in and we sit down to eat. She has us hold hands and says a