“We’re not splitting the town,” I grind out, frustrated that we’re even here and even more pissed off that I put us here. That Laura was the start of how I had to go down this path. “I want tosee you. As hard as it is not to be able to be around you, Sienna…I still want to see you.”
Sienna still stares at me. I can see her mind running a mile a minute. If what I feel is legit. How could she possibly trust me after I threw her away?
“I’m a grown-ass adult with a whole education,” she finally replies. “And you made a decision for me like a child.”
“I didn’t want to risk you, Sienna. As you said before, everything you’ve worked for could go to shit if she decides to take it upon herself and report us.”
“She’d have to prove that first.”
“She said she could,” I reply, my answers now feeling weak at best. “Isn’t that reason enough?”
“No.”
I scowl. “It’s yourjob, Sienna?—”
“And I was willing to risk that for you. If I needed to find another school that trusts their teachers overhe said she saidscenarios, I’d be fine with that. Principal Simpson wouldn’t want the gossip.”
“You’d be lying.”
“Since when did you grow morals?” She takes one step toward me, and I freeze. I feel the itching at the pads of my fingers to grab her and slam her into the wall. I remember taking her there, at her house, and how tight and good she felt wrapped around me. “I fucked you in the backseat of a truck…I don’t need you to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do because if I didn’t do what I normally don’t…you wouldn’t have known anything about me.”
And I can’t help but feel lucky that she had.
It changed my entire life.
“And lower your damn voice when you’re on the phone withher,” she chastises me. “I want Heath to focus on him, notyou.”
My brows clench. “Hey?—”
“And grow a pair of balls while you’re at it,” she tacks on, literally kicking me in mine with the tongue lashing she’s giving out. “The next girl will appreciate it.”
Next girl…
Sienna turns on her heel before I have a chance to stop her and strides away. Her chestnut hair bouncing against her back with determination to get the hell away from me as quickly as possible.
Next girl…
I blew this shit.
I blew it all because of Laura.
And I let her do it.
19
SIENNA
The thingabout small towns is that everyone is on their own time. There is no such thing as keeping up with an appointment or a time you said you were going to arrive.
It’s a suggestion.
However, this suggested time is going to have me displayed as an ice sculpture in the middle of town because my HVAC unit went out, and the landlord is out of town.
He promised to send someone first thing in the morning.
It’s eleven o’clock.
Curled up in fuzzy socks, three blankets, sweatpants, and a sweatshirt, I impatiently wait for the handyman to arrive, to no avail.
