The Trouble with Bree (Spotlight #1.5) by Kristen Strassel Read Free Book Online Page A

expected her to come up last night.
    Whoever it was had no plans of going away, they knocked again, a little harder this time. I lifted Lucas from my lap and went to face the music.
    “What the hell happened to you?” The look on Josh’s face almost made me break down all over again. Instead of answering him, I stepped aside so he could come in.
    “Josh!” Both of the boys’ faces lit up, and Landon jumped up off the couch to greet him. Josh crouched down to talk to Landon, and I flopped back down on the couch.
    “Are you okay?” Josh asked once he got the boys resettled.
    “I wasn’t ready to see anyone yet.” I stared at the movie but didn’t see it. “I’m fine.”
    “No, you’re not.” Josh slid off the couch and kneeled down in front of me, taking my hand in his. “I’m sorry I just came over, but I knew something wasn’t right when I talked to you.”
    “My ex was here when we got back last night.” I still couldn’t look at Josh while I spoke, even though he was right in front of me. “And he went crazy.”
    “He hit you.” Josh’s tone dropped, cold and hard. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him shake his head, disgusted. I rolled up my pajamas so he could see my thigh in its angry purple glory. “Jesus. Did you call the cops?”
    “They came.” I hated that I was being short with Josh. Any time I had to talk about this kind of thing, I got defensive. “He’s Lucas’ dad.”
    “That doesn’t make it okay.” Josh climbed back up on the couch, but still held my hand. “Does this happen a lot?”
    “No. We hadn’t seen him in months. I’d had a restraining order against him. I’m going to apply for a new one tomorrow. I wasn’t up to it today.”
    “Is there anything I can do?” Josh rubbed this thumb along the outside of my hand. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
    “Now you understand why I have cold feet.” It felt so natural to put my head on his shoulder. Josh welcomed me, sliding his hand around my waist. “I can’t have the boys thinking that’s okay.”
    “No. It’s not okay.” His words were clipped. “Have you ever talked to anyone about it?”
    “You mean, like a counselor?” Josh nodded against the top of my head. “Yeah, on and off, but I always leave feeling worse.” Kind of like I was now.
    “Then you didn’t talk to the right person.”
    A familiar wall went up. “See? Like that.” I sighed, sitting up and pulling away from him. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I’m doing the best I can.”
    “I’m not judging you, Bree.” Josh tried to smile, but it was more that look of pity that I hated. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
    The boys weren’t paying any attention to us. Lucas was still totally enthralled in the movie, and Landon had started to play with his army guys on the floor. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”
    “Ready for what?” Josh’s brow furrowed in confusion. “To be happy? To not be treated like a punching bag? You deserve better than that.”
    “So I deserve you?” I hated the words as they came out of my mouth, but I was so used to pushing people away when they tried to ‘fix’ me I didn’t know how to stop.
    Josh closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “My mother had a boyfriend like Troy.” His face darkened again and he wrung his hands together in his lap. “He beat her to death.”
    “Jesus.” Cold swept over my body. Every time I saw Troy things got worse. What would have happened last night if the police hadn’t come? “I’m so sorry.”
    “It didn’t start off like that for her either, and it took him a long time to actually kill her. She made excuses for him, gave him chances. Things kept getting worse. Finally, she tried to leave him, and that sent him over the edge. I was eleven when it happened, old enough to understand what was going on.” Josh’s eyes glazed over, but he didn’t cry. There came a point where the tears didn’t help anymore. "I don’t want