Page 143 of To Love Jason Thorn

But then, I was in my dad’s arms and he waswhispering the most beautiful words into my ear.

It was worth being a pathetic little wimp.There, I was safe.

It felt so good when he was hugging me sotightly. I could let go of everything and know that he would take care of hisgirl like he always did. Who could hurt you when your dad had his big armsaround you? Who would dare break a little girl’s heart? Didn’t every woman feellike a little girl when their dad gave them a good hug? Didn’t everyone justwant to stay there until the monsters went away?

No?

Well, good for you and your independencethen. Pop some champagne and celebrate. Congrats, you made it into adulthood.Me, not so much. I would take my dad’s hugs over anything.

“Logan, who is at—Olive? Oh, sweetheart.”

When I heard my mom’s voice and felt herhand softly brushing my hair, I buried my face harder into my dad’s chest andlet them love their little girl.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Jason

After living through the worst morning ofmy fucking life, we had finally found Lucy at the hospital with her boyfriend.She looked like a mess herself, and I couldn’t imagine what she’d gone throughwhile waiting for her boyfriend to come out of surgery. I’d learned that Olivehad been with her the entire time, which was progress since we couldn’t findher anywhere. She had left with Lucy and spent the entire night at the hospitalwhile I was out of it.

It was a miracle we even managed to get thatout of her mouth. She had seen the news coverage and was just as furious as Iwas, if not more. The only difference was she was ready to attack me andhave my balls for her friend, not the bastard who had spiked my drink ortaken the photos.

It took some time, but we explained whatwas going on and she looked like she wanted to believe us. After some beggingon my part, she told me that Olive had flown to San Francisco hours ago.

At 10:00 PM, I was on a plane—fuck waitingfor a private jet—flying to San Francisco.

***

It was weird being in the neighborhoodwhere you spent a big and very important chunk of your childhood. All thehouses looked the same as I remembered; even the damn air smelled like it hadback then. The house my mother had decided to take her own life in was stillthe same, too. Sure, it looked more lived in, and there were flowers thathadn’t been there when I was a teenager, but it was right where it had been,tucked among the memories I wanted to forget.

I hoped the family who was living in it nowwas a happier and more functional one than ours had been. I hoped the kids whowere growing up in the house weren’t witnessing their mother slowly losing thelight in her eyes for no good reason. I hoped that they had another house theycould spend their time in if things weren’t going that great for them, someoneto care about them like Logan and Emily had cared about me.

Right then, standing in front of theirhouse in the middle of the night didn’t feel as scary as I had thought it wouldfeel when I was on the plane. It was more like coming back home, and that was agood feeling for someone who hadn’t had a good home for most of their life,someone who had lost both his parents along the way and for a very long timehadn’t had a real thing to hold on to when things got rough.

Maybe it wasn’t as scary as I had initiallythought it would be, but I was still a mess. Apart from feeling like a mess, Ialso looked like a fucking mess.

After spending ten minutes in front oftheir house, not knowing how Olive’s parents would react to seeing me, notknowing if Olive would even agree to see me, I sucked it up and knocked ontheir door.

When Dylan opened the door and his eyeshardened when he saw who was standing on their porch, I was still trying to getover the shock of seeing my best friend after so many fucking years.

Dylan didn’t have that problem.

My lips spread out in a smile, but that wasa mistake because his whole body tightened. Instead of being happy to see meagain like I’d hoped he would be, he stepped out of the house and quietlyclosed the door behind him.

“What are you doing here, Jason?”

“Dylan. Shit, man.” I tried to stop mysmile from spreading out more, but…hell, he was my best friend, and it had beenyears since I’d seen him. “Man, it’s really fucking good to see you.”

His expression didn’t change.

“I’ll ask again. What are you doing here?Don’t you think you did enough damage to her already?”

I dropped my smile, but it was too late tobrace for the impact his words caused. If he wanted to act like a piece ofshit, so be it. So could I.

“I can see that you don’t care to see me. Iguess it’s a good thing I didn’t come to see you either. I’m here for my wife.”

“Wife?” He gave a humorless laugh. “Cut thecrap, Jason. We both know that it’s just a game for the public even though sherefuses to admit that. You are using her to look good and she is too stupid tocare about it even though she knows it herself.”

“You don’t know anything about us, Dylan.”

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