BoysLikeYou.indd by Juliana Stone Read Free Book Online Page B

be sharp.
    So I waited. And I hoped she couldn’t tell that I was basically
    shitting my pants at the thought of going in there by myself.
    “You’re weird,” she said softly.
    “Promise you won’t tell anyone?” I smirked.
    She shook her head, but there was a slight smile around the
    corner of her mouth, and for some reason, it felt good to know
    I’d put it there.
    I stepped back, and she opened her door.
    We headed up Fraser to the corner and waited for the light
    to change. When it did, I grabbed her hand— an automatic
    thing— and was surprised that she let me.
    I was also really surprised at how small and soft her hand was.
    She didn’t have those fake four- inch things that Rachel and a lot of her girlfriends had. Shit, you could poke a guy’s eyes out if
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    you weren’t careful. And I didn’t want to think about how many
    times I’d had to listen to Rachel and her friends bitch about
    breaking one of them.
    In the grand scheme of things, I didn’t care about some-
    thing as stupid as fake nails, and I was willing to bet most of my buddies didn’t either.
    But her hand didn’t stay in mine for long, and by the time
    we reached the entrance, I reluctantly gave in to her gentle tugs and released her.
    She followed me to the elevators, and I punched the fifth
    floor as if I had every right to. As if I’d done it a thousand
    times before, when I’d only been up there once and that had
    been a disaster.
    Monroe didn’t say anything, she just followed me inside
    the elevator, and I wished her hand was still in mine because
    honestly, the urge to bolt was bad.
    I thought of Rachel and how she had refused to come with
    me that first time, three months ago. She’d pulled out the big
    guns, had cried until her mascara made raccoon tracks down her
    cheeks, and she’d managed to make me feel worse than I already
    did. So I went without her, and it had turned out pretty much
    the way she thought it would.
    It had sucked. If she knew I was here now, I’m sure she’d hit
    me in the shoulder and call me a loser.
    But she wasn’t. I glanced down at my empty hand, and I was
    still staring down when the elevator doors slid open.
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    BOYS LIKE YOU
    The first thing I saw was the nurse’s station. The second?
    Taylor’s fierce scowl and her wild, blond hair.
    “Who the hell is that?” she pointed at Monroe.
    “You don’t need to be such a bitch, Taylor. This is Monroe.
    She’s just a…a friend.”
    “Uh- huh,” she said. “So she’s your ride?” I knew she was
    thinking about Rachel, and judging by the nasty look she gave
    Monroe, she thought there was a whole lot more going on
    between us.
    “Yeah,” I answered, a little pissed at her attitude. “What else
    would she be?”
    Monroe muttered something under her breath, and I guess I
    was glad I didn’t hear it, because I had the feeling it wasn’t nice.
    “I’ll be waiting over there,” she pointed toward a tired- looking lounge just past the nurse’s station. “You know, when you need
    your ride home.”
    Shit. She was pissed too. Seemed as if I was on a roll.
    “Monroe,” I said softly.
    “Forget it, Nathan . Go and do whatever it is you need to do, but I’m not sticking around all night.”
    I watched her cross over to the lounge. Watched her sit on
    the sofa, a faded brown one that looked like it was leather but I knew was cold, slippery vinyl. She ignored me, grabbed a magazine, and turned the other way, making me feel like an even
    bigger shit.
    “Are you coming?” Taylor grabbed my arm. “They’ll be back
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    soon, and if you get caught, my ass will be toast and I don’t even want to know what he’ll do to yours.”
    Taylor led me down the hall even though she didn’t need to.
    I remembered the way. I saw it in my nightmares.
    He was still in the same room, and as we