Picking up the Pieces by Jessica Prince Read Free Book Online

respond but the noises were getting louder. I felt a ball of dread forming in the pit of my stomach again.
    I was right outside his bedroom door when I heard the distinct sound of moaning. I could tell instantly it wasn’t just Luke. His door was halfway open and when I peeked in, I wanted to die. Tears instantly started streaming down my cheeks, ruining all of the work I’d put into my makeup. Luke was sitting on the end of his bed, pants unbuttoned and unzipped, hanging down around his hips. There was a girl on the floor in front of him, cradled between his knees. Even if she hadn’t been naked, it was still clear what they were doing.
    Luke’s head was thrown back in ecstasy, the muscles in his neck pulled tight as he groaned out “God, Allison, that feels so fucking good. You’re so perfect.”
    “You like that, baby?” she responded in a nasally, baby voice.
    Allison? How the hell could he do that?! Luke knew what a bitch Allison Crabtree was. She’d made it her life’s mission in high school to make every day a living hell for me. If there was one person on the face of this earth that I could claim I truly, irrevocably hated, it would be Allison Crabtree. And Luke knew this! He knew how awful she’d been to me and here she was, on her knees with his dick down her throat, one day after he’d been with me. As if that weren’t bad enough, the fact that he was telling her she was perfect was a direct shot through my heart.
    I had to get out of there. I didn’t even care if they heard me. I hoped me crashing their little party ruined their night. They both deserved it. I spun around and ran down the hall as fast as I could, knocking over a small side table in the process. I could barely see through the blur of tears in my eyes, but I was determined to keep going. Once I reached the front door and passed through, I slammed it as hard and I could. I didn’t slow down until I reached my front yard. Once there, I realized that the last thing I needed was for Grams to see me so wound up, so I sucked in huge lungfuls of air, over and over, trying to get my breathing under control. I wiped the tears from my eyes, and when I was convinced I looked halfway normal, I headed inside.
    Grams was in the kitchen making dinner. “Hey, Emmy darlin’. Supper’s just about done,” she called over her shoulder when she heard me close the front door.
    I tried to speak through the knot in my throat and was shocked that my voice came out sounding relatively normal. “I’m not really hungry, Grams,” I called out as I headed to my room. “I’m just going to lie down. I think I’m coming down with a cold or something.” I hated lying to Grams. She’d been such a strong influence in my life for so many years. I respected and loved her with all of my heart, and not being truthful with her hurt deeply. But there was no way I could let her see me like this. I didn’t want to have to think about what I’d seen, let alone talk about it. I just needed time. Once my head was clear, I’d be honest with her.
    I got to my room and headed straight to the bathroom to scrub the ridiculous makeup off my face. Throwing on sweats and tossing my hair back into its signature sloppy knot, I climbed in my bed and cried myself to sleep. Luke had succeeded in doing the one thing no other guy had ever done. He’d managed to completely annihilate my heart in just a matter of seconds. That had to be some sort of record.
    By the time I woke the next day, he was already gone.
     

CHAPTER 7
    PRESENT
    Spring 2013
    Lizzy, Stacia, Savannah, and I walked into Colt’s sporting our ‘I’m with the band’ t-shirts. It was tradition for us to come and show support for the guys whenever they played close to home. And just because Luke breezed back into town like a stupid-ass hurricane, didn’t mean I was going to break tradition. These were my boys and I was going to support them.
    Jeremy had been playing guitar since he was little, and sometime