Read Online Very Twisted Things (Briarcrest Academy #3) by Ilsa Madden-Mills - Free Book Online

face.
    “What was she like?”
    “She got pregnant. It wasn’t mine.” He sighed. “You ever been in love?”
    I nodded.
    “What was he like?” His eyes searched mine.
    Memories from the past slammed into me—the first time Geoff and I had made love in his apartment; the day he’d given me my promise ring. I swallowed. “Wonderful. Perfect. His name was Geoff, and I tried to be wonderful for him, but in the end, I’d changed too much for us to make it.”
    “What changed you?”
    I tapped my hands against my leg, and his eyes followed.
    “It’s okay,” he sighed. “You don’t have to explain. Maybe I’ve been there, too. It does get better, though—the pain. And l have a feeling life hasn’t revealed its true beauty to you. You’re not done yet, V.”
    His words .
    I gripped the balcony to ground myself, to hold on to the grief that lurked inside always scratching to come out. For so long I’d been huddled in a corner, licking my wounds. I wasn’t ready to come out yet. I still wanted to hide. To give up.
    “You sleepy?” he asked.
    I sighed. “Not even close.”
    He rubbed the back of his neck. “This is kinda out of the blue, but I don’t wanna go home yet. Maybe you’d like to get some coffee? There’s a place at the end of the canyon that stays open all night—Java and Me. We can hang out, watch the sun rise over the Hollywood sign. I’ve been here for weeks and still haven’t done it.”
    “It’s late,” I said, the words dragging out of me. I wanted to, but it was too much, too soon.
    He exhaled heavily. “Yeah, stupid idea. I didn’t think it through. Forget it.”
    Through the open patio door, my phone rang as it sat on my nightstand. I glanced back over my shoulder, the sound jarring the silence. Wilson maybe, but he wouldn’t call this late unless he had an emergency.
    “Hang on a sec,” I said to him and dashed inside to get my phone. By the time I picked it up, they’d hung up, but I recognized the New York number, the digits burned into my brain, into my past.
    Geoff.
    Feeling shocked that I’d mentioned him and then he called, my feet carried me back out to the balcony where I gingerly sat the phone down.
    Had it been fate intervening?
    Should I call him back?
    What would I say?
    How’s life without me? I hear you’ve moved on.
    “Who was that?”
    I startled. I’d almost forgotten he was there.
    “My ex.” I stopped there, unsure how to explain that one.
    “The perfect and wonderful boyfriend?” His voice had cooled. “I see. You still have a thing for him.”
    “No, I don’t. I said ex . I’m not sure why he called.”
    “I am,” he said, and muttered something about rich girls and lies and how he should have known better.
    Why was he angry?
    He picked up the towel he’d used and hung it over a chair to dry. “I get it. Pretty girl like you. Makes total sense for you to have a guy.” He scooped up Monster, who’d been curled up in a ball sleeping.
    I crossed my arms. “A guy and a girl can be friends and not sleep together.”
    His eyes went to half-mast. “V, I have a hard time buying that. Any guy would want you.”
    “Do you?”
    He froze, but his eyes blazed with heat. “No.”
    “Then why is your chest heaving?”
    My own was as well.
    “Come down here, V,” he said, a steely tone in his voice.
    Need raced through my body, on fire to be closer to him. “Why? You could be a serial killer. And you never said you loved cheese puffs. I don’t trust a man who doesn’t like junk food. Plus, you’re mad. Not sure I like that.”
    He grimaced. “I’m sorry for being an ass. I blame it on my shitty experiences with girls. Just—I don’t know—come down here and look me in my eyes.”
    “Why?”
    “Maybe I want to kiss you,” he said softly.
    “You’re kinda bossy. And I might have whiplash from the way you go from hot to cold.”
    He said, “I quoted Shakespeare to you. I’ve never done that for a chick before. And you turned me