Everneath by Brodi Ashton Read Free Book Online Page A

everything. He told me he loved me. And the second that little slut gives him one opening, he takes off.”
    “She didn’t—” one girl started to say, but then she stopped.
    “If it makes you feel any better, Lace, he’ll be over her fast. She has no backbone. She’ll give it up, and he’ll get tired of her, like he does everyone else. Then maybe he’ll come back to you.”
    My hands started to shake. I wasn’t just another girl; the gossip was overblown. Jack wasn’t going to get tired of me. Was he? He’d told Lacey he loved her. Was she lying?
    I realized I was leaning against the stall door, my hand over my heart as if I could hold it in. Even if he did tell her he loved her, he was here with me. That meant everything, didn’t it?
    The truth was, I didn’t know. I’d never had a boyfriend, and Jack obviously had more experience than me. I didn’t want to be like the others, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to be with him. It didn’t stop me from wanting him to want me.
    I didn’t have an answer for that one, but at least I could show them backbone.
    I flushed the toilet and swung the door open wide, staring straight ahead to the mirrors above the sinks. Their chattering stopped immediately, and they watched in silence as I marched over, washed my hands, took my time drying them, looked in the mirror, applied lipstick, and finally made my grand exit.
    I hoped they were too busy looking at my determined face to notice my wobbly knees.
    Jack was waiting for me when I opened the bathroom door. He grabbed my hand and whisked me away to the dance floor again, as if we were wasting precious seconds.
    I tried not to let those girls bother me. The fact that Jack had dated Lacey Greene was common knowledge. Jack had dated everybody.
    Everybody. Like really, everybody. Crap. What was I doing?
    “Jack?”
    “Mmmm?”
    The band was playing a softer song, mellow and slow.
    “Why did you ask me out when you did?” I tried to sound casual.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean, did something specific happen to make you ask me out?”
    “Yes,” he said.
    “What was it?” Had I thrown myself at Jack Caputo? Had I done something to get in Lacey’s way?
    “You remember the first game of the season?”
    “Yeah,” I said. It was Jack’s first game as starting quarterback, the youngest starter in school history. I remembered sitting in the second row, directly behind the team bench.
    “After I threw for the first touchdown of the game?”
    “Yes.” I still couldn’t figure out where he was going with this. Had I flashed him or something, and blocked it out of my memory? I was pretty sure I wasn’t holding up any large signs declaring my love or anything.
    “Our defense took the field, and I was on the bench. When I turned around to look at the fans…” He paused.
    Oh no. “What did I do?”
    He smiled. “You looked at me. Not the game.” He sighed, as if reliving the memory.
    I felt my face scrunch up in confusion. “That’s it?”
    “That’s it.” He shrugged. “It was the first time I thought there might be a chance. I asked Jules about it.”
    I bit my lip. “Apparently she doesn’t understand that trusty sidekicks aren’t supposed to spill secrets.”
    In a flash, I was suspended in the air, the back of my head inches from the ground, Jack’s face a breath away from mine, his lips in a wicked grin.
    I gasped, more from surprise at the sudden dip than from fear.
    “There are no secrets between us, Becks.” His smile remained, but his eyes were intense.
    I couldn’t answer.
    He held me there for a few seconds more, then slowly raised me up, keeping me in his arms.
    I bit my lip. “Then, can I ask you something?”
    We stopped dancing for a moment, and he frowned. “Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good. Shoot.”
    “You and Lacey…” My voice trailed off.
    “Me and Lacey…” he said, waiting for me to continue.
    “Did you break up with her?”
    “That’s what’s bothering you?