Within This Frame by Lindy Zart Read Free Book Online Page A

anything from this guy,” he said harshly, eyes on Rick’s smug face.
    “Whoa there, Lance, no need to overreact.” Rick held up his hands. “It was only water.”
    “Sure it was.”
    “It really was. I saw him open the bottle,” Maggie told him quietly.
    He tore his gaze from Rick, taking in her confused expression. “It doesn’t matter. Stay away from him. He’s bad news, Maggie.”
    “You’re one to talk,” Rick sneered. His long black hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, his lean frame clothed in a blue shirt and black shorts. “You think just because you’re famous, people don’t know or care about what you’re really like. They do, and they talk.”
    “Shut up,” he warned, hands clenched at his sides.
    “What’s he talking about?” Maggie asked.
    “Nothing. Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and pulled.
    “I know about Lacey McCall! Everyone knows about her. And the others—”
    Spinning around, he slammed his fist into Rick’s long nose and heard a crack. Rick fell to his knees, moaning. Lance towered over him, rage shouting at him to do more, hit him more. “And I know about how you lure girls into trusting you, and then you take advantage of that trust, and use it to make them do things they don’t want. At least everyone I’ve been with has been because they wanted it, not because they felt like they had no choice.” He spit on the ground and stalked away, not caring if Maggie followed or not.
    The setting sun was red, reflecting his present mood. Lance’s hands opened and closed as he moved, stiff with the need to hit something else. He was halfway to the apartments when he heard her voice. Lance wasn’t aware if she’d just called his name, or had been the whole time. Whatever the case, it registered then, when it hadn’t before. She called it two more times before he slowed down, stopped, and finally turned around.
    Maggie stared at him, hair fallen from the clips that held it up. The display was erotically at odds with the innocence stamped upon her face as a brand to keep him away. Chest lifting and lowering with each fast intake of air she took, she gasped, “Why did you run off?”
    “Because if I hadn’t, I would have beaten the shit out of that guy.”
    “What was he talking about? Who’s—who’s Lacey? What happened with her?”
    Lance’s jaw shifted. “Just a girl I knew.”
    Hands clasped before her, she bowed her head. “Okay.” Maggie looked up and to the side. “And the girl that kissed you? Just another girl you know?”
    “Yes,” he said roughly.
    She nodded, the determined cast of her profile saying she’d come to some kind of decision. “I’m going to go home now.”
    Maggie got in a dozen steps before he was running after her. He caught her wrist and swung her around. Lance looked down at her, remorse squeezing his heart at the words he was about to say. He didn’t want her to know the kind of person he was, not yet.
    “We went on a date or two, messed around. It meant more to her than it did me, and when I told her, she . . . she got upset. Really upset. She drove off. There was a car accident, and . . . she didn’t make it.”
    He went silent, swallowing thickly. Waiting. Waiting for the judgement. The coldness. The blame. The rejection. He didn’t get them. Instead Maggie lifted a hand to his cheek and held it there. It was a kind gesture, comforting. Empathetic.
    Unwanted.
    Needed.
    Lance blinked his eyes and averted his head, embarrassed by the prick of tears.
    “How long ago did it happen?”
    He shrugged. “Five months.”
    “Thank you for telling me.”
    Looking at Maggie, seeing the sincerity on her face, Lance’s chest compressed more. That time, she kissed him. Other than their lips, no part of them touched. It was slow and deep. He’d kissed a lot of girls, had a lot of them kiss him. Passionate kisses. Hard kisses. Kisses that made him mad with need and out of control. He’d never been kissed like that before.
    That was