Page 210 of Tell Me Lies

“Oh, all right.”

Skye smiled. “I’ll get back to work.”

Skye stayed as busy as she could for the next two weeks because every time she was idle, Jared would fill her thoughts.

Just the idea of going to see him made her body heat up, and her cunt spasmed and grew wet for him. It had never done that with another man, and she knew it would be like that forever.

It was a Friday night when she got the guts to go see him. She packed a box with treats and checked her makeup and hair again before leaving the bakery parking lot.

Her palms grew sweaty, and her stomach tightened with nerves. She’d put this off for a few weeks, but no more. Every day was worse, and she felt that somehow the space between them grew wider. She didn’t understand it, but she usually went with her gut. It hadn’t let her down yet.

She slowed and turned into the driveway. The outside had been cleaned up. The house still needed to be painted, but it already looked like a new place.

Skye parked her car and grabbed the box from the back seat before walking up the porch steps. She knocked and waited. She thought there was a chance he might not be home, until she heard the heavy footsteps.

The door was jerked open, and there he stood. He looked years older than he had since the last time she saw him, but he was still as handsome as sin. He wore old, faded jeans and a t-shirt that had seen better days. He was taller and more muscular than the last time she saw him. The fact that he was barefoot made him seem more vulnerable, and they were even sexy.

She cleared her throat when he stood and stared at her. “Hi. I don’t know if you remember me…”

His jaw hardened. “I remember you. What are you doing here?”

She tried not to let his harsh tone affect her. “I heard you were back and wanted to welcome you and give you some treats I made.”

He hadn’t taken his eyes off her, but he stayed silent. She also noticed he kept his head turned so she could not see the other side of his face. Callie had told her he’d been hurt, but she hadn’t had any other information.

“If you’re busy, I can come back,” she said.

If the muscle in his jaw got any tighter, he was going to crack a tooth. He stood with his legs apart, and his arms crossed over his chest.

“Why are you really here?”

“I’m here to welcome you back.”

The side of his mouth tilted up in a sarcastic smile. “Really? You’re not here to get fucked again?”

Skye stiffened. She knew he must be hurting but never thought he’d turn into a bully again. Weren’t they too old for that?

“No, Jared. I’m just here to say hi.”

“Did you get it in your pretty little head that I was missing you or wanted to see you?” he asked.

She sighed. “No.” She held the box out to him, and when he didn’t grab it, she let it drop onto the ground. “Fuck it. You never have to worry about me, Jared. I’ll stay as far away from you as I can. All right?” She turned and headed back to her car without waiting for a reply.

She didn’t expect him to say anything but was still disappointed. She opened the car door and was ready to slide in when she looked up at him and caught his expression, and it wasn’t the distant, cruel one he had on his face just a moment ago.

Skye tried to guess what was going through his head, but he was a hard man to read in high school. Now, it would be impossible. Did she really want to know anything about him? Yes, she could fool other people, but not herself.

She sat in her car after she parked it in her driveway. Pictures of Jared flashed through her head—the ones of him sitting solitary in the lunchroom, the way people would avoid him if they walked past him. The times he held her against the building could be construed as violent, but at no time had Jared hurt her physically.

Then thoughts of the way he looked while on top of her. She would never forget the tenderness of his loving and the sweet way he looked at her. Jared definitely felt something then. Now, most people would see how he treated her as loathing, but she was getting to see the real Jared, and she suspected no one had ever taken the time to break down the walls he erected.

Call her crazy, but it didn’t feel right just giving up that easily. Fuck, maybe she was nuts. Who else would put themselves through the pain of his rejection? No one. Except her.

Chapter Seven

Jared watched her drive away and held himself from yelling for her to come back. Hell. He almost choked when she asked if he remembered her.

He’d thought about her every day since he left her bed years before. Before that night, he thought he’d get her out of his head by having her that one night, but it backfired. He was even more obsessed than he had been before.

---