RECKLESS - Part 1 by Alice Ward Read Free Book Online Page A

home."
    Her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped so far, I feared it might come unhinged. “Jace? As in, the guy you loathe more than any living, breathing man on the face of this planet?”
    I nodded.
    “What happened? Did he—was he—what was…?”
    I couldn't help but laugh—hallow as it might have been—at her fangirl moment; she didn't know what to ask first. "You want me to tell you everything?" I asked, grateful for the distraction.
    She nodded like a bobble head gone wild.
    "He was very nice and kind and accommodating," I said. "And no, he didn't try anything. And his place was… different than I expected."
    "What was it like?"
    "Clean."
    Her nose wrinkled in confusion.
    "What? I thought all rockers lived like slobs,” I said with a light shrug. “And I didn't see all the rock posters or the typical guy stuff on the walls. He had some art pieces, but mostly, the walls were bare."
    "Maybe he just moved in?"
    "I don't think so," I said, collapsing on my bed with a small sigh. Becca followed right behind.
    After a slight pause, Becca turned her head to look at me. "So, where does he live?" she asked.
    I turned my head to look at her. "Why? So you can go all stalker on him?"
    "No," she said, defensively crossing her arms over her chest. "It'd just be nice to know where my friend has been all night."
    "Riiight."
    We both fell into a fit of laughter, but it almost felt forced on my end. I wondered if it was the same for her. I guessed it might have by the way we both just sat in silence for a while when the laughter died off.
    "You want to talk about it?" she finally asked.
    "Not really. I—” I swallowed back the tears threatening to spill over again. “Just to think of what might have happened if he hadn’t come along and found me."
    "I know." She gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. "I'm really sorry for not making you come with me. I never would have forgiven myself if something awful had happened to you."
    "It's okay. I'm the one that wanted to stay," I said, emotion clogging my throat again.
    Becca looked away, her teeth tugging away at the ring through her lower lip. "Yeah, but I still shouldn’t have left you there alone. I know how those things can get. "
    "Hey, we had no way of knowing that would happen. We hear about it, but you never think it will happen to you," I said, finding myself rehashing the wisdom Jace had bestowed on me earlier that morning.
    "Yeah, I guess,” she said with a sigh, pausing for a few moments before asking, “You sure you’re okay?”
    “I will be,” I said with a weak smile.
    But first, I had a phone call to make. Sean needed to know what happened.

***
    "I thought Becca was going to stay with you," Sean practically growled into my ear.
    He hadn't taken the news as well as I'd thought he would. But then again, what could I expect? His fiancé had been one hero away from being date raped… or worse. And for once, he hadn’t been the hero; that had to do some serious damage to a guy’s ego.
    "She did," I responded quietly, hoping the calm of my voice could pull him back down. "But she had to go to work. I decided to stay. This isn't her fault anyway. I'm the idiot that left my drink unattended."
    "That's just asinine.” I pulled the phone away from my ear, trying to escape at least some of the volume from his rant. “You should be able to go to a school function and not have to worry about whether or not you'll be drugged."
    "You're right, but things just aren't that way anymore, Sean."
    He growled again, this time sounding almost animalistic. "It's a damn good thing no one knows who the guy was that tried to take advantage of you. I'd—I—"
    "I know, babe."
    A moment of heavy silence hung between us before he spoke again. "Come home.”
    My heart stuttered at his demand. He couldn't mean… could he? "I'm coming home next weekend," I said, trying to feel him out.
    "No, Andy. Come home, now."
    Oh, God. He did mean what I thought he meant.
    "Sean."
    "Andrea." I could