Toxic Secrets Read Online Free PDF Page A

me. He stopped inches from bumping up against me, his voice dropping to a low and sexy tone. “I can’t promise you Phillip with a halo,” he smirked, making a circular motion above his head. His eyes never leaving mine.
     My insides were unstable. He was seducing me, controlling me, and giving me what I wanted all at the same time.
    There wasn’t anyone at school I was interested in, and the one date I was going on was with someone that didn’t even live here. This was turning out to be easier than I thought.
    “Deal. I’ll keep my end of the bargain as long as you keep yours,” I said without letting his close proximity affect me. I reached out and laid my hand on Phillip’s arm. “It makes me happy to be able to talk to you as a friend and not an enemy. Let’s not screw this up,” I suggested.
    “I won’t if you won’t.”
    Rolling my eyes without him seeing me. I knew somewhere, somehow, this niceness wouldn’t last.
    “Well, we better hurry. The bell has already rung, and the tardy bell will be next,” I chimed.
    I took off jogging back to my car to get my book bag and to let Kendra know I survived… and that she was right.

Chapter 4 ~ Dressed to Impress
    Friday had finally arrived, and I was truthfully looking forward to having a good time tonight on our blind/double date with Kendra, Reed, and Jaxon. The rest of the school week ended “without a hitch” as they say in the South, and I was hoping my night ended with the same results.
    Phillip was behaving himself better than I had ever imagined, and, as much as I wanted to believe things had changed, I couldn’t. It would only be a matter of time before the right incident ignited his fuse and he blew up. When I thought things were too good to be true, they usually were.
    I knew I shouldn’t have such a negative outlook, but I knew him all too well and he wasn’t one to change overnight—he was the master of disguise.
    Phillip had a basketball game that evening at another county school, so I knew he wouldn’t be making an appearance at the party. Actually a lot of the students from my school wouldn’t be attending tonight since the party was being thrown by a classmate from my old school, which also happened to be our biggest rival.
    With our make-up already applied, Kendra added the final touches to my natural curly hair while I sat in front of the vanity in her enormous bathroom. She had flat-ironed my hair before curling it, giving me big ringlets falling loosely in the back. She kept my back to the mirror, not letting me look until she was finished. Kendra kept her golden hair straight, only running the flat-iron over it to give it a smoother look, then added a French braid to the side with it ending right behind her ear.
    The black skinny jeans Kendra picked out for me snugged my ghetto booty just right, and the silver sequined tank with silver peep toe platform pumps matched perfectly. Kendra paired up a royal blue sequined party dress that displayed a lot of cleavage with gold platform pumps.
    Passing me the hand mirror, Kendra displayed a self-appreciated smirk, obviously admiring her handiwork. “Okay, you can look now.”
    Examining the back of my hair, I then turned around to look in the full length mirror. It was perfect. She had gathered most of my hair on the sides, pulling it together in the back and leaving a few tendrils hanging by my face.
    “I tried to pull most of it off your neck so you won’t get too hot while dancing.”
    “Well I must say you did a fabulous job as always. Thanks, doll,” I said, blowing her a kiss.
    “And I give many thanks to the marvelous make-up artist,” she said in her best British accent.
    We both stood in front of the floor length mirror primping before grabbing our iPhones to take a few selfies.
    Still using her British accent, Kendra added, “We should just call ourselves Mary Poppins because we’re practically perfect in every way… or at least pretty damn close.”
    We were both