Page 40 of A Slice of Love

“Yeah, for your scholarship. We all had to leave for college eventually, Jonas. I’m not upset about that.” I roll my eyes. “I’m upset about you leaving me before you actually left town.”

“You’re not getting it, Frank. I had to leave you then too.”

“No, you didn’t. Youchoseto.”

“I didn’t choose shit. Ask your father.”

My brows shoot up. I must have heard him wrong. “Excuse me?”

“I said, ask your father.”

“My father has nothing to do with this,” I scoff, annoyed because now he’s just playing games.

Jonas tosses his head back, loud obnoxious laughter ringing through the bar.

I blink at him and his antics.

He has officially gone insane.

There is no way my father had anything to do with what happened between us. It’s not possible. Jonas snuck out of the house before my parents even made it inside. They had no idea he was ever there. I was careful.

Jonas is lying.

Sobering, he wipes at his eyes, shaking his head.

He levels me with a stare, and there’s this hardness in his gaze I’ve never seen before.

“Oh, Frank. He has everything to do with this.”

A tray full of shots is plopped down on the table, and I glance up to see a grinning Julian.

“Here, you two sound like you need these.”

Without a word, Jonas grabs a shot and tosses it back.

I down one too.

He takes another, and so do I.

We’re each three shots in before Julian slips into the booth, eyes darting between the two of us.

“Looks like you two were mighty thirsty. Good thing I got here when I did.”

He laughs at his joke.

We don’t.

Jonas and I sit there, locked in a stare-down, neither one of us willing to lose this battle.

I don’t know if it’s the alcohol or the way he keeps dropping his gaze to my lips that’s making me feel buzzed, but either way, I’m starting to feel things I know I shouldn’t.

Drop, flick.

Drop, flick.

He shifts, his leg firmly planted against my own. He knows what he’s doing. He’s not stupid.

In school, he’d find a way to touch me every day. A simple brush of our elbows, our knees, or he’d walk extra close to me, his chest rubbing against my back. It didn’t matter how small it was; I felt it everywhere.

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