All the Pretty Lies Read Online Free PDF Page B

“This sounds
familiar.”
    “I didn’t say I feel that way, just
that some people do.”
    “Well then ‘some people’ can kiss my puckered
ass.”
    “Look, I didn’t call to pick a fight.
Just…just keep me posted.”
    “I will,” I squeeze through my gritted
teeth.
    “And lay off the sauce.”
    “Suck it, dickweed,” I murmur before I hang
up.
    I peek out from under my arm long enough to
hit the disconnect button. I’m sure once I get sobered up, I’ll
feel like shit about this conversation, but right now, I’m just
ill.
    Reese is a good guy and I love him. We
actually get along pretty well. Normally. Our relationship has just
been a little strained since I moved to the Atlanta area. We’ve all
been under a lot of pressure and stress. Losing Ollie changed
everything.
    Already tired of my thoughts, I sit up
quickly. Too quickly. My head spins and throbs. I press my palms to
my temples and squeeze, wishing I could make it stop.
    “Damn you, Sloane,” I mutter into the
emptiness of my bedroom.
    I blame her. One hundred percent. What the
hell was she thinking, coming into the shop, looking all sweet and
innocent?
    But I know it’s not that. The sweet and
innocent I can handle. That’s never appealed to me. It’s the sweet
and innocent combined with this innate sexiness that she has
that’s tempting me. Tempting me bad. There’s a little gleam in her
eye that says she wants me to show her naughty rather than nice.
And oh, how I could show her naughty. I could show her naughty like
she’s never even dreamed before.
    But a girl like her deserves nice, too. And
naughty’s all I’ve got. It’s all I’m interested in. Especially now.
Which means I need to stay away from her. I need to deny myself the
pleasure of her. And I’m not used to denying myself anything that I want. Including women.
    Sloane might have to be the first.
    And I like it even less than I thought I
would.
    Ignoring the still-drunk swim behind my eyes,
I get up and head for the shower. For the cold shower.

CHAPTER SEVEN- Sloane
     
    The only good thing I can think of when I
open my eyes is that it’s Thursday. Which means tomorrow is Friday.
Which means no classes. Which means I can sleep in.
    I roll over and look at the clock. Three
minutes until my alarm goes off. This is the fourth morning I’ve
awakened before it sounds its annoying buzz. And it’s the
four teenth morning I’ve awakened thinking of Hemi.
    I haven’t seen him or talked to him since
three Saturdays ago. When he told me to leave. I did. Even though I
didn’t want to. I wanted to stay, to explore what I saw in his
eyes, felt in his touch. Explore all the things he hinted at but
didn’t say.
    But I didn’t. I left. And now I get to wake
up every morning with the regret of my decision.
    Throwing back the covers, I head for the
shower.
    Less than an hour later, I’m climbing into
the passenger side seat of Sarah’s truck.
    “Good gawd, couldn’t you find anything with
bigger tires?” I gripe as I struggle to pull myself through the
door.
    “I’m a country girl. It’s what we country
girls do.”
    “I’m a country girl, too, and I don’t have a
big-ass truck.”
    “That’s because your dad doesn’t think a lady
ought to drive a truck.”
    She shifts into gear and zooms away from the
curb. She’s got me there. That’s precisely what my dad thinks.
    “Like he knows. I think he just googled ‘how
to be a lady’ when Mom died and took bits and pieces from every
article he could find and foisted it all on me.”
    Sarah turns her curly blonde head and narrows
her black-lined, powder-blue eyes on me. “You’re probably right,
but he still did a good job with you. You’re a lady, that’s for
sure.”
    “Maybe I’m tired of being a lady.”
    She grins. “Now that’s what I’m talkin’
about!”
    I laugh. “I think you’re enjoying my
rebellion more than I am.”
    “Oh, I’m enjoying it all right.
Finally… finally we get to live a