Random Acts of Hope by Julia Kent Read Free Book Online Page B

screamed.
    All those trips to the local ice cream stand on our bikes in the summer when we were in middle school. The countless swimming and track meets I went to, watching him compete. Band practices where I was by his side. Going on class trips and riding the buses to Washington, D.C., Toronto, and Disney World for band competitions.
    Our first kiss. Roses sent to me at school on Valentine’s Day. Homecoming dances and proms and…all of it.
    All of me thrown away with one phone call. How? How could he do that.
    “And worst of all,” I said, “is that I’m sitting here on this bench wishing to God that he’ll walk down that sidewalk.” I looked toward the bar. “And come after me and tell me he’s sorry and he is so sorry and how am I and how much he wishes we could have our baby and—” The new set of tears t ook over the words and Maggie just h eld me.
    Because really—what else c ould we do?
    Ten minutes went by. A bus stopped and went, the driver a bit confused when we didn’t get up.
    Twenty minutes. I c ould count time by the big digital clock on the bank across the street.
    And, finally, Maggie stood slowly, pulling me to my feet. She reached her hand out, palm up, and I knew what she wanted. I handed her my keys. She wrapped her arm around m e and we began the slow walk to the parking garage where I’d left my car.
    Liam never did come for me.
    Liam
    “I can’t believe she just h it you!” Sam’s vo i ce cut through the crowd as I rubbed my jaw. What the fuck just happened? Her taste was on my lips, scattered across the tip of my tongue, the bite of that smack ricocheting through me.
    “Why did she hit you? Because you kissed her?” Darla held the blowup doll, who looked at me with incrimination, that permanent O face an abomination.
    “Because she’s a bitch,” Sam answered for me. I flinched, free hand curling into a fist.
    “Don’t call her that,” I growled. Trevor looked between me and Sam, on guard. He sho u ld be.
    Tyler wandered over at a snail’s pace. “Where’s the green-haired chick? She was interesting,” he mumbled.
    “Shut up, Frown, ” I barked at him. He held his palms up in a “no offense” gesture. But it wasn’t working. I needed to beat the shit out of someone. Something. Anything.
    “She is a bitch, Liam. After what she did to you. She has some fucking nerve…” Sam’s voice trailed off as Trevor shot him a deadly look and shook his head.
    I dropped my hand from my face and stared at the main door. My heart smacked against my ribs like a series of jabs in a boxing match. Five years felt like five seconds. Like f ive centuries.
    I was going out of my mind.
    “There a problem here?” Mac, the manager, came over, trying to disperse the crowd. “That slap part of the act?” His words were a joke, but the look on his face was anything but.
    “No, sir,” Sam said. “Just…some unfinished business.”
    Mac was a bald dude with no neck and a bunch of gold chains buried in chest hair so thick it made him look half human, half bear.
    “Good. Stirs up interest. You got about fifty chicks ready to fuck you after the show now, Liam.” He smacked my back twice and walked away.
    I grunted. “Don’t want to fuck any of them.”
    “ Your dick broken? Because there’s some fine meat in there,” Mac said over his shoulder. Trevor flashed me a look and pulled Mac aside, whispering something that made Mac shut up.  
    “What was that about?” Darla asked again. “I know she was your girlfriend, but…”
    “She cheated on him. Got knocked up by another guy our senior year, right before prom , and now she comes here and slaps him,” Sam explained.
    “That about sums it up,” said Trevor, who was back now, a troubled look on his face .
    “How do you know it wasn’t yours?” Darla ask ed before Trevor c ould stop her. The familiar napalm- filled firebomb ignite d i n side me.
    Sam frown ed . “Because…because…” His voice trail ed off as he look ed