Read Online Right Side Up ((MMG Novella)) by R.B. Hilliard - Free Book Online Page B

quickly shook it off.
    “Yep,” I responded with a smile. Before he could say anything else, I turned my back in dismissal and walked around to the passenger side and got in. A minute or so later, he opened the door and slid behind the wheel. As he started the car, I flipped on the radio and turned it to the most obnoxious song I could find. When I didn’t get a reaction, I rolled down the window and started singing at the top of my lungs, “We going to rock down to Electric Avenue and then we’ll take it higher. Oh No! Out in the street! Out in the street! Out in the…”
    He lasted five lines longer than I thought he would, before he turned off the radio and rolled up the window. “Hey!” I huffed, “I was listening to that.” He didn’t respond. I swear, the man had a will of steel.
    We rode in silence for a few minutes before he broke. “When did you plan this get together?”
    I contemplated lying and then thought, why? Why lie. I want him to react. I want him to get mad. I want to know the guy I fell in love with hasn’t completely disappeared. “Mentally plan it or actually plan it?” I flippantly asked.
    A frown appeared on his face and he responded through a clinched his jaw, “Both.”
    “I decided to have my bachelorette party when you told me you were going out of town. I did not set the plan in motion, though, until this morning.”
    “Did we not discuss having a couple’s party?” His eyes flicked to me and then back to the road.
    “No. You, Max and Kurt discussed having a couple’s party. I had nothing to do with it.”
    “That’s bullshit, Piper.”
    He only called me Piper when he was really angry. Finally, I was getting to him. “Whatever,” I said, waving my hand in dismissal.
    “Whatever?” he asked. His incredulous tone let me know how close to the edge he was. All he needed was one final push.
    “Truthfully, I’m kind of glad you showed when you did. I was torn between wanting to smoke the joint Blake and Sally had, and drinking a few more shots with Ellie and Zane.”
    “What?” he roared and I tried not to flinch. Uh-oh. It looked as if the bear had finally awakened. Suddenly, he whipped the truck off onto a side road and parked beneath some trees. He unbuckled his seatbelt before turning to me. “Say that again,” he commanded in his do-not-fuck-with-me voice. I closed my eyes and tried not to cry in relief. The Gage I fell in love with was finally back. Now, all I have to do is keep him here.
    Instead of repeating the stupidity I’d spouted earlier, I calmly said, “Dooley is dead, Cowboy.”
    “What the fuck does Dooley have to do with you lying to me about tonight? What the fuck does Dooley have to do with you doing shots and wanting to smoke pot? What the fuck does Dooley have to do with anything?” he shouted.
    This had been a long time coming, so I made sure to hold nothing back. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I had to get through. “Everything, Gage! The day I was shot, the man I love disappeared! Who the fuck are you?” I screeched. He reared back as if I’d slapped him. “The man I fell in love with would have put me over his knee for the shit I pulled tonight! The man I fell in love with showed me every second of every day how much I was wanted and loved!” I slapped myself on the chest. “The day Selina and Zeke shot me, I became invisible to you!” Gage reached out his hand and I slapped it away. I wiped the tears from my face and whispered, “You don’t touch me the same way. You don’t talk to me the same way. You don’t treat me the same way. You want to protect me, but you are just suffocating me and destroying us.”
    Regret flashed in his eyes and he raked his fingers through his hair. “If it wasn’t for me, you never would have fucking met Dooley Shane! He never would have kidnapped or tried to rape you, because he wouldn’t have known you! If I had gone after him, like I wanted, he never would have taken you the second time!”