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?”

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