Love Me If You Dare (Safe Haven) by Kate Laurens Read Free Book Online

the addition of a thick coating of dust.
    Until
I was able to go through her room myself, I couldn’t offer it to Maddy and
Serena, no matter how squishy we would be in my room.
    Until ...
I snorted to myself as I carried a bag up the stairs.
    More
like if.
    ***
    “S o
this is your hometown, huh?” Serena linked her arm through mine as we walked
through what constituted as downtown in Fish Creek. “How did the glamorous
Kaylee Sawyer come from here?”
    She
wasn’t being snotty, I knew. The fact was, the actual town of Fish Creek wasn’t
much to look at. It was one of those towns that seemed like time had moved on
without it, with a distinctly old fashioned, slightly run down feel.
    My
family was one of the wealthier ones in town, and we sure weren’t rich.
    “Says
the girl from Podunk, New Hampshire,” I quipped back, allowing her to swing my
arm as we walked. Maddy watched us with amusement—she wasn’t much of a toucher.
    We
could have driven into town, but I’d suggested that we walk in to get coffee at
Twin Peaks. The small diner was owned by an elderly couple who had named their
little cafe after the Cascade mountain range that could be seen from anywhere
in town. They had no idea that it was a double entendre that caused visitors to
snicker.
    The
longer we were out of the house, the better. I planned to keep us out until
after I thought my mom would have left for the bar.
    Maybe
I could maneuver it so that my friends missed her entirely for the remainder of
their trip. Of course, that meant that we had to be somewhere else, where
anyone with loose lips could spill my secrets.
    The
stress weighed more with every step.
    “What’s
that noise?” Maddy squinched her face up as the shrill scream of some kind of
machinery rent the air in two. Serena covered her ears with her hands.
    I,
however, felt adrenaline begin to pump through my veins. I recognized that
sound from the times I’d accidentally on purpose done something to my car so
that I had to bring it into Automovation, the mechanic shop owned by Jax
Kennedy, one of Dylan’s good friends.
    Dylan
had worked at Automovation for years. He’d said he didn’t work there anymore,
but I was like one of Pavlov’s dogs, trained to salivate at the ringing of the
bell.
    “It’s
the town’s mechanic,” I explained, and I was already hurrying my steps up. Once
I would have had to have a reason to stick my head in, but I’d come out of my
shell more since the last time I’d been here.
    I
didn’t think Dylan would be there—two chance meetings in one day weren’t
likely. But it would be nice to see Jax. He’d always treated me like I was a
part of their group, even when I could bring myself to do no more than hover on
the fringes.
    A
tall figure with a tight butt covered in navy coveralls was bent over the
innards of a monstrous truck. When he straightened and ruffled hands covered in
engine grease through tufts of hair the color of toast I stepped forward into
the garage, gesturing with my hands for Maddy and Serena to follow me.
    “Hey,
Jax.” Tentativeness colored my voice at the very last minute. It seemed like a
miracle that Dylan was willing to even talk to me, after what had happened with
Ella.
    What
would one of his best friends think?
    Jax
cocked his head, and I braced myself for yet another person who either didn’t
recognize me or, worse, thought I was the ghost of Ella.
    “Is
everyone in Fish Creek gorgeous?” Serena whispered in my ear.
    “You’re
taken. Hands off.” Maddy poked Serena in the ribs.
    “I
can look!” Serena replied.
    I
ignored them both as Jax’s rough looking expression broke into a grin so big it
threatened to split his face in two.
    “Kaylee
Sawyer!” Grabbing a rag that already looked filthy, he scrubbed some of the
grease off of his hands and strode across the cement floor of the garage. “Hope
you don’t care about those clothes, because I’m giving you a big hug.”
    I
had changed into tiny cutoffs and a