Without You (Love Wanted in Texas #1)(82)



I closed my eyes. Dear God, no.

“I saw Zack in her bed. I took one look at him, and I just turned and left.”

I needed to calm myself down before I attempted to calm Luke down. I knew my sister was a grown woman, but all I wanted to do was beat the shit out of Zack.

“Ah shit. Damn, Luke. You had to know she was going to move on. I mean, they’ve been dating for a few months, and I’m sure that wasn’t the first time—”

“Stop! I don’t even want to think about any of this.” He started to head up the stairs.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

I closed my eyes and pulled out my phone. I quickly sent Libby a text message.

Me: Libby, you’re a grown woman, so I won’t tell you what you can and can’t do, but I sure hope you know what you’re doing…with Zack, I mean.

Libby: I need to get out of here. Please come get me.

My heart started pounding. What if that f*cker forced her to have sex with him?

Me: Libby…did Zack hurt you? I’ll f*cking kill him.

Libby: No.

Me: What’s wrong then?

Libby: I just made the biggest mistake of my life, Will. I slept with Zack. I thought it would help me forget Luke. I need you, Will.

Me: I’m on my way.

Luke came down the stairs with a duffel bag.

I grabbed his arm to stop him. “Don’t go to Abigail.”

He looked at me, shocked. He slowly shook his head. “I haven’t seen Abigail in weeks. I took my last final today. I’m going home.”

He pulled his arm from mine and headed out the door. I let out a deep breath and hit Lex’s number.

“Hey, handsome. I’m about to take my last final, and then I’ll be packing up the rest of my stuff and saying good-bye to UT!”

I smiled, and if I wasn’t so worried about Libby and Luke, I would be turned-on. Just the sound of her voice had my body craving her.

“Awesome. Baby, I’ve got a problem.”

“What? Are you okay? Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s Libby and Luke.”

She sighed. “Grace just showed me a text from Luke. He said he is on his way home and that he ruined everything with Libby. Is he okay?”

“No, he stopped by Libby’s dorm room to talk to her. About Libby and Zack. The only problem is, he walked in on Libby and Zack together. I texted Libby, and she is really upset and asked me to come get her.”

“Oh God. She slept with Zack? He didn’t force her, did he?”

“No. I asked her, and she said she just made the biggest mistake of her life. Lex, can you call her? I’m on my way, but talking to you and Grace might help.”

“Of course. Yes. Grace will call her right now, and we’ll talk to her.”

“Thank you, baby. I’ll call you in a little bit.”

“Will?”

I grabbed my truck keys and started heading out of the house. “Yeah?”

“I love you so much.”

My stomach did that funny little flip thing, and my heart felt like it skipped a beat. I realized how damn lucky Lex and I were.

“I love you, too, Lex, more than you will ever know.”



I knocked on Libby’s dorm room door and slowly started opening it. I walked into the room and saw my sister sitting on her bed. She had her legs pulled up to her chest as she rocked back and forth. The moment her eyes met mine, my heart broke, and I wanted to kick someone’s ass.

“Libby…Jesus, honey, what’s wrong?” I quickly walked over and sat on the bed.

She threw herself into my arms. “I should have moved into the house with y’all. What did I do? Oh God. Oh God.”

Her body was shaking, and she was crying so hard that I could hardly understand her. I pulled back to look at her and used my finger to make her look at me.

“Libby, you’re scaring the hell out of me right now. Honey, please tell me what happened. Please, Libby.”

She shook her head. “His face. I’ll never forget the look on his face.”

“Whose face? Did Zack do something to you?”

She shook her head. “No, I thought I was ready. I thought it would help me move on and forget…forget…”

I was so confused. “Libby, I need you to calm down. You’re not making any sense, and honestly, I’m ready to go find Zack and pound the shit out of him.”

She smiled slightly, and she started to take in a few deep breaths before letting them out. I waited patiently as she calmed herself down enough to talk.

“I thought I was ready to…to…” Her voice cracked. She closed her eyes and slowly opened them. “I thought I was ready to sleep with Zack. I mean, I like him. I really do. Well, we…”

I grabbed her hand and held it in mine. It was harder than hell to sit here and listen to my sister talk about having sex with someone.

“We had sex. It wasn’t great or life-changing, and it was not at all like how Lex talks about her first time with you.”

She smiled slightly as I grinned back at her. My heart was already breaking for her.

“I thought I wanted it, Will. I thought this might be the final thing that would connect Zack and me…and make me forget about—” A sob escaped her mouth. “Make me forget about Luke.” She began crying but quickly regained her composure.

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