He Belongs With Me Read Free Page A

first internships, doing the horizontal tango with someone special, taking fabulous family vacations, or simply hanging behind in Blacksburg so they wouldn't miss all the summer parties, I was being held hostage here in the dreadful town of Blue Creek. Secluded, quaint, and nestled along the Blue Ridge Mountains. Population: pitiful. Historical significance: zip. Suicide rate: extremely likely. At least I could take comfort in the fact that this would be my final summer under Dad's thumb. Oh, and best of all, it was the last time I'd be stuck working at his stupid, uppity country club.
    I’d been home from college all of one day before Andrew asked me out. Naturally, I declined. As my sister's ex, the guy was strictly off-limits. It didn't matter that Maggie and I weren't exactly best buds. Hell, these days we were barely on speaking terms. But I wasn't a bitch. No matter what my relationship with my sister looked like, I wouldn't stoop that low.
    Still, Andrew had been annoyingly persistent. It felt nice being pursued like that, since guys typically steered clear of me. They preferred the nicer, sweeter version of myself—Maggie. But for some mysterious reason, Andrew kept at it. I'd been almost tempted ( not! ) until I discovered from my friend, Leah Longerburger that persistence and charm were just part of the Andrew Wellington playbook. Apparently, he got around and not just recently. When I found out the slime-bucket had been cheating on my sister—with Leah and multiple others— that's when I finally agreed to go out with him.
    Come hell or high water, my mission this summer was to make Andrew Wellington regret he ever knew the name Clara Ryder. When Andrew confessed that he had feelings for me—that he'd always had feelings for me—my first thought had been absolute disgust. How could he have dated Maggie for all those years and carried some secret torch for me? But as he made his declaration of love, I hadn't missed the sincerity behind his eyes. That's when I formulated my plan to fake-date him. He'd crushed Maggie's heart and now I was going to crush his. Payback was going to be a bitch.
    But in addition to hurting Andrew, I also had to protect Maggie. My biggest fear was that after I crushed and dumped Andrew, he'd go running straight back to my sister. What if she took him back? My sister let people into her heart so easily, and since she dated the dillweed for four years, I got the impression that she might still be hung up on him. My relationship with Maggie was already broken, no matter what I did. So, my great-big-awesome plan not only consisted of breaking his heart, but also giving Maggie the impression that her “perfect” Andrew was vile enough to bang her sister. Not exactly honorable, but in my deranged mind I saw the plan as brilliance.
    Maybe it would’ve been easier to just tell her the truth, but I doubted she'd have believed me. I needed insurance and my plan offered that. Plus, it gave me something to do this summer. Blue Creek was dreadfully boring. A little scandal sounded fun.
    “Andrew,” I whispered in my best seductive voice. “We're all alone and you're more interested in the golf course than the beautiful girl standing right beside you. I didn't come all the way out here to admire the grass.”
    A smile formed on his smug lips, and then he suddenly closed the distance between us. His hands tangled through my long hair. His mouth smothered mine. His dry lips needed some serious ChapStick, but I kissed him back like I wasn't repulsed. When his slobbery tongue plunged into my mouth, I very nearly vomited, but somehow I managed to keep it together. We'd kissed twice now but never so greedily. Was he trying to eat my face?
    He shimmied out of his suit jacket and glued his body to mine as his hands traveled downward. Then, to my surprise, he yanked me up in his arms, and the next thing I knew he was lowering me down onto the prickly grass I hated so much. His consuming kisses didn't