Everything I Shouldn't / Everything I Need by Stacey Mosteller Read Free Book Online

doesn't betray how frustrated I am over the whole situation. If only she knew what I'm really thinking, she'd probably run for the hills.
    "Midnight? But Jeremy, it's prom," she pouts.
    Fucking right it's prom. SB's just lucky I don't give her an earlier curfew. "I know it's prom, you still have to be home by midnight. You know the rules."
    "Fine," she huffs, her pout disappearing as her eyes flash with anger. Good. Be pissed off; stay mad all night as long as you come home in one piece and with your virginity intact. Taking Jordan's hand, she practically drags him out of the house in an obvious attempt to get away from me as quickly as possible. Shit . I hope this doesn't backfire on me. It would be just like her to come home late just to piss me off.
    I spend the rest of the night sitting in the den, listening for the door. David won't be home until well after the bar closes and I'm becoming unglued waiting for SarahBeth to get back. The clock hits 11:30pm when the door finally opens. She's home early? That's definitely a good sign, I hope. She doesn't come straight in, and I'm imagining all sorts of scenarios; maybe he's kissing her at the door, are they groping each other, or worse? When I can't take it any longer, I head towards the foyer, almost afraid of what I'm going to see when I get there.
    When I come through the doorway, SarahBeth is standing with her back against the door and her head in her hands. Her shoulders are shaking, and I can hear her quiet cries. Feeling like a complete asshole for feeling relief at the sight of her tears, I'm quickly reminded that tears don't necessarily mean he didn't touch her. Mother fucker .
    "SarahBeth?" I ask in a soft voice, unsure why she's crying.
    Her body stiffens at my voice. "What do you want?" she asks, her voice watery. "Haven't you done enough for one night?"
    Shit . She knows all about about my little conversation earlier. Little asshole couldn't keep his mouth shut for a few hours could he? I know it's idiotic as soon as the words leave my mouth, but I still try to play dumb. "What are you talking about? I haven't done anything."
    SB drops her hands, looking at me in disbelief. "Are you serious right now? You can't think of anything you might have done?"
    "Nope." I don't even know why I deny it; it will only make things worse.
    Narrowing her eyes, she puts her hands on her tiny hips, which makes my lips twitch. She's trying to be stern, in a pale pink party dress. It's kind of cute and not the least bit intimidating. "You're going to stand here and tell me that you didn't tell Jordan that he better not even think about touching me? That you didn't tell him not to take me to any after parties?"
    "Hmmm," I start rubbing the five o'clock shadow on my chin and trying to act like I don't remember the conversation from earlier. "I don't think I specifically said not to touch you, but I did tell him he'd better not take you to any unsupervised prom after party's." I'm not backing down on this; she'll thank me later for standing up for her.
    "Well, thanks a lot Jeremy." Her lower lip quivers belying her pissed off expression. Dammit . Somehow, whatever I said to the little prick caused her to be hurt and that isn't what I was going for. Taking a deep breath, she steadies herself before saying, "Because of your over-protective act, Jordan ended up abandoning me during prom for a girl who didn't have a midnight curfew that he didn't have to be afraid to touch." She whispers, "Thanks for ruining my night," as the tears start to fall unchecked down her cheeks, making me feel like an absolute jackass, even more so than I did a few hours before.
    I pull her into me and wrap my arms around her. SarahBeth struggles at first, still upset with me, but I continue to hold her tight, and refuse to let her go. I probably should feel some sort of remorse for the things I said to the boy, but I only regret the fact that she was hurt by my actions, not that he left her alone. That part worked