Playing With Fire (Guarded Hearts) Read Online Free PDF

the next two weeks, Carter and I finished our project and hung out together. It had been the best two weeks of my life. I just wished I didn't need to hide it.
    I saw Chris at least once a day, and there were a couple times I almost got caught with Carter. The way that I saw it was that Chris would find a reason to hit me no matter what I did, so I might as well enjoy the time I had.
    Yesterday, he freaked out because he saw me going into an office with a guy. He never even bothered to see who it was or why I was with him. I had a conference with my professor for the research paper I was working on. Now, I was sporting a huge bruise on my side.
    I wished I was strong enough to leave him, but he'd been making threats more often recently. He even told me last week that he'd been going to the shooting range so much that his dad bought him a gun.
    They should do some sort of mental health evaluation before people could have a gun. If they did, he would have never been granted one.
    I'd been getting closer with Nicole. She hadn't brought up the things that Chris did since that day, although she'd been talking about Carter more and more.
    It felt nice to have a friend. I'd never had one before, at least not that I could remember. Tomorrow was the start of Thanksgiving break and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to miss Carter and Nicole.
    Chris was going home for Thanksgiving, but he said dinner was family only and I wasn't family. I just finished my last class for the day and was walking back to my dorm when I saw Carter waiting outside the door.
    Nicole was just walking in and he went in with her. Were they hooking up? Why did I feel like I couldn't catch my breath right now? Was that why he'd been so nice to me? I couldn't handle this. This was why I never let myself care. I wanted to leave but, truthfully, I didn't have anywhere to go right now.
    I walked into my room, dreading whatever I was about to walk into. When I opened the door, I saw Carter sitting on my bed, but he was alone. He looked up when he heard me come in. "Hey."
    Was he here for me? "Hey, what are you doing here?"
    "I…uh…I asked Nicole to sign me in because I wanted to talk to you. I hope that's okay."
    "I guess so. What's up?" I couldn't help but smile. He came here for me. I hated that I always immediately thought the worst of people. I wished I was the kind of person who could give their trust to someone. I wasn't, at least not now, but I had a feeling that Carter could change all of that.
    "I just wanted to say goodbye to you before I left for break tomorrow. I keep finding myself wanting to text you or call you, but I don't have any way to do that. Why are you so anti-cell phone?"
    He thought that it was a choice? I hated that I needed to explain this to him. I didn't want him to feel sorry for me. "I'm not anti-cell phone, Carter. I don't have a job, and my scholarships and loans covered my tuition and housing with just a little bit left over for necessities." I could see that he felt sorry for me, but that wasn't what I wanted. I got to go to college, which was all I'd spent last year dreaming about.
    "I don't want you to feel bad for me. I have what I need." I was not going to cry. I should be thankful that I got enough help to go to school, not feeling sorry that I didn't get to have any luxuries.
    "I understand being tight on money. After my mom died, we had it pretty rough. My family still isn't very well off. I really just wanted to stop by and see you before I left. I hope you have a good break, Maddy." He gave me a hug, and it took every ounce of strength I had to hold back the tears. "So, where are you going?"
    Shit. I didn't want to tell him this but, for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to lie to him. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here on campus." I didn't want to look up at him and see the pity on his face.
    "Why?"
    "Why what, Carter?"
    He lifted my face to his. "Why are you staying here alone?"
    "You really wanna know,