Page 58 of Tough Love

I open my mouth to answer when the distinctive slam of a car door echoes from out the front of the duplex.

“Shit!” I drop off the counter, hurriedly redoing my jeans.

Evan whips his shirt back on, chuckling like a nervous kid. “Such a bad, bad girl.”

I waggle my eyebrows as I run the tap, hurriedly squirting aromatic dish soap into the water to try and disguise anyothersmells that might remain. “You have no idea.”

I gasp as his hand leaves a sting on my arse in its wake. “Guess I’ll just have to stick around to find out.”

The handle of the front door rattles, the sound of the seal breaking as the door gets pushed open leaving us both grinning like idiots.

“We’re home,” Mum calls as they step through to the kitchen.

“Shh,” I say with a bubbly finger before my nose. “Briar’s asleep.”

Evan accepts the clean plate I pass him and wipes it with the dishtowel in his hand as he addresses Mum and Dad. “Hungry?”

NINETEEN

Eleven years ago

“Are you sure it’s okay?” I tuck my kilt in under my legs as Tristan pulls his car away from the kerb.

“Yeah. Kath said she had some other shit to do, so I said I’d give you a lift anyway.”

I stare out the window at the school as it passes by, wondering why Kath never told me she wouldn’t be meeting me after class. Come to think of it, I’ve barely seen her around the grounds, since she’s been dating Tristan.

I guess that’s all part of growing up; suddenly being too “cool” for your little sister.

“Have a good day?” The way he looks at me as he asks the question sends a shiver down my spine.

“Just the same old, really.”

The rugby boys have been strangely quiet since that first day Tristan gave me a ride home. I never managed to get any details out of him about it, but a bunch of bullies don’t simply drop their cause without reason to. They just get smarter.

Rotten fruit squished through the slats in my locker door. Water poured over my bag while I’m at PE class. Kids I’ve never spoken to before now asking me random questions about my private life while their eyes dart nervously around.

Yeah—I know who’s behind it all.

“You want to come hang out for a bit?” Tristan’s hand reaches across and rests on my knee, giving it a squeeze. “I’ve got time to kill before Kath wants to be picked up from her mate’s house.” His hand drifts higher.

I push it away, twisting my hips toward the door.

“No. I’ve got heaps of homework to do. Thanks, though.”

Heat peppers my neck and chest, my stomach tying itself in knots. I count the streets left until we reach my turn-off.

“Any time you want an escape, Amelia, you just let me know.”

I don’t dignify his offer with an answer, instead pressing my knees into the door in an effort to sit as far away from him as possible.

He gives me the creeps, but Kath can’t say a bad thing about him. Maybe I’m just young and naïve? Maybe the fact a boy’s never showed an ounce of interest in me has me imagining things that aren’t really there?

Maybe he’s just being nice?

TWENTY

The sugar spills out of the slim paper packet in a steady flow as I tip it over my flat white.

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