TROUBLE, A New Adult Romance Novel (The Rebel Series) by Elle Casey Read Free Book Online Page A

when I might have been just a little wrong.   “You swear.   A lot .   And you fight.   That’s zero manners right there.”
    He shrugs. “Lots of people swear.   They’re just words.”
    “Words designed to incite anger and reactions.”   I nod in triumph.
    “All words are designed to incite something.   Emotions are good.   Being dead inside isn’t.”
    My nostrils flare as I glare at him. He should be just lying down and letting me win this argument.   He knows I’m right. “Cuss words are there to add anger and filth to language.   They are the ignoramus’s excuse for not being better-read.”
    He laughs.   He actually has the nerve to laugh at me.
    “You’re insufferable,” I say, throwing down my paper napkin and standing.
    “Where are you going?” he asks, still smiling his stupid face off.
    “I’m leaving, you … you … turkey !”
    He’s walking behind me.   I can hear his footsteps.   “You just cussed at me,” he says.   “That’s not very good manners, you know.   I have it on good authority.   You’re inciting anger.”
    I don’t even look back at him.   He’s too ridiculous.   “Turkey is not a cuss word.”
    “When you use it as a derogatory term it becomes one.   I don’t particularly like being compared to a flightless bird raised solely for the purpose of making your Thanksgiving table look more festive and delicious.”
    I will not respond.   Mostly because he’s too annoying and I don’t want to encourage him but also because I feel a little bad that I called him that name.   Sure, it’s just a bird I eat at Thanksgiving, but I did kind of use it in a bad way.   Grrr , I hate that he’s twisting everything around and making it seem wrong.
    “So what’s this about adoption?” he asks, pulling even with me as I try to walk down the sidewalk.   I hate that my belly is so big my legs won’t work right. I feel like a flightless bird waddling down the street the way I lurch from side to side and have to point my toes out.   My hips just do not want to function like they used to.
    “None of your beeswax.”   I try to say it without the breathlessness that’s arising out of my fast pace and the heat of the day.
    “Maybe not, but I’d still like to know.”
    “Too bad.”
    He puts his hand on my arm, making me stop.   I turn to face him, ready to blast him for manhandling me, but the expression on his face makes it impossible.
    Having him stare at me like that is too much.   I have to stop it from happening. “What?” I finally say, turning my head to stare out towards the road so I won’t have to see him looking at me anymore.   He’s so darn earnest sometimes, and coming from him, that expression is just too weird.
    “Are you really going to put your baby up for adoption?”
    I shrug.   “What does it matter?   It’s not yours.”
    “I know that.   I’m pretty sure I’d remember if you and I had sex.”
    He probably meant it as a joke, but it makes me shiver all the same.   Sex.   I’m never ever doing that again.   Not that I even decided to in the first place.   Ugh.   Do not go there, Alissa.   Focus on something else .
    I look back at him and put my hands on my hips, hating where my head is at right now.   Memories.   Nightmares.   Terrible, terrible things are coming back to me.   “Listen, Colin … I really appreciate the lunch or dinner or whatever that was, but this doesn’t make us friends, okay?”
    “I thought we already were friends.”
    I throw up my arms.   “You can’t even stand to be in the same room as me or look at me most of the time!   How does that equate to friendship?!”   I want to tear my hair out over this boy.   He makes me lose all my good sense every time he’s in the same vicinity as me.
    Even though I shouldn’t want to be his friend because he’s bad news and completely incorrigible, I want to be his friend, and that just ticks me off.   Because we both know it just