Madoc jumped out of the car, not even caring to close the door behind him. “You stole my car?!” he shouted, peering down into the bowl.
With the headlights behind him, the area was well lit, and I tried to breath against the flutter in my chest.
He was here. We were alone. We were angry. Déjà vu.
This is what I wanted. It’s what I’d planned.
But I turned my back on him anyway.
I’d told myself time and again that I didn’t care what he thought of me. I didn’t want his heart after all. It wasn’t part of the equation. He didn’t need to love me or respect me for this to work. I would use him—get what I wanted—without worrying about whatever was in his head. It. Did. Not. Matter.
So why couldn’t I just draw him in like I’d planned? Why did I want to spit back?
“I didn’t steal it. I borrowed it, Princess,” I shot back.
He jumped down into the bowl, his flip flops slapping against the wet cement. “Don’t touch my shit, Fallon!”
“Oh, but you got to come into my room last night and touch me? You don’t get to have everything, Madoc.”
He stopped a few feet from me, and I felt the walls of the bowl close in as he stared. I expected more yelling and insults, but he just stood there, looking like everything that could destroy me without even speaking. Looking like everything that nearly did destroy me.
He was still dressed in only his board shorts and flip flops. No shirt. I guess he would’ve left the house in a hurry if he was coming after me. He’d changed so much in the years I’d been gone. His shoulders and arms were works of art. Madoc always liked to work out, and it paid off. He had a build like a quarterback, and he was tall. I wished I didn’t feel the invisible cord pulling me to him, wanting to touch him again, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. We always want what’s bad for us.
Madoc was hot. He knew it. And he knew everyone else knew it.
But what was underneath the blonde hair, boyish blue eyes, and toned body was bad. He was bad.
And someday, his looks would fade, and his wife would just have someone bad. I had to remind myself of that. There was nothing in him that I should want.
The light rain blew around his face, and he blinked away the water dripping down his face. “You know? Whatever,” he sneered, looking like he was about to turn away. “I’m so over your bullshit, Fallon. I wish I knew what the hell you wanted from me.” His voice got stronger. “You act like everything’s fine around Addie and then you show up to my party dressed to impress down to your underwear around all of my friends, and then you bring up my party two years ago.” He got in my face. “What do you want from me?” His bellow reared up from deep inside of him.
“Nothing!” I shouted, my eyes burning with anger. “I want nothing from you. Nothing ever again!”
He reared back just a little as if I’d surprised him.
“Again? Is that what this is about?” he asked. “Us fucking three years ago?”
Fucking. I averted my eyes.
I’d rather shove a drumstick up my nose than let him see how that hurt. I wiped the water off my forehead and smoothed my hair over the top of my head.
“You know what?” He narrowed his eyes, speaking up before I got a chance. “You can go to hell, Fallon. I was sixteen, too. I was a virgin, same as you. You were all over me, too, and you know it. I didn’t force you! You didn’t have to go and complain to our parents. Jesus Christ!”
Huh?
He breathed hard and kept folding his lips between his teeth. “They treated me like I was pressuring you or some shit!” he shouted, throwing his hand out into the air. “You told them that I was forcing you?”
My name is Tate.
He doesn't call me that, though. He’ll barely refer to me at all, and he’ll hardly ever speak to me.
But he still won't leave me alone.
We were best friends once. Then he turned on me and made it his mission to ruin my life. I've been humiliated, shut out, and gossiped about all through high school. His pranks and rumors got worse as time wore on. I even went to Europe for a year, just to avoid him.
But I'm done hiding from him now, and there's no way I'll allow him to ruin another year. He might not have changed, but I have.
It's time to fight back.
When one brave young woman stands up to her best friend Jared, now tormenter, the consequences go beyond anything either of them ever would have imagined….
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Title: Until You
Author: Penelope Douglas
Series: Fall Away #1.5
Release Date: December 5, 2013
Have you ever been so angry that hitting things felt good? Or numb to all emotions? The past few years have been like that for me. Traveling between fury and indifference with no stops in between. Some people hate me for it, while others are scared of me. But none of them can hurt me, because I don't care about anything or anyone.
Except Tatum.
I love her so much that I hate her. I hate that I can't let her go. We used to be friends, but I found out that I couldn't trust her—or anyone else. So I hurt her. I pushed her away. But I still need her. She centers me. Engaging her, challenging her, pushing her—it’s the one last part of me that feels anything anymore.
But then she went and screwed everything up. She left for a year and came back a different girl. Now, when I push, she pushes back…and I’m not sure either one of us will ever be the same.
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Meet Penelope:
Penelope Douglas is a writer and teacher in Las Vegas. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, she is the oldest of five children. Penelope attended the University of Northern Iowa, earning a Bachelor's degree in Public Administration, because her father told her to "just get the degree!" She then earned a Masters of Science in Education at Loyola University in New Orleans, because she hated Public Administration. One night, she got tipsy and told the bouncer at the bar where she worked that his son was hot, and three years later they were married. To the son, not the bouncer. They have spawn, but just one. A daughter named Aydan. Penelope loves sweets, the show Sons of Anarchy, and she shops at Target almost daily.
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