Page 21 of Faking It With the Small-Town Bad Boy

daunting taunt. Burying my face into my hands, I press my palms

against my eyes so hard I see spots in the darkness of my isolation,

hoping to never see anything ever again.

Going to town was harder than I thought it would be, and I left it

more wounded than how I had arrived. No matter what I do, I hear

Percy Elrod’s voice when he told me about Ryan’s actions during our

relationship lows. I guess he took it as a solid breakup.

I thought it was just space, just time I needed to clear my head and

take over everything my father had left me in disarray, but I can’t

deny that his reality just looks different than mine. I’m not angry

with him, not as much as I should be. My body is still processing the

aches of hearing those words and knowing I was still in love with a

man who had clearly already moved on with someone else.

I guess in the grand scheme of things, it was easier to think he left me

and found her.

In reality, he found her and left me.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Ainsley’s voice perks, my blurry eyes finding

her leaning on the railing upstairs. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine, baby sis. I took care of the banking stuff and had it

transferred to your account. Can you call the school and make sure

they accepted you? And find out when you need to get up there? I can

buy you a plane ticket, or something.”

“I already called them. They said as long as the funds go through

today, they can have me come up there in two weeks. It won’t be too

bad of a drive, Leah. I can handle it. I just…”

“What?” I ask, noticing her voice trails off cryptically.

Scratching her head, she looks sheepishly while she says, “Can I have

Dad’s truck? It would be so much easier to get to New York, and I can

put all my stuff in the bed of the truck.”

My heart sinks further, but it’s hardly something I have to consider.

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