The Fight for Us by Elizabeth Finn Read Free Book Online Page B

children were brought into the mix.
    “I was just worried. Things have been difficult for her here.” He studied her carefully as he spoke.
    She was guessing he was just as aware they were on a slippery slope as she was.
    “Yes, but Harper knows what she did was wrong. She’s not a mean child. She just got caught up with the wrong girls.”
    “And you think that makes them friends?” His head cocked to the side, and his jaw was suddenly tense. They were passing over the precipice of that damn slope now, and soon, they’d be helpless to stop the slide.
    “Well, I’d like to think they could—”
    “Nat is ignored all day at school. Just because Harper and her friends aren’t tormenting her, doesn’t mean they’re friends or that anyone is her friend for that matter. She’s treated like an outsider, and I don’t want to see her reaching out to someone and then getting hurt as a result. Harper has been—”
    “Perfectly nice to Nat since—” The defense in her tone was undeniable.
    “Don’t call her Nat,” he snapped. His inability to let her finish a single sentence was his own defense. There was no stopping their descent now. His eyes were wide and angry. Joss was left with her mouth hanging open as he glared at her. She was shocked, though she’d seen it coming since the moment Harper and Natalie’s names were mentioned. He looked confused or angry or something too bizarre for her to nail down. When he opened his mouth again, it was with a frustrated shake of his head. “Can we go now, please?”
    She nodded, but the exasperated huff of breath she didn’t even attempt to disguise made it clear she was pissed. He shook his head again in response as he turned and walked from the house.
    The next four hours of her life were the longest, most uncomfortable she’d ever experienced. They may have managed to avoid a shouting match, but they were certainly not going to be friends on this day. His expression was cold, his demeanor was too, and he followed her stoically around house after house. She couldn’t seem to get her voice to sound kind, and it was due to his distant behavior. He didn’t seem to be part of this world at all, and she felt like she was doing nothing more than talking to herself. But that’s not to say she didn’t manage to incite something from him, but like everything else, it left her confused to the point of being dumbfounded.
    As they were returning to the main level of the fifth house they toured, she managed to catch her heel on a carpet loop just as she was trying to step down to the last stair of the wide open staircase. She started falling forward toward him as he came off the last step. He caught her as her arms flailed and she tried to grasp helplessly at the banister. Naturally, she ended up chest to chest with the man—still standing oddly and only partially on the last step as he stood on the floor. He was tall, and the step put her close to his face and her breasts sandwiched tightly between them.
    She felt the warmth of his breath on her lips as he exhaled slowly, and her cheeks started burning with hot heat. She was entirely too close to him. His hand, which had landed on her lower back and nearly made it to her ass, was sending a flush through her body that coursed in her veins with the beat of her heart. His eyes traveled slowly down to her breasts—her cleavage pushed up slightly thanks to the closeness of their bodies and the rather low cut of her shirt. His breath caught in his throat as he stared at her tits, and it was only when her hand made it to the railing and she was able to right herself and pull back from his body that he finally looked away.
    She straightened her shirt as he avoided looking at her for a moment, and when his attention finally returned to her, he looked frustrated.
    “We’re done.” He turned and walked away as she gaped at him, and when she finally caught up to him after scrambling to turn the lights off and lock the house, he was