Page 89 of Destroying Everleigh

“Get the hell off of me, Ashton,” I snapped.

Briley was seething, fresh tears trickling down her face. They literally dated for less than a week. I didn’t understand why she was so broken up over him. “I can’t believe you,” she snapped at me. I opened my mouth to try to explain this, but shewas already running down the hall before I could even get my thoughts together.

“Happy?” I growled, shoving away from him. This time he let me go, and I nearly fell on my ass.

He smirked in response. “Very.”

Anger was pulsing through me along with the overwhelming urge to check on my sister. She didn’t deserve it. That was for sure. But I didn’t want to fall out with her over some stupid guy who meant absolutely nothing. She was my family. I’ve spent years taking care of her and standing by her side, I’ve spent yearsprotectingher. It didn’t matter that she was being a selfish little brat. At the end of the day, she was the only family I really had left—aside from Tate and Emma. I wasn’t very close with my grandparents and didn’t want to burden them anymore than necessary. They were already helping out so much with my youngest siblings.

My chest felt light as my inner turmoil grew and grew. I was on the brink of erupting, so tired of these fucking games and life in general. Mom’s wake would be happening soon, I just made a deal with my sleazy landlord, Emma and Tate were living with Grams and Grandpa, Briley was mad at me, I had a ton of homework to catch up on, Ashton, Kash, and Jameson were hellbent on destroying me for something I’d done three years ago, Lucas was blowing me up, and I still hadn’t seen him since my kiss with Ashton. My house desperately needed cleaning, and I was supposed to work tonight to top it all off. I suppose I could just go in late and stay late, but that would leave me exhausted for school tomorrow.

My life was in complete shambles, and it was getting harder and harder to see the bright side of everything when things just kept getting worse.

I followed Ashton to his car, my heart in my throat as my mind reeled. A sleek black Challenger was parked behind mypiece of shit vehicle. It was gorgeous. Vastly different from the truck he used to drive back in high school.

I slipped into the passenger seat, turning my head to peer out of the tinted window on my right. The vehicle was in good condition, and even had that new car smell just like Amber’s Benz did.

As nice as the car was, though, it was the last place I wanted to be. He’s made it abundantly clear that he hated me. His eyes remained fixed on the windshield as he backed out of my driveway and started down the road.

“Where are we going?” I asked, not bothering to keep the skepticism out of my voice.

“Family dinner.” He glanced over at me, probably trying to see my reaction, but I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. “Dakota will be there.”

My entire body went rigid at the mention of his brother. I hadn’t seen him since everything went to shit, and I had no desire to. My head was still so foggy from that afternoon.

“Why are you bringing me there?” I shook my head, trying to make sense of it all. Was this another attempt to get under my skin? It was working. “Is this some kind of test?”

“Nope.” He turned onto another street before drifting out onto the main road.

The last time I’d seen his mom, she hadn’t been happy to see me. In fact, she told me never to come back. This was going to cause all kinds of problems, but that seemed to be his goal, anyway. Not to mention…that house contained so many memories. Good ones at that. It was where me and Ash spent the majority of our time together, playing video games, playing soccer in his massive yard, and doing more…intimate things. I shuddered at the reminder, not wanting to think about that at all.

“Ashton,” I whispered, my voice trembling. He glanced over at me again, his eyes hard and vacant. “Please don’t make me go there.”

“Why not?” he mocked. “I thought you’d be thrilled to see your old-time fuck buddy. I hope the sex was worth it. I mean, for all the trouble it caused.”

I swallowed thickly, heat building behind my eyes. “I…he wasn’t,” I didn’t even know how to finish that sentence. It wasn’t like I could deny sleeping with Dakota. Even if it was a very distant memory—almost like a dream.

Ashton watched me for a moment, his features seeming to soften, revealing the old boy underneath the hard exterior he always wore, revealing the boy I’d fallen in love with all those years ago. The sudden change in his demeanor had my heart skipping in my chest. I hated that after all of this, I missed him. Missed what we used to have before it all got messed up. And it wasmyfault.

He’d told me that he loved me earlier that day. We were planning on meeting up after school like we usually did. But then I got the call from my mom and skipped school early. It had proven to be the biggest mistake of my life.

Ashton’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Why did you do it?” he finally asked after all this time, after all these years.

“I…I don’t know.” My teeth sunk into my bottom lip. It had been a question I’d asked myself on numerous occasions. But my mind drew a blank every time I tried thinking about it. It was like my subconscious was hiding it from me. No matter how hard I tried wracking my brain for the missing puzzle piece, it wouldn’t come forth. “Maybe I had too much to drink or something.” Even the words felt like a lie, but what else could it have been?

Ashton scoffed. “It’s hard to believe that you were able to drink so much that you blacked out within ten minutes, and then get fucked on top of it.”

He had a point. I texted him while I was in my car, heading toward his house. He told me he’d meet me there, and apparently, he didn’t waste any time. That just made things even more confusing. No wonder he was so pissed off.

“I don’t know what happened,” I confessed as we neared the south side. “I honestly don’t remember.”

His features hardened again, clearly not satisfied with my answer. “I’m not Jameson. Your lies won’t work on me.”

I’m not fucking lying.

As much as I wanted to say that, I knew it would be pointless. He didn’t believe me, and nothing I said would change it.

After a few moments, he spoke again. “I was going to propose to you.” His eyes darted to mine again. “After graduation.”

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