Page 162 - My FlipBook

L IS A J. L A W R E N C E

“Did you say yes?”
“I’m pretty sure I didn’t say anything at all. I had a hard
time talking.” She remembered struggling to form words,
Priya bent beside her. Then nothing after.
“Then I don’t care about your bloody legs,” he snapped.
Greta flinched at the phrase. “An absence of no isn’t a yes,
Greta.”
She paused for a moment. “There’s something…else…

you should know.” It wouldn’t help him to hear it, but she
needed to shake off the weight of the lies. Why had she felt
responsible for carrying them? “That night you came to pick
me up from the cabin, something else happened.”
Ash waited, grim. “Okay?”
“Dylan wanted to…you know…again.” Just say the words.
“I—I couldn’t. I said no.” ADVANCE READING COPY

Ash nodded, his expression controlled.
“He got really mad, thought I was accusing him of being a
predator. He told Rachel and Matt to leave without me.” She
swallowed. It sounded even worse out loud. “And they did.
They drove away and left me there.”
Ash looked away, muscles twitching up his neck to his
ears. “‘Brave knight’ and ‘protector,’ my ass.” He ground a fist
against the tears on his cheeks.
“It’s not your fault, Ash.”

“Look, you should probably talk to a counselor or someone
about this. It might have to be someone other than me”—he
choked out the words—“because right now I could kill that
guy with my bare hands.”

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