Page 31 of Bossy Trouble

I wanted to take her to the hospital, but she shook her head, insisting she was fine. And then she flinched and groaned again. That was it for me. I swooped her up into my arms, determined to just take her anyway, but she immediately stopped me, fighting, and said, “Stop! It’s nothing, really nothing! Just my time of the month.”

I paused. It took me a while to understand exactly what she was talking about. And then it hit me. “Oh!”

She looked embarrassed after she said it and turned away. “You should probably put me down now. Sometimes, it leaks.”

I didn’t put her down right away, enjoying the feeling of holding her in my arms. I didn’t care if a little blood got on me. It was a natural process, after all. Nothing embarrassing about it.

“It was the first day we spent together where we weren’t fighting most of it,” Georgia said now, pulling me out of the memory. “And you were so nice to me, boiling water and making me that makeshift hot compress. And googling all the other remedies that could make me feel better. And just talking to me without being condescending or mean.”

Georgia tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, looking to the side.

“I thought we’d become friends that day,” she said. “I thought, for once, we could have peace. And then, the next day, you pulled that little stunt of yours.”

“Hm,” I muttered. In my defense, the stunt in question had been intended to cheer her up. It was the next day, and Georgia was feeling better, but not too much. So I started a challenge amongst the boys to see who could tell the cheesiest joke. Eventually, it turned into a shit-taking contest, and we were all flinging insults at each other, Georgia included. She went at me with “Daddy’s little boy” jokes, and I shot back with a joke about how she was the only girl in her grade who didn’t have a boyfriend.

That might have been a bit too far.

I knew the remark stung because she gaped at me for a few seconds, then got up and, without a sound, started walking away.

“Come on, Georgie,” Garrett had called out. “Come back. I don’t have the energy to chase you.”

And the coup de grace. Like your average teenage asshole, I said, “Don’t worry, Garrett. She’s not upset. It’s just because of her time of the month, that’s all.”

Georgia froze in step and turned around with a horrified look right before she stormed up to me, enraged. “Why would you tell them that?”

I’d tried to explain at the time, but between the rest of the group laughing their heads off and Georgia trying to fight me, it was hard to get a word in. She didn’t speak to me for the rest of the days left at the camp.

“That’s when I knew there was no winning with you, Donovan Dresden,” she said now, looking introspective. “The only way to survive was to protect my sanity no matter the cost. So no, I won’t fight you no matter what you do to me. “

And then she stood there, staring up at me, daring me to make a move.

And I was flummoxed about what to do next.

I was still mad, but a part of me felt guilty as well. Was it true? Had I done this to her? I didn’t know that incident affected her this deeply to this day.

But it couldn’t be just that. She’d been the same old Georgia even after that day, and we’d maintained our kinda friendship.

No. Whatever turned her into a quitter was something that happened after I knew her. Someone very recently crushed her spirit, and I wanted to find out who it was and crush more than just his spirit.

“Mommy.” Georgia and I turned simultaneously toward a tiny little voice coming from the top of the stairs. “Who’s that?”

“Don’t come down, honey!’ Georgia cried out, but it was too late. A small dark-haired little girl descended the stairs, rubbing her eyes as she walked.

A dark-haired girl who had just called Georgia, ‘Mommy.’

13

GEORGIA

It was my worst nightmare.

I was stuck in a dream of my worst imagination and could do nothing but watch it play out.

Avery came down the stairs, rubbing her eyes tiredly and pushing her hair back from her face. She still looked half asleep when she stared up at Donovan, who wasn’t moving. “Mommy, who is this man?”

That galvanized me into action. I rushed to her, using my body to physically shield her from his gaze, but it was too late. He’d already seen her.

“Avery, you shouldn’t have come down, honey.”

---