Page 188 of Psycho

They never showed up at school.

And neither did Jordy, Josh’s twin sister.

30

LAINEY

I lookedat myself in the mirror as I pulled on the pretty little white and red sundress over my head.

It was one of the many outfits Micah had bought me, and unsurprisingly, it was the perfect fit.

I had minimal makeup on, and my long hair was brushed neatly down my back, curling a bit at the ends.

I almost didn’t recognize myself.

The tired girl from the trailer was nowhere to be seen. Instead, I found a girl with excitement in her eyes as she finished getting ready for a date.

I hadn’t even put in this much effort when I went on my first date with Garrett—also my first date ever—but I liked it.

I liked the way I looked.

The dress came down to the tops of my knees, and more importantly, it hid the white bandage Micah had wrapped me in earlier when we got home from school.

The wound was scabbing over now, but I doubted it would be fully healed until after a month, at least. But thanks to Micah’s care, it was healing nicely.

It was ironic.

I thought he loved seeing the marks on my skin; but at the same time, he was so careful about taking care of the wounds, I wondered if he regretted his actions even a little.

Micah came into my line of sight then. He was shirtless, wearing nothing but fitted dark jeans and dark socks.

He wrapped his arms around me from behind and pulled me in close to his body.

I took in our reflection in the mirror.

My head didn’t even reach up to his chin, and he was at least twice as wide as I was. I pressed in closer to him, taking in his heat.

He was just so different from me.

Hard where I was soft, big and muscular where I was anything but.

He rested his hand on top of my stomach and pushed his erection against the small of my back.

My mouth opened, but nothing came out.

“You look beautiful,” he said to me.

I smiled slightly, meeting his eyes in the mirror. “So do you.”

He made a small sound in the back of his throat that almost sounded like amusement.

“You ready?”

“Yes,” I answered. “But you’re not.”

“You want me to put on a shirt? I was thinking about showing off my new marks.”

I rolled my eyes. “You do that, and I’ll do it, too.”

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