Vanished: A Bad Boy Second Chance Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

convinced myself that I prefer it.
                  I’d picked through his drawer and found the box. He hadn’t gone out of his way to hide it, but I guess he just never thought I’d never go looking for it. Seeing it had sent me into a tailspin for the last few days. Our relationship was going fine, but that’s all it was: fine. That little box with a ring in it had made me realize the reality of our situation, and I started to really think about just how much I cared for him.
                  It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been dating for about a year now, but I’m having reservations.
                  “I know,” I say begrudgingly. “He’s just not…”
                  My voice trails off, and I twist my lips and look up at her.
                  “Not Joey?” she asks, already knowing the answer. I can’t even respond. I feel stupid for carrying a torch all this time for a guy who doesn’t even want me. I mean, how could he? He left without so much as a word, a text, a note, a phone call, never to be seen again. Six years. Six long years I waited after he left me. Broken and alone. Unable to really ever love someone, stuck in this middle ground between a romance that had never had time to flourish, and the rest of my life.
                  The first few weeks hadn’t even seemed real. Everyone assured his mother that he’d just taken off like most high school kids do and that he’d be back. Then a few weeks turned into a few months, and after half a year went by, people started to lose hope. The police officially declared him a missing person. Signs went up, ads in the newspaper, but nothing ever came of it. He was just…gone.
                  Ian is great. I mean, he really is. He’s handsome, sweet, and caring, and has a great job as a consultant at a technology firm that opened in Portsmouth. I didn’t know why I was attracted to him in the beginning, but as time went on and I got to know him more, I realized why. He’s the opposite of Joey. He’s humble, not arrogant. He’s calm, predictable, stable, no surprises. I needed that after Joey. He was the only thing that could keep me from thinking of him. Not that it really worked, but it made things bearable.
                  Ian is a catch. That’s what all the girls are always telling me. I’m always happy around him, and we haven’t had a single fight throughout our entire relationship. All my friends think he’s great, my mom loves him, but it feels like Brad all over again. I’m dating him for all the wrong reasons. He’s perfect on paper, but he’s not perfect for me. He loves me, and I know he’d do anything for me. The only problem is, I don’t know if I’d do anything for him.
                  And it’s because I’m in love with someone else, and I have been for the last six years. Ian is very happy with our relationship, and I know that, but if I say yes to him, while part of my heart is owned by someone else, I will feel terrible. You can’t love one man and marry another. It’s just wrong.
                  And a tiny part of me still hopes that Joey will come back. It’s stupid, I know. He might have moved across the country, or ended up in jail, or worse. I mean he could be dead, for all I know. I’d searched his name on social media every Tuesday for the last six years, hoping to find him somewhere, but I never did. Three weeks ago, I forced myself to give up.
                  After two years, his mom withdrew from the world. No one ever saw her around town anymore. She went from full time at her receptionist job at the physical therapy center in town, to part time, then finally left. She’d gone on welfare and let their house fall even further into disarray. She refused to move, though.
                  “What if Joey comes home? How will he know where to find me?” she told