Descended by Blood by Angeline Kace Read Free Book Online Page A

I got in her car. She took me to the park and asked if we could go for a walk. She kept going over ‘remember this’ and ‘remember that’ until I finally told her to tell me what she wanted to talk about.”
    My heart pounded against my ribs, waiting for the devastating punch line.
    “We stopped walking, and she told me that she realized she’d made a huge mistake and that all she’d ever wanted from me were simple gestures, like me holding her hand while we walked down the hallway. She said she really missed me, and all this stuff—”
    “Get to the point. Are you guys back together or not?” I said, demanding the answer.
    “I’m getting to that. So, after she tells me all that, she kissed me, and I’m not going to lie, I kissed her back.” Jaren had to see the hurt on my face. My nightmares from last night were confirmed.
    “Here’s the important part; I don’t want to get back with Tiffany. I didn’t do those kinds of gestures for her because she never made me feel like I wanted to. When I’m with you, I feel alive and happy. I never felt that way with her. I told you I was ready to move on, and I had a lapse of uncertainty, but I know, as confidently as I can, that I want to be with you officially now,” Jaren said with finality.
    “What do you mean officially ?” I spit back with venom. He flinched. Certainly not the reaction he had anticipated from me.
    “Well, we’d been dating, but we weren’t official or anything yet,” Jaren said, trying to talk reason into me.
    “Yeah, well…I wasn’t dating anyone else, and neither were you until Tiffany decided no one else could have you,” I said, raising my voice and getting out of the car. Jaren got out as well.
    I marched toward him. “And what was all that talk the other night about asking if there were any guys you had to worry about taking me away from you?” Fury boiled within me.
    “I meant it. I don’t want to lose you,” Jaren said.
    I started to cry because I was hurt, and he sounded sincere.
    “I never told you that you couldn’t date anyone else, and I never told you that I wouldn’t, either. But that is what I’m trying to do now, if you’ll have me,” Jaren pleaded. He grabbed my hands and brought them to his chest like he hurt, too.
    I slid my hands away and looked him in the eyes for emphasis.
    “I don’t know. I’m pretty ticked off right now. The only thing that changes with official is that I get to change my relationship status on Facebook to ‘in a relationship.’ So…just take me home,” I said, turning toward the car and getting in. I didn’t want him to see how much pain I was in. I also didn’t want to have to see his pleading eyes, either.
    Jaren stood outside for a moment, stunned that this conversation didn’t go as he had thought it would. He got in the car and turned it around, heading toward my house.
    “I know this is terrible timing, but I think I’m falling in love with you,” he confessed when we were stopped at a light.
    I put my hands up to my face because there was no way I could hold back the tears. The hardest part was that I felt like I loved him, too, and he had just tarnished it.
    * * *
    As soon as I shut the front door behind me and heard the Mustang drive away, I lost all control and the sobbing took over. I slid down the door, hurt and confused. I had never felt this strong for a guy before, so I had never been hurt in quite this way.
    I went back and forth from believing Jaren was genuinely falling for me, to believing that he couldn’t be sure about anything at all if he kissed Tiffany yesterday and confessed his love for me today. I feared I should have told him how strongly I felt about him when I had the chance, and because I didn’t, he was going to run back to Tiffany to take her up on her evil offer.
    I wasn’t doing any good for myself by going back and forth, so I called Kaitlynn.
    “Is everything okay?” Kaitlynn asked. I could hear her concern and love for me in