Called Up by Jen Doyle Read Free Book Online Page A

She wasn’t the one he had left. Jules was. Nate and Ella and Mama Gin.
    More than ready to leave, Fitz turned to Deke just as Jules, in an entirely un-Jules-like meek little voice, asked, “Did they... Did they touch you?”
    “What?” Fitz’s head snapped back to Jules. As in touch touched? “ No. ”
    God , no.
    Yes, Peggy was the meanest of mean girls, as far as Fitz was concerned. And Fitz had been a naive, innocent, broken fifteen-year-old girl who fell so easily for Peggy’s whole “Deke likes you” line that her entire being lit up the moment she heard that the object of her crush, the one freaking ray of light after her parents died, might like her, too. That he wanted to actually meet her back out behind the school. So Fitz had gone out to the shed thinking she’d be seeing Deke, but instead got Lyle Butler, the town bully, along with two of his friends, and she realized she’d been had. She’d been so angry and mortified it hadn’t occurred to her until afterwards that they could truly have hurt her. Done so much more.
    That day was the first time she’d really understood how alone she was. That she had no one to watch her back, no one but herself to ensure her own survival. Standing there, facing off against three boys, each about twice her size, watching them come at her, getting all handsy and leering at her... She’d taken every ounce of fury at what the world had handed her and unleashed it on them. She’d scratched and hit and kicked enough to startle them, and then Nate had gotten there before they got around to fighting back. They’d been too embarrassed to even look her way again.
    But she’d taken care of it. It was done.
    “No,” she repeated. “They didn’t touch me.” And she never wanted to talk about this again.
    As she was about to say when she felt Deke move beside her. The look on his face was nothing short of murderous.
    She’d known the man for seventeen years, sixteen of those as friends. The closest he got to being mad was when his piecrust didn’t come out right. He was an insane perfectionist when it came to pastry. But he tended not to get angry. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him even lose his patience with anyone, much less Jules, who he loved almost as much as he loved Lola. That was even less okay than the weird almost kissing thing. Fitz’s very existence had already almost destroyed one family she loved; she had no interest in upsetting another.
    She gave Deke a look he’d damn well better take as a warning, before turning back to Jules. “It was a long time ago. We were kids. We’re not anymore.”
    “I don’t need you to pretend to forgive me,” Jules said, her voice wavering. “I just need you to know I’ll make it right someday. Somehow I’ll—”
    “There’s nothing to forgive.” Discussion closed. “We both got handed a raw deal. You’ve booted Jeremiah out of your life, and as far as I’m concerned, that makes us even.” Then, with every ounce of strength Fitz had, she smiled. “Please. We need to be done talking about this because Deke’s gotten a major overdose of estrogen and God knows how devastating a threat that is to the female population of Inspiration. I think his dick might be shrinking as we speak.”
    “Hey!” Deke exclaimed as expected while Jules’s eyes went wide and she gave a shocked laugh. Fitz wouldn’t normally have said something like that in mixed company, but it had to be done. Anything to stop things from getting even more out of hand.
    Except Jules surprised them both and said, “It might not be the worst of things for the ladies of Inspiration to get less of Deke,” as she gave a vague wave in his direction.
    And now Fitz was the one looking at Jules in shock.
    “Really?” Deke said, as Fitz and Jules both burst into laughter. But he seemed relieved, too. Turning to Jules, he asked, “Is there anything else you need tonight? Anything with the kids?”
    Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand,