A Long Goodbye by Kelly Mooney Read Free Book Online Page B

boots. That night, I drifted off to sleep with the television on, and the naughtiest thoughts of Woody running through my straight-laced southern belle head.

CHAPTER 8
    DANE
    I hated revealing myself to Ashton so early in the game, but those boys didn’t seem to want to leave, and until they did, I wasn’t going to leave them alone in a parking garage with no help. Once they left, I planned on waiting for the girls to head inside before I did. It wasn’t until I saw her looking up to the ceiling like she was saying a little prayer that I knew something was wrong. I thought maybe Lu would have stepped out with her when Ashton made her move, but she never did, so, I assumed that was the problem. Damn if I wasn’t right. Not to mention the fact that I was pretty positive one of those dumbasses did something to get Lu that way.
    I didn’t know Lu from a hole in the wall, but she’d always had a reputation, and after talking to my brothers to get some background information on both of them, her being laid up so easily surprised me. Apparently, Lu was one of those girls who talked a lot of smack, but also had no problem defending it as well. Ashton was another story. Everyone in town, including my family, spoke highly of her for being a classy girl with a straight head on her shoulders. If she did get into trouble, Lu was not far behind and was usually the cause.
    When Ashton asked about my scar so early on, it threw me off; I kinda froze up. It wasn’t that I didn’t expect her question eventually, but not yet. It was something I hated talking about since it always brought up memories of AJ. Since, over the course of the next two weeks, every word was going to be a lie, I figured telling her truth about my scar was the one thing I could come clean about.
    Groggily, I woke to my phone alerting me it was time to get up and get going. I pushed the button to stop the music from blasting anymore. Shoving a hand through my untamed hair, I sat up and stared all around me. Ashton’s father set me up in a real nice room, one that I wasn’t too comfortable with, but I took. Hell, if it were up to me, I’d rather lay out in my beat up Ford waiting for those girls to move on to their next adventure.
    Fumbling with my cell, it beeped making me aware of Ashton’s phone moving from her last known place, her hotel room.
    Rechecking the clock, I took note that it was only seven in the morning, and something told me she was a room service kind of chick, so her being up and moving caught me off guard. Quickly, I grabbed my jeans from the floor, tugged them on, and quickly tossed a T-shirt over my head.
    She was still in the hotel, so I didn’t hurry as fast as I probably should. I stopped to brush my teeth, ran my fingers through my hair one more time, quickly noting that I needed a haircut, then headed on out to find where the elusive Ashton Winslow had gone.
    The tracking device application on her phone showed that she was on the first floor. I shook my head once I spotted her in the hoity-toity, lobby coffee shop where a cup of Joe costs way more than it was worth. But, hell if I didn’t find myself heading in there, looking for any excuse just to hear her voice this morning.
    Just as I stepped inside, her eyes lifted, and I knew it was too late to change my mind. She’d spotted me. My face broke out into a big grin, knowing I must’ve looked like a fool standing there. She had this sweet little sundress on that stopped just shy of her knees with a deep vee in the front showing her extremely tempting cleavage. Her long curls cascaded over her shoulders as she twisted around upon hearing her name being called out that her coffee was ready. I took a deep breath remembering how soft her hair had felt the night before. She looked back to me with a sweet little smile that immediately set my heart in a tailspin.
    “Fancy meeting you here so early this morning,” I said not knowing what other kind of excuse to shell out to her.
    She