Page 67 of A Little Bit Reckless
“Who touched you, Squeak?” he asked, analyzing my body again. He followed the tremble in my chest, the race in my heart. His eyes flicked up. “Who did you let between your legs?”
What. The. Fuck.
That was my instinctual thought, even though I went out of my way not to curse if I could help it. I even tried not to in my thoughts. “Why would you ask me that?”
He had no right to. That wasn’t his business.
My answer displeased him, clearly, and I blinked when that foot between us turned into inches. A heat rolled off him I physically felt, and it manifested as a deep red across his sharp jaw. He gripped the pool’s ledge. “You’re Thatcher’s little sister. Because of that, it’s my fucking business to know who touched you.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and the wild anger that surfaced…
My life,my bodywas not any of his business, and the fact that he brought Thatcher up? It was like he socked me in the freaking chest. My jaw clenched. “It’s not my brother’s business, so it’s definitely not yours.”
He blinked like I hit him.
I didn’t care.
I was sotiredof Wells throwing his weight around when it came to me. I felt bad for what happened all those years ago. In fact, it ate me up so badly inside I doubt he ever had to punish me for all these years with public alienation. I punished myself enough for the both of us.
“He doesn’t care about you.”
I let the wrong person in because of him. I made mistakes, and, at the time, I believed I’d been empowered. I finally did something for me, what I wanted.
I hadn’t wanted it.
I hadn’tat all, and that was what all Wells’s hate did to me. I shook my head. “It’s not your business. It never was and you can stop punishing me now, Wells,” I said, blinking down tears. “I’m already broken because of what happened. Youbroke me,so if that’s what you wanted, you’ve already?—”
His hands were on my shoulders.
He was shaking.
I felt the tremor in his hands, and it felt like he was using me just to stay upright. “Wells…”
He flinched when I put my hand on him, but I didn’t stop until I made it to his shoulder. I squeezed, and he winced.
“Don’t, Squeak,” he gritted through his teeth, but he forgot that he touched me first. He wasstilltouching me, and when I placed my hand on his flushed jaw, his face screwed up. “Please.”
The plea sounded desperate, but I couldn’t tell whether it was for me to stop or keep going. He was still shaking, and he shook even more when I pushed my fingers into his wet hair. A sigh left his lips and goose bumps lined my skin.
“Please stop.Please,” he ground out, and it was just like what happened at Legacy House. He was saying to stop but his body language,his bodywas saying something else. His eyes were closed as I got closer, but he gripped my wrist before I could putmy other hand in his hair. He shook his head. “I don’t want to break you.”
The words froze me in place. My fingers curled. “What?”
He didn’t say anything at first. He just cringed, and the next thing I knew, he had my face in his hands. I gasped, and I gasped again when he stared right at me. His expression was so serious, so pained it was like I felt it myself. “Wells?”
Again, he said nothing. He just shook his head again. He kept shaking his head. “I don’t want to break you, Squeak. Punish you? I don’t even hate you.”
My heart beat rapidly inside my chest.
“I’m sure you think I do but I…” His nostrils flared, and when he winced again, my heart only kicked up its beats. He looked me straight in the eyes again, and I’d never seen such anguish in his. His jaw clenched tight. “Squeak, I hate my-fucking-self.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
Wells
Every day I saw that tragic fucking summer. Every day, I saw the girl I let drown. Her name was Megan. I didn’t know Megan. In fact, that day at the pool was the first day I’d seen her. She flirted with me, and I flirted back. I always flirted. I was shameless about it, even if it didn’t mean anything. If a girl or guy didn’t mean anything. That day, it had been Megan.
