Kiss and Break Up (Magnolia Cove, #1)(72)

“You let that shit bag squeeze your ass?” Dash strode over, his eye twitching.

“Not that it’s any of your damn business, but no.” I smiled at Raven, then headed outside.

Willa and Daphne were standing by Daphne’s car, talking, and Jackson was up ahead, almost at his truck.

Dash caught up to me, his arm brushing mine. “Can I come over? We need to talk.”

“No.” Rain started to sprinkle from the sky, and I cursed, quickening my pace to keep my hair from frizzing.

“Freckles,” he pleaded.

I turned on him. “Don’t call me that ever again. And quit following me.” He went to protest, but I beat him to it. “It’s done, okay? We took a risk, and it didn’t pay off. We fucked it all up, and now there’s no going back.”

With his eyes misting, he said, “You don’t mean that.”

“I do. With every part of me, I mean it when I say I’ll never be able to forgive you.” I drew in a sharp breath, almost croaking my next words. “So do us both a favor and quit this insanity. Find someone else, get over it, and do what you do best.”

“And what’s that?”

“Whore around. You couldn’t commit if you tried, and everyone knows it. All you care about is yourself, and your weak efforts to try to prove otherwise are just a waste of time.”

His eyes dropped to the ground, and he cleared his throat.

A boulder of guilt trampled me, but I couldn’t take my words back. I didn’t want to. They needed to be said.

Willa, Daphne, and Jackson all just stared as I climbed inside my car. The door was almost shut when Dash grabbed it, leaning over it to glare at me. “You’re wrong. I’ve been committed to you since before we even knew what the word meant. Sex has nothing to do with this. I’d happily only fuck you for the rest of my life, because what I do best?” I blinked away a tear as he smiled a grim, dimple-less smile and went to shut the door. “That would be loving you.”





Peggy



On Wednesday, I found a note in my locker.



I’m the biggest idiot alive.



Thursday too.



I don’t deserve you, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting you forever.



On Friday, I didn’t even look at it before tossing it into a trash can on the way to class.

I’d ignored Dash, his every advance, his every heated look or silent plea, and I felt good about it. Confident that with time, I could shake him and the sorrow that lined my heart. One day, it would simply be scar tissue. One day, it wouldn’t feel like I’d pummeled it with a meat tenderizer. One day, maybe I could look at him again without yearning for something he’d destroyed.

That night, I waited until Mom had left for her date with Phil. She was staying at his place, and I was supposed to be grounded, but I was going out. I’d messaged Daphne and Willa, asking them to come to Wade’s with me, but they’d declined.

Willa was hanging out with Jackson at home while their parents were out of town, and Daphne, well, I didn’t know what she was doing. But I bet it wasn’t watching reruns of Gilmore Girls like she’d said.

I didn’t drive. As reckless as I was feeling, I wasn’t so blind that I’d do something that foolish. I was going out to forget, and that meant drinking, so there was no way I was staying at Wade’s or leaving my car there.

After donning a tight denim skirt, ripped over one thigh, I tugged on a gray sweater with the Rolling Stones printed on it, then stole a pair of Mom’s black Manolos. I looked casual but dressed up enough to seem like I didn’t care what anyone thought. Perfect.

The Uber driver dropped me off in the middle of the street, and she whistled. “Banging party, kid.”

I handed her a twenty. “Let’s hope so.”

Pulling down my skirt after I’d stepped out of the car, I glanced around the dark street teeming with teenagers. The stars were fading behind dark globs of clouds, and the moon was but a slice of silver in the sky. There were more cars and more people here than I’d seen since the first time I’d attended one of Wade’s parties, but I tried not to let that throw me off.

It didn’t matter who was here. All that mattered was that I was, and I was going to have some fun.

The drinks were easy to find, and find them I did. I nabbed a whole bottle of Johnnie Walker and drained as much as I could without making my makeup run. My hand dug into my hair as I started swinging my hips to the sultry R&B bass that was thundering through the house. Following the music into the living room, I waved at some people who offered me a smile and ignored the curious glances from others.

I started slow, drinking and bopping around as people sprawled over the couches and danced over the coffee tables and jumped up and down on the floor.

A guy with venom tainted eyes had his hand wrapped tight around the neck of a bottle of Jack, and I squinted at him, trying to place whether I’d seen him before or not.

I hadn’t. Wade must have invited the whole town, and that was why there were so many people.

I kept drinking, and his head tilted as he watched me down the burning liquid. It soon caught fire and spread through my limbs. The sigh that left me had my eyes shutting as I slouched back into the wall.

When I opened them, the guy from the couch was there, leaning against the wall next to me. “Name?”