Page 115 of The Hookup
Dammit.
He’d blamed Kay for it. She had tried to tell him, but he hadn’t believed her, and she’d taken the brunt of his anger. “Funny how you didn’t mention it at the time.”
“I was too worried hoping you wouldn’t go off on Maggie.”
“I wish you hadn’t agreed to bring her.”
“Whatever’s happened, it’s in the past, Luke. We have to get on, otherwise what’s the point? Besides, I like your new girlfriend.”
He was about to say something, but decided it would be better not to.
“She’s nice,” Amanda continued. “Even Maggie said she was nice.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck what Maggie said.”
Amanda, like his family, knew about him and Maggie, but time erased all wounds, and they had obviously forgotten the pain and the scandal.
“Daddy says if you need any money—”
“No.”
“For the best treatment—”
“I can afford the best treatment. I don’t need his dirty handouts.” It was laughable, his father trying to buy his affection back now. It was too late for any bridges to be built between them.
“It’s not a dirty—” she started to protest.
“Don’t…” Amanda hadn’t seen their mother on the blood-red bed. Neither she nor Travis had experienced what he had, and neither had they ever suffered the way he had.
While they probably hadn’t been able to forgive, they had most likely forgotten.
It was going to take him time.
“Okay, fine,” Amanda said. “I get it, Luke. I just wanted you to know that you’re not alone.”
Whatever.He was in no mood to get into a discussion with her about that now.
“Maggie feels sorry for you.”
“She shouldn’t. I have a great girlfriend, and I’m moving on.” Except that he didn’t, and he wasn’t. “Next time you decide to bring Maggie over, warn me at least.”
“I didn’t bring her. I know the score, Luke. I’m not stupid. She insisted.”
“She’s wasting her fucking time.”
“All she wants is to get on with you, and move past this.”
“She should have thought of that before she decided to jump into Travis’s bed.”
“She said it just happened. She said you were a real asshole.”
His lips curled up into a snarl. “The two of you bonded on the way here, did you?”
“Maggie and I get on,” Amanda insisted. “I hope me and Kay will too, one day.”
He didn’t say anything.
“Maggie said you used to be nasty to her, that you weren’t a great boyfriend. She said you used to mess with her head.”
