Trick Read Online Free PDF

reject the light pouring through the massive windows of the old farmhouse.
    “Morning,” I say, my voice still thick with sleep. “I don’t even remember coming to bed.”
    Gunner pulls a pair of pants out of a drawer and slides them on before I get a chance to admire that fine ass. “You didn’t. You fell asleep on the couch. I carried you up here.”
    I glance over to the unruffled side of the bed. “You didn’t sleep in here with me?”
    Gunner jerks his head to the chair in the corner of the room. “I crashed over there.”
    “That’s just stupid.” I roll my eyes at him. “There’s this perfectly big bed, why’d you sleep there?” But I know the answer. He’s keeping his distance. I know he’d never be able to let me leave this morning if he’d held me all night.
    “I was fine.”
    “Well, why didn’t you just wake me when you got up?” His hair is still dripping from the shower he must have already taken.
    “Harlow, do you have any idea how goddamn beautiful you are when you’re sl—” he starts. “Never mind. Come on, I’ll take you home. Or wherever you’re staying.”
    Wherever I’m staying, huh? Funny how the one guy who promised I was his North Star doesn’t sound the least bit interested in knowing where I lay my head most nights.
    Or maybe this is just me kidding myself all over again. I guess I like to playact that it was all honey and sunshine, but maybe this is the way it always was.
    “Harlow. Harlow, sweetie, wake up.” His voice came through the screen of my window and tickled me into a smiley, dopey state of waking.
    “Hello there, stranger,” I whispered through a sleepy grin. I crept out of bed and took off the screen, grabbing Gunner’s arms through the open window. The day had been long and hot as hell, but the night was chilly enough that I was happy for Gunner’s arms around me. He kissed me long and hard, right on the floor next to my bed. My body squirmed and ached for him, to the point where I almost hated to ask him about why he hadn’t come to help me choose my school the way I’d asked. “Where the hell have you been for the last few days? I told you I got my acceptance letters. I thought you’d be around to help with my pros and cons list.” I pointed to the little notepad still by my bedside table.
    Why was I keeping that list? I’d already decided. He’d already ignored his cell when I tried to get his help. I had made the best decision I could, even though I wanted to do it with the person I loved most.
    How was it we could spend our days swimming, talking, running dares, and making jokes, and our nights sneaking around so we could hold each other tight and make love till the sun came up, but when it had come to the really big thing I needed him for, Gunner hadn’t been there?
    His hands were moving fast over my body, tugging at my breasts and teasing under my waistband, but they stilled and his voice came out a tight snap. “I told you I don’t know shit about college. That’s a choice that’s got less than nothing to do with me, kitten, only that’s not what you wanted to hear.”
    I pulled his face back up to mine to kiss him again, but his lips were tight and hard. “Gunner? Why are you getting all worked up like this? You bailed when I needed help buying stuff for my dorm. You bailed for the campus walk. Why do you not see how important these things are to me?”
    I’d been trying to hide how much his not being around for those things hurt my feelings, especially because I’d had to shoo Daisy and Daddy away because I was expecting Gunner. The last thing I wanted was for our worlds to collide. In the end I’d wound up completely alone.
    He pulled away and sat up in bed, arms crossed over his chest. “I stayed the hell away because those things are even more important to me than they are to you, and there’s no way I was going to fuck them up. And I told you twenty times to go with Daisy or take your father.”
    “I didn’t want