Traitor: A Bully Romance (Loxley Prep Book 1) by Hattie Jude

Author:Hattie Jude [Jude, Hattie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

You would think my tiny house was the most fascinating thing they’ve ever seen, the way they are taking everything in. Bishop stares out the windows…each window, as if the perimeter of my small yard is going to expose him for being in my house. Or maybe he’s just interested in our landscaping or the lack thereof?

Abel is studying the few pictures Aunt Darby set out when we got here. They wouldn’t have been my first choice or really a choice at all. There’s a family picture of a time when she visited. It was before my mom left, and it was one of the happier times I can remember. It was before I was sent to Camp Capitree and it’s one of the few family pictures where I’m smiling. The other picture is of Aunt Darby and me at Galveston. We’d gone for the weekend before all the money disappeared, just the two of us. It was a fun trip. We laid out on the beach all day, shopped the touristy shops, and ate at the seafood and Tex-Mex places. I hadn’t wanted to go home, and in the picture of us, we’re both in our bikinis and smiling bigger than I can remember ever smiling.

Abel stares at both pictures for a long time, so long it’s unsettling.

Ronan sticks close, watching them and watching me. Wells is in my room when I walk in there, sitting on my bed and looking around.

“This is not the kind of room I imagined you in,” he says.

“What did you expect?”

He throws his arm out and I glance at the bed without a headboard, the lack of pictures, the nightstand with a phone charger and nothing else.

“There’s nothing that shows your personality anywhere. At camp, I imagined your room at home with stuffed animals and trophies and pictures with all your friends and family.”

“I didn’t have many friends and didn’t do anything that would warrant a trophy. I did like stuffed animals though.” I grin and glance around my sad room. My comforter is a grey one we found at the thrift store. It looked brand new, so it’s not ratty or anything, but it’s not what I would’ve picked out if I could’ve gotten something I liked.

“Where are they now?” he asks.

“Where are what now?” I ask, distracted.

“The stuffed animals. The colorful…anything.”

I remember the way they smelled, burning, and I wrap my arms around myself. I don’t want to talk about my father with them, but I know I’ll have to eventually if I’m going to learn anything. “My father burned them.”

His eyes narrow on me, and Ronan stiffens next to me. “Why would he do that?” Wells asks.

I shrugged. “Because he knew I loved them.”

I see a flash of pity across Wells’ face, which is the last thing I want, but it’s gone in the next moment. He jumps up, his expression unreadable, and leaves the room. I hear the bathroom door shut and Ronan touches my elbow, turning me toward him.

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