Read Online True North by Allie Juliette Mousseau - Free Book Online Page B

it to me first. I took it in my hand and listened intently so I didn’t miss a word. “They were all looking at you like you were good enough to eat, and I wanted to kill the lot of them. I’m not accustomed to jealousy, and it hit me hard.”
    Jealousy’s good, right??? I guessed that sometimes it could mean being possessive in a bad way … but I was pretty sure that wasn’t Jake.
    Since we’d gotten on the bike the darkness had left him, but now I was seeing those shadows descend over him again and tried to divert the conversation.
    “ This was a beautiful place to come. I haven’t been here in a while,” I said.
    “ I have a lot of amends to make, Olivia, but I don’t know how to do it. Or if it can even be done.”
    I didn’t know what to say. I wondered what he needed from me most. What the boys said back at the house was haunting—did Jake have a deep wound we couldn’t see? If I stayed open and listened, would that be the right thing? Could I put my own hurt feelings from the past three years aside?
    He gently pulled the bottle from my hand and drank and then stared at it. “You don’t owe me anything, Liv, and I definitely don’t deserve any favors from you …” His expression became pained, but he recovered quickly and masked it. “I want to ask you for one anyway.”
    “ You want a favor … from me?” I had no idea what I could possibly have to give or what I could do for him. “I can do that.”
    He looked up into my face with limited hope. “Pretend I never left.”

Chapter Seven
    “ Come Undone”
    My Darkest Days

    I felt my brow crease in confusion even though I tried to hide it.
    “ I had something to prove,” Jake said. “It might look like I come from a life of privilege, and I have in most every way. My mom and dad have successfully built this ranch and then their oil business from the ground up. Caleb was a natural at the business and took it right over, allowing my parents to live comfortably. Josh is a reigning MMA champ. Between that and rushing into burning buildings and saving people’s lives he’s doing well for himself.” He shook his head, guzzled the rest of the beer and set both empty bottles back into the leather pouch. Then he sat back a little and let his gaze trail over me. “I didn’t fit in anywhere. I didn’t have Sam’s musical talent or Will’s mind for business. But I wanted to accomplish something great apart from them … I needed to make my own name and see what I could do on my own.”
    “ I can understand that.” I only had Nate to contend with; I wasn’t part of the most powerful family in the west. I got it. Jake had always moved to the beat of his own drummer; it was a part of his charm for me. “Do you feel like you’ve proved it now?”
    He blew out a semi-bitter laugh. “That’s one hell of a loaded question.”
    “ Well, I have all day,” I flirted playfully.
    “ You do.” He looked like he wanted to reach out and touch me, and I so wished he would. “How’s school?”
    That was a swift 180! “Just started last month. Classes are good, and so far so are the instructors.”
    “ Have you made any friends?” he asked, looking back towards the geese.
    “ My roommate seems cool, but I really haven’t had a chance to forge friendships. I have a tendency to drive the long trek home every weekend. I forfeit the parties and the people I’d meet but …” I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t want to screw up my flawless GPA,” I said, grinning, “and, anyway, my home is important to me, it’s where Nate and my friends are.”
    It seemed like his shoulders relaxed with my admission but then he stiffened again way too quickly. “And what’s been happening here on the home front?”
    “ Same old,” I answered. I can’t believe he really just drove all the way out here for the type of pleasant conversation you’d share with an old friend. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach. What if that was exactly why he came out