Page 37 of When Wrecked Meets Ruined
“Do you miss her?”
“My mom?”
“Yeah.”
“I probably shouldn’t, but yeah, sometimes I do. She tried her best to be better for me, and I know she loved me. She was messed up, but she was the only mom I had, you know? It was my job to protect her….”
His voice drifted off, and I filled in the blanks.But I failed.
He didn’t, though. It was his mom’s job to protect him, not the other way around. But kids like Ridge and me shouldered the responsibility that was supposed to be theirs.
I brushed away my tears. Why was I crying for Ridge? Maybe it was because he’d sounded like a little boy, not like the player, or the drunk, or the class clown who always had a smart-ass comment. He’d seen so much in his short life. It amazed me that he was still able to joke about anything.
“It’s a fucked-up world, Cherry.”
Despite the lump in my throat, my tone was playful. “You’re doing all right for yourself, Dallas. You’ve still got game.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I do.” He was quiet for a beat. “There’s something I wanted to ask you.”
There were a million things he could ask me, and they all made me nervous.
“Why did you quit dancing?”
Not the question I’d expected. I shouldn’t have told him so much in those letters.
“If it’s something that made you happy… if you loved it, why did you quit?” he pressed.
Why would he even care?
“I outgrew it, and the classes were boring. Same old, same old every week.”Lies. I loved those classes. They used to be the best part of my week. But Ainsley ruined it for me. Who was her mom going to believe? Her perfect daughter or the white trash charity case? I didn’t even know she was giving me the lessons for free, but I should have figured it out sooner.
Ridge was quiet. So quiet that I checked my screen to make sure he was still there.
“Do you ever tell the truth about anything, Evie?”
I was a liar. Ridge wasn’t, and he’d just called me out on it. For all his crap, I don’t think I’d ever met anyone as honest as Ridge. Even when he got caught cheating in English class, he didn’t try to deny it.
“If you think you know so much, tell me why I quit dancing.”
“Nah. That’s not how it works.”
“Why didn’t you mention in your letters that you’re a football player?”
“You think that’s all I am?”
“I don’t really know you, Ridge.” Although I did know him. I probably knew him better than he knew me.
“Exactly my point. And yet you judge me—” His voice cut out, and I heard, “The fuck, man?”
“I came to get your sorry ass back to the party. What the fuck are you doing out here, anyway?”
“Get the fuck away from me,” Ridge said with a laugh. “I’m trying to have a conversation here, and you’re dry humping me….”
I didn’t hear what else he said because I cut the call when Wade’s booted feet stopped in front of me.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Evie
