Page 144 of Faking It With the Small-Town Bad Boy
Someone puts Percy in his car, and I watch his car drive by Dingy
Hills, headed back to my place.
I’m still left in a cold, damp sweat at what I’ve seen, something so
natural about her reaction that I can’t help but feel like this isn’t the
first time she’s done something like this. I finally peel my hands off
my mouth as she walks into the boutique, and my hands are shaking
as I grip the wheel.
I’m in too much of a state of shock to move, a blur of dark skin
coming to my window where I see a man who plays in Percy’s band
lean against the door of my truck. I’ve only seen him in passing with
his stepbrother, the two of them a bit new to Rally and not ever
crossing my path before.
“Hey, you’re Leah Reese, right? Percy’s…” his voice leads on like he’s
not sure what to put in the blank there. I just give him a nod, my
throat still choking on what I just saw. “Are you okay? I saw you
parked over here after he drove off. I guess you saw that, huh?”
“How could I miss it?” I breathe, my voice a modest whisper. “I can’t
believe she… Had that ever…”
“Yeah, a lot,” he murmurs begrudgingly.
“How could she do something like that? She just hit him for no
reason. If she did have a reason, why would she slap him?”
“Because that’s her power. She hits him, kicks him, cheats on him,
but the minute he even flinches near her, she could cry to Daddy
about the bad boy who abuses her. It’s fucked up that she has that
power, but she does. He’s never even raised a hand at her, let alone
spoken ill to her face when they were together. Why she does shit like
that, I’ll never know for sure, but he’s a champ for taking it on the
chin and walking off.”
I still shake my head, unsure how to digest such blatant disrespect.
“She used to hit him in their relationship. How do you know that?”
