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I wanted to fall in love.
But I couldn’t tell him that. He was too busy dealing with his life falling apart around him to worry about my stupid little malfunctions.
So I sniffed and rolled my eyes. “I just want Melody Fairfield and her brother Chance to get what’s coming to them. I want the world to know—really know—how much of a big-fat liar she is. I want them to stop picking on you and realize how wrong they all were.”
I wanted all the idiot sheep on campus to believe me when I said Beck was innocent.
Beck chuckled softly. “Yeah. You and me both. Though if it makes you feel any better, I’m pretty sure I made him bleed today.”
I gasped in pleasure. “Did you? That’s so awesome. Thank you.” Then I scowled as I pictured the cowboy. “I still can’t believe he spit on me.” Or more aptly, I couldn’t believe I’d spent a year pinning my silly hopes on such a jerk who would spit on girl.
Oh well. I was done with that. Over it. (Not really. Being spit on stayed with you a while.) I was so moving on. (I still hated him. He’d hurt me big time.)
Focusing on Beck, I sighed. I could even see some of his bruises in the dark. Poor guy. “I never told you how sorry I was about what your parents did to you. That really sucked.”
“It’s fine.” He shrugged and lowered his gaze before looking up and meeting my eyes. “No, actually, it’s not fucking fine at all. I think the moment my mother shut the door in my face was the absolute worst moment of my life, even worse than when Melody called me a rapist.”
With a nod, I whispered, “I bet. I can’t imagine what I’d do if my dad ever did that to me.”
“We take them for granted, you know. Our parents. We assume they’ll always be there, always support us, always back us up. But honestly, they don’t have to. They don’t have to do any of that shit. Some of them come with a breaking point where they say enough is enough. It was a brutal lesson to learn I crossed that point.”
He looked so devastated; I knew I had to change the subject, if only for my own peace of mind. It tore me up just thinking about what had happened to him; I could only guess what it did to him.
Wanting to distract him, and say something witty and fun and happy, anything to lighten the mood—that’s what Tess would’ve done for me—I opened my mouth and, “My mom died when I was seven,” I blurted.
Then I frowned at myself. Wait, that wasn’t light or witty or even remotely happy. What the hell, Bailey?
But Beck watched me, a captive audience, so I cleared my throat. “I don’t remember her. At all. We were in a car accident together, Mom and I. I guess she died instantly, but I was trapped inside with her for a while. It must’ve done something traumatic to me.” I shrugged. “I don’t know, because I don’t remember it, and I don’t remember her either. I mean, I remember nothing about her. I was seven when she died, I should have memories, right? But I don’t. It’s like I completely wiped all existence of her from my memory banks.” Then I nudged his arm and snickered, “How’s that for a sucky, ungrateful daughter?”
Beck just stared at me as if not comprehending. “I’m confused,” he finally admitted. “How could you completely forget her?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “The brain is a crazy, complicated thing, I guess. My dad and brothers played it off like I’d been too young to have memories of her when she died, which probably didn’t help me remember anything, but Tess and I got into this huge fight last year and she accidently blurted out how old I’d really been, so—”
“Wait, who’s Tess?”
I stopped talking, completely thrown off guard as I blinked stupidly at him.
He wrinkled his brow and asked, “What?”
It seemed impossible that he didn’t know who Tess was. Tess was my foundation, my go-to person. She was the best part of me.
Shaking my head, I said, “She’s my best friend. She’s been my friend since forever, since we were babies. She even remembers my mom. She’s actually one of my roommates here in the apartment: her and her boyfriend Jonah and our other friend Paige along with Paige’s boyfriend Logan.”
Now Beck seemed even more confused. “You live with two couples?” His nose wrinkled. “Oh, that’s got to suck.”
I snorted, a little happy he actually got it. “You have no idea.”
He grinned back, before shaking his head and frowning. “Now why would Tess do that do you? Seems like kind of a shitty move to wait all this time before telling you.”
“I deserved it,” I assured him. “Trust me. I was the sucky friend first.”
He scowled as if he couldn’t believe that, but I nodded. “I was. But in any case, the truth came out, so I visited my mom’s grave at the cemetery. Can you believe I’d been out there dozens of times in my life and I’d never paid attention to the year she died on her tombstone before? I mean, how blind can one person get? I felt so stupid and…and…”
“Betrayed?” Beck guessed.
I swallowed and stared at him. “Yeah,” I admitted softly. “I felt a little betrayed too. Why hadn’t anyone just told me?”
“They probably thought they were protecting you, though yeah, it was still pretty awful and stupid of them. I mean, they had to know you’d find out eventually.”
