Stripped by H.M. Ward Read Free Book Online Page A

Pushing off the bed, I walk to the bathroom and splash water on my face.
    When I head back to bed, I can't sleep. Guilt gnaws at me like it just happened. "Sex doesn't matter," I tell myself. It doesn't, it can't. It's something to do to pass the time. It means nothing and it never will.
    After a second, I text Robyn. U up?
    A few seconds later she writes back, No.
    Your cousin hates me. I don't know why I'm telling her this. I just type whatever comes to mind. It's too late to be bothering her, and having written proof of anything is stupid, but it's Robyn. What's the worst she can do, show her cousin and Cassie laughs at me?
    I hate u 2.
    Ignoring her, I type, Is she serious?
    About?
    Did you really just ask me that? About the virgin thing. Telling a guy that she's holding onto her V-card, no you can't have it, and then gloating about it like virginity is something special—it's totally insane.
    What do you want, Jonny?
    What do I want? I want to nail your cousin. No, well, I do—but that's not the main thing. I need to know how she got there, why she's nearly twenty and actively refusing sex. It's insane. Doesn't she want it? How does she handle the urges? I picture Cassie with her hand down her panties and, oh fuck—that was a mistake.
    Clearing my mind, I focus on why I'm bothering Robyn in the middle of the night. It's because she has something that I want. Then it hits me, I want to know Cassie better. I want to know why she thinks the way she does.
    I think you're asking the wrong person.
    I can't ask her. I don't even know her.
    But you want to...?
    I can picture Cassie's smile—the genuine one that she was wearing for a few seconds today. I want to put that look on her face. I want to know what makes her laugh, scowl, and grin. I want that version of her that I only saw when I shocked the hell out of her and her guard dropped for half a beat. Yeah, I do.
    Go over there in the morning. Bring food. Don't leave when she tries to throw you out.
    And...?
    And get to know her, dumbass.
    You're so eloquent when you're tired.
    Fuck you. TTYL.
    A vague plan forms in my mind and I smile. I wonder if it's really that simple. There's only one way to find out.

CHAPTER 9
    CASSIE
    It's 8:30am and someone is pounding on the metal screen door. It rattles like crazy until the hammering stops. I roll over and pull the blankets over my head. I planned on sleeping for another hour and there's no way in hell I'm opening the door. I'm pretty sure I'm in the 'hood part of the countryside with wild bears, rednecks with rifles, and stuff like that.
    The knocking starts again. Moaning, I throw back the blankets and tug my hair away from my face and into a sloppy ponytail. I rub the sleep from my eyes and peer between the mini blinds in my room to look out at the front porch. Fuck. Is he serious? I glance down at my jammies and decide there is no way in hell that I am ever opening the door.
    Just as I turn to go back to bed, Jonathan says, "I know you're there, so open the door. I have breakfast."
    Padding down the narrow hall, I go to open the door with the idea that I'll chew him out and threaten to hit him in the head with a frying pan if he doesn't leave me alone. My heart thumps inside my chest as I reach for the knob. When I yank it back, I want to kill him. Jonathan looks perfect in his crisp cream T shirt and dark jeans, while I look like I just rolled out of bed. I don't unlock the screen door. Instead I fold my arms over my chest and stare at him through bits of rust. "Are you insane?"
    "Probably." He smirks at me, and that smile sends a shiver through my body.
    "And you think that's the best thing to say to get me to open the door?"
    He waits a beat and then grins, saying, "I promise not to have sex with you."
    "You're such an ass." I flick the lock on the screen and let him in. When Jonathan walks past me I get a whiff of his cologne. God he smells good. "Did you drown yourself in a vat of aftershave?"
    He nods. "Just for you,