Live for You Read Online Free PDF

head.
Again.
    Her gaze skitters over me
and I belatedly remember to wince. Her mouth flattens like she
knows I’m lying. “Of course,” she says, turning the burners off on
the stove. “Give me a minute to pack up some things I’ve been
meaning to bring to them.” She walks out of the room again, leaving
me alone.
    I sigh, sagging against the
kitchen cabinets, my heart still pounding hard in my chest. No more
seeing Cole Morgan, not after this last visit. Disappointment
threads through the giddiness I’d felt, tightening around it until
nothing’s left.
    At least this way, I’d be
able to keep my promise to him and not seem like a total
bitch.
    *** *** ***
    Cole
    I blink at the sight of
Miss Violet standing on my front porch, holding a large bag in one
hand and a vacuum parked beside her. Good thing I put on a shirt.
“Where’s—”
    Mrs. Givens frowns a
little, then nods back at her truck. “She has a cramp in her leg
from running.”
    Squinting in the
semi-darkness, I just can make out Rae’s profile. She won’t look
this way. Hell, the window isn’t even down. Disappointment coats my
insides like lead, heavy and oppressing. I shouldn’t care, but I
do. Guess my amazing display of temper scared her more than she’d
let on.
    A throat clears and I shift
my attention to Miss Violet. “Let me take your bag.” She smiles and
hands it over.
    “ Lots of goodies in there
for y’all. Keep the vacuum as long as you like. It’s my spare one.”
Another kind smile and she says, “Tell your mother I said
hello.”
    Disappointment gives way to
embarrassment. Heat creeps up my neck and burns my ears. I’m
thankful for the shadows on the front porch that hide me. “I’ll
tell her. She’s visiting her…sister out in—” My mind blanks. Jesus
Christ. It’s bad enough people in this town know about my mother’s
habits, but it’s a whole other thing to actually admit
it.
    “ South Carolina,” she
supplies. “Florence is such a lovely town this time of
year.”
    Instead of making me feel
better, my embarrassment spreads, burning a hole in my chest. I
know tonight’s going to end with my fist in some random dude’s
face. But I need it. It’s the only way I can purge this fucking
guilt and loathing that tries to strangle me at every
opportunity.
    “ Have a good night, Cole.”
Miss Violet walks down the stairs.
    Nodding, I glance at the
truck one more time. “You, too.” Rae jerks her head back, like I
caught her staring at me. Want courses through me, turning dark
with what already lives inside. My phone vibrates and I snag my it
from my pocket.
    Madison: I’m lonely. U?
    Isn’t this perfect timing?
A smirk kicks up the corners of my mouth. Fighting isn’t the only
way I can forget. And since Parker’s agreed to wait for the
babysitter, I have time to kill.
    Me: Be there in ten.
    I barely hear the crunch of
the truck tires as they roll over gravel and grass. Stuffing
everything in the hallway, I throw on a coat and trade the
flip-flops for some socks and a pair of boots, then head to
Madison’s apartment.
    ***
    Tonight the bar is alive
while I feel deader than ever.
    Back in the day, The
Double Deuce was the place for up and coming country music acts. When my Uncle Max
ran it, he had to turn acts away because so many were clamoring to
get booked. Photographs lined the wall, with him, my mom and
musicians that go by one name only now. One of those even has my
sperm donor in it.
    Or at least that’s what my
mom claims. She claims that Parker is his, too, but my brother is
bi-racial and I’m pretty sure that my sperm donor is the whitest dude
on the planet. So…None of us have any idea who Kelly’s is,
including my mom. Too bad The Jerry
Springer Show is nothing but re-runs now
days.
    Since my sperm donor
doesn’t have shit to do with us, because he has a real family,
complete with a son that’s followed in his footsteps, those
photographs were the first to go. The rest Parker moved and