Page 118 of Dove
“Who?”
I nearly rolled my eyes at his feigned ignorance. He knew full well who Torrence was. “Torrence Weller.” When he continued to stare, I supplied, “Former high school football star?” He justblinked at me, face blank. I sighed. “The guy from the barn, Josh.”
“Oh.” He glowered. “Thatfucker.”
“Yeah,him.”
My insides twisted, and my thoughts spiraled down the anxious rabbit hole of imaging Torrence finding out, then the wholetownfinding out, then having to find a new place to live because the gossip alone would drive us out?—
“He’s going to know what we were doing,” I blurted without thinking. I shouldn’t have said anything. I hadn’tmeantto say anything, but inside I waspanicking.
He instantly dismissed my worry. “No, he won’t. How would he?”
When I didn’t reply, Josh curled his hands over the open window and fixed his attention on me, ignoring the truck barreling towards us. A question lingered in the depths of his eyes—one I didn’t want to answer.
“How would he know, Dove?”
I forced out a laugh, despite nothing about this being funny. “Look at us, Josh.”
“It’s pretty damn hot today. We could have been stuck out here a while, getting heat stroke.” His eyes narrowed. “But you seem adamant for a whole other reason, don’t you?”
“No.” My voice cracked, and I cleared my throat. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Josh exhaled, like an angry bull. “Has he touched you?”
I shifted anxiously in my seat. “You know he has?—”
“Before that night.”
Shit.
Torrence’s truck was so close I could hear his country music blaring from it. Could hear the muffler hitting his truck as it bobbed, still in need of tightening.
I knew that because once upon a time I’d spent a decent amount of time with Torrence, in need of someone,anyone, to numb the gaping hole that had been left in my chest from Josh’s absence.
Repeating that to myself didn’t make me feel any less guilty.
“Yes,” I whispered, hating every part of me that had once shared that part of myself with Torrence. Noteverything,but enough.
The look on Josh’s face before he pushed away from the door made me flinch. There was no reason for him to get jealous of something I did before we got together, although his possessiveness caused my stomach to twist pleasantly, even if his anger soured it.
“I have an idea,” he growled as he rounded the front of the truck.
“Wait, Josh,” I called, leaning out of the window. “What are you doing?”
Josh’s hands disappeared out of sight as they searched for the latch located in the grill to pop the hood. “When he gets closer, act like you’re on the phone with Reverie.”
Baffled, I asked, “Why?”
“It’ll look like we just broke down. So we don’t looksuspicious.”The emphasized last word cut through me as he lifted the hood of the Chevy, disappearing behind it altogether, effectively ending our discussion.
The blast of Torrence’s music growing louder prompted me into following Josh’s orders. Feeling ridiculous, I held my phone up to my ear and feigned a conversation, cringing internally at how stilted I sounded. An actress I certainly was not. Honestly, it always surprised me Josh never figured out my crush on him all these years with how bad I was at faking things.
Although, I’d gotten pretty good at faking orgasms when I’d been with Torrence.
Brakes squeaked as the man in question slowed to a stop beside us, his music lowering to a tolerable level.
“You’re a lifesaver, Rev,” I raised my voice just a tad to be heard over the idling engine, sounding overly relieved. “We really appreciate it. See you soon!”
