Page 77 of A Hurt So Good

“Sasha said she’s been saying shit about me. I just figured it was her.”

“I want the phone,” War demands, holding his hand out. Arya laughs and shakes her head.

“Fuck you. You’re not getting shit.”

“Don’t make me use force, little bird.”

“Let me tell you three something. If you don’t start giving me a little bit of privacy, I’m leaving. You’re overbearing shit is gettingto be too much for me.” I can hear the sincerity in her voice. She’s right, though. We do too much at times.

“Fine. We’ll calm down,” I tell her. The guys look at me like I’m crazy, but this is what we need to do to keep her happy. If we have to steal her phone later without her knowing it, then that’s what we’ll do.

“Thank you. Now, are we going?”

“Yeah, let’s go, baby.” She walks toward me and wraps her arms around my waist, hugging me. I hug her back and just give the guys a look that they understand. They both nod their heads as we head out of the room.

“Where are you off to?” My dad stops us.

“To the pier. Want to go?” Arya asks him. He smiles but shakes his head.

“I have too much work to do here. You have fun,” he says, winking at her.

We walk down the stairs and then out the back door. We might as well walk down the beach since it isn’t really that far from us.

I keep an eye out, unsure who sent those messages to her. I hate it could be anyone because we never figured out who the hell it was at the gala. That fact alone still has me on edge.

Arya and Harlon mess around, shoving at each other and laughing as we walk. War falls back to walk with me, and I know he wants to talk about what we read.

“I don’t like it,” he states.

“I don’t either, but we are invading her space, War. We know it’s only trying to protect her, but she doesn’t know that.”

“Well, she needs to learn that. It could be the same person,” he adds.

“I know, and if we have to, we’ll sneak the phone just like before.” He nods his head when she glances over her shoulder at us. I smile at her, and she actually smiles back.

We continue walking until we make it to the pier. Then she takes off. I can’t help but laugh as she runs toward the rides like a child. It makes me wonder what her life was like after her dad did what he did to her.

“You think her mom took her out much?” I ask, glancing over at War.

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“Yeah. That’s kind of sad,” I say.

“Don’t get all fucking emotional on me, Denz. Look at her. She’s having the time of her life right now,” he says, nodding toward where Harlon and her are already in line for a ride.

“I know, and I’m glad it’s with us.”

“You going soft on me, Denz?” I shove at him and laugh.

“Fuck no. She just makes me feel things I’ve never felt.”

“I get it. She does that shit to me, too.”

We walk over, and I pull out my phone, snapping pictures of her and Har on the ride. She’s laughing, her hair flying through the hair. She looks genuinely happy.

We stand back and watch her with Harlon, considering this is more his thing than ours. We follow them around when she comes running toward me, launching herself into my arms. Shewraps her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist and clings to me.

“You three don’t even realize how happy you make me,” she blurts out. All of us heard her. She pulls back and I see the look on her face like she didn’t mean to say it out loud.

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