Page 36 of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

I shake my head. My brother? ‘What’s River got to do with this?’

‘He thinks I should give you another chance.’

That doesn’t sound like River at all. ‘He hates you. Why would he want that?’

‘That’s what I thought, too,’ he says. ‘Then I got to thinking… you’re kind of a pain in his ass, always calling him with your problems. Perhaps he hates you more?’

My heart practically stops.

‘He’s drunk, and he’s lying, Hollyn,’ Dax says calmly from behind me.

‘Who’s this?’ Tristan suddenly notices Dax and walks towards him. My heart starts to race in my chest.

‘He’s not a part of this. Leave him alone.’

Tristan ignores me, his eyes locked on Dax’s. ‘A pretty boy, eh? Seems a little young for ya.’

‘You meanyouseem a littleold?’ Dax shoots back.

‘I prefer the term mature,’ Tristan responds.

‘Well, I prefer the term dick bag.’ Dax stands away from the car and takes a few steps our way. ‘I know for a fact River does too. No way did he call you and ask you to come here and take her off his hands. Whatreallybrought you here?’

‘I’m not here to talk to some Neanderthal who thinks he’s tough. I’m here to talk to Hollyn. Come on.’ He grabs me by the upper arm, his fingers digging into me, leading me towards his rental car.

‘Ouch.’ I attempt to pull away from him. ‘I don’t want to talk, Tristan. There’s nothing left to say.’ The more I pull from him, the tighter his grip gets. ‘You’re hurting me!’

The front door swings open and Dad appears on the porch with a baseball bat. He runs down the path towards Tristan, swinging as if someone has lobbed him a pitch.

‘You touch her one more time, and you’ll never walk again!’ Dad yells.

‘John!Wait!’ Dax yells, running to Dad and catching the bat mid-flight before Tristan loses his kneecaps. ‘I’ll take care of it.’

Dad and Dax exchange glances, before Dad steps away and watches the three of us.

Tristan turns his gaze to me. ‘Bodyguards, eh? You’re nothing but a pathetic little girl.’ He shoves me, knocking me to my knees in the grass.

‘Hols.’ Dax is immediately at my side, helping me up. ‘I’m gonna kill him,’ he says partly under his breath into my ear.

‘Don’t,’ I say. ‘I can get rid of him.’

Dax heaves an obviously frustrated sigh.

‘I guess you don’t want that money after all,’ Tristan continues.

‘Wait,’ I say, stepping up to him, Dax moving with me. ‘You’re admitting you stole the money?’

‘I’m notadmittinganything but it’s something we can talk about.’ He nods at his car. ‘Along with you callingoffthe investigation.’

‘What investigation?’

‘The college is investigating me for sexual harassment. I can only assume it’s because you’ve put in a complaint.’

‘Ormaybe it’s one of the girls you’ve harassed?’ I suggest. ‘Tristan,youbroke up withme.So,I left. I haven’t reported anything. I just want my money back.’

‘Then let’s go talk about it,’ he says, getting closer to me by the word.

‘She’s not going anywhere with you,’ Dax says, stepping in front of me.

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