Ruined Hopes by L. A. Cotton

Author:L. A. Cotton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Delesty Books

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ashleigh

Anger boiled in my blood as I watched Ezra storm out of the building. He was so angry, tormented, and too freaking stubborn for his own good. Although he said one thing, his actions and the way he looked at me said another thing entirely.

But he was determined to make me hate him and was doing a pretty good job at it.

“Ashleigh?” Uncle Jason appeared at the end of the hall. “Is something wrong? I thought I heard voices.”

“Nope.” I pasted on the best smile I could muster. “I was just coming by to tell you Dad has been trying to get hold of you, but he says your cell phone is off.”

“It isn’t.” He dug it out of his pocket and frowned. “So it is. Must have run out of battery earlier. Damn thing. I’ll call him from my office.”

I nodded. “I should probably go.”

“Wait,” he said. “Are you sure everything is okay? Cam mentioned you’ve been finding it hard… at school, I mean.”

“It is what it is.”

“You know you can always talk to me or Mya, right?” He ran a hand over his jaw. “You’re not alone in this.”

“I know but there are some things I have to handle myself.”

“Your classmates…”

“There are some rumors going around. Stupid stuff…”

His expression darkened, and I knew he was probably thinking of what happened with Lily and Lindsey Filmer last year.

“I can talk to Principal Kiln.”

“No, you don’t need to do that. I can handle it.”

He studied me, his ice-blue eyes pinning me to the spot.

Uncle Jason was intense. Fiercely protective of his friends and family. It should have comforted me knowing he was always around. But there was a niggling voice in the back of my mind. He blamed Ezra for what happened, and now Ezra was training with the football team.

“Are you punishing him?” The words tumbled out before I could stop them.

“What?”

“Ezra… is making him play on the team your way of punishing him?”

“Ezra needs to learn discipline, Ashleigh.” He didn’t miss a beat. “And he needs to take responsibility for his future. He failed senior year. After everything Asher and Mya have done for him, he just gave up. That is unacceptable.”

“He’s been through a lot.”

Defending him was as easy as breathing. Maybe Lily was right. Maybe I did want to fix him. To save him. But I never once saw him as a charity case or a project. I cared about him.

Was that so awful?

“He has.” Uncle Jason’s expression softened a fraction. “But he refuses to let anyone help him and he’s an angry young man with nowhere to channel that energy. Football will be good for him.”

“So, it’s not about the accident?”

His brows pinched. “Is that what you think? That I’m forcing him to play for the team to punish him?”

“Aren’t you?”

His brows crinkled. “I’m trying to help.”

“If you say so.”

“Ashleigh—”

“I should go. I have to get to last period.”

“Will you be at the pep rally Friday? It would be good to see you there.”

“I’ll think about it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.