Eruption (The Hunted Series Book 3) by Ivy Smoak Read Free Book Online

to
help. They didn't respect me, so they wouldn't care about my opinions. I
couldn't force it.
    What it came down to was that they didn't want him to be
happy. They put their own wants in front of his. And that wasn't what parents
were supposed to do. It certainly wasn't what I was going to do with my own
kids. I shook the thought away. That was just another reason to despise them.
James said he was scared to have kids because of his problems. But really, it
was their fault. He was worried he'd be a horrible parent because they were so
awful.
    "So, that was my mother."
    I jumped. I hadn't heard him come back over to me.
"Oh?" I used to get so excited whenever she would call, hoping that
it meant she had changed her mind. Now I knew better.
    He smiled. "They want to meet you."
    "Sure." I laughed. "Let's set a date so they
can cancel at the last minute. Can we not talk about this right now?"
    "Apparently they found out the Caldwells were throwing
us an engagement party. They've decided to commandeer it."
    "What?"
    "Jen told them about it or something. The party is being
thrown at their house now. Apparently they just needed to feel like they were
being cast aside." He shrugged.
    "I think that's awfully rude to the Caldwells when
they've been so nice."
    "Yeah." He ran his hand through his hair.
"That's what I said. She assured me the Caldwells were fine with it."
    Now that it finally seemed like it was happening, I wasn't
sure why I felt so hesitant. "What are the odds that they'll cancel a
whole party?"
    "It wouldn't look good. So, not very high."
    "Does that mean they're coming to the wedding?"
    "She didn't say. She just said we have a lot to talk
about."
    "You don't look very excited."
    "Because you don't look very happy."
    "I'm sorry." I took a deep breath. "They've
just canceled plans with us so many times that..."
    "She sounded serious this time. I think they're finally
coming around. She said she was excited to meet you. She's never said that
before."
    I bit my lip.
    "And she said to tell you congratulations on
graduating."
    "That was nice of her." I tried to dismiss all my
negative thoughts from earlier. "I'm so disappointed that my parents won't
be there. They were really looking forward to meeting your parents."
    "They can't change their plans?"
    "My parents aren't their own bosses like you." I
smiled at him. "I guess they'll just have to meet your parents at the
rehearsal dinner."
    "It's probably best if you meet my parents by yourself
first anyway. They can be rather intimidating."
    "Do you think they're going to try to scare me
away?" I laughed.
    He lowered his eyebrows for a second. But the worried look
was fleeting. "No, they wouldn't do that. We should have set Jen on them
awhile ago. They rarely ever say no to her."
    "I should have known she'd interfere when she told me
she wouldn't."
    He laughed.
    "Does this mean I get to see where you grew up?"
    "You can make fun of my old bedroom." He smiled and
pulled me back into his arms. "But like I told you before, there really
aren't tons of embarrassing photos of me or anything. My parents aren't like
your parents."
    I closed my eyes as I pressed my face against his chest. I
knew he didn't mean that as an insult. He meant that his parents didn't care
for him like my parents cared about me. I didn't want to go into meeting them
feeling like this. But I wasn't sure if I could ever like them. Not after
everything they had put James through.
     

Chapter 6
    Thursday
    We had almost moved everything in and I was completely
exhausted. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail as I looked around at all the
boxes. The living room and kitchen were a complete disaster. Luckily Ellen was
going to help me organize everything in the morning.
    "Your ass looks amazing when you do that," James
said.
    I laughed and turned around as I finished putting the elastic
in my hair. "You think?" I arched my back slightly before letting go
of my hair.
    He smiled at me as he dropped a box down next to my