HIM Read Free Page B

thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said rolling my eyes and pushing past him to get to the bathroom down the hall.
                  This was technically Tory’s summer home.  Her parents, the Walt’s, were incredibly wealthy and had given the house to her as a graduation present a few summers ago along with a huge blowout graduation party.  Her parents owned the house and the three acres surrounding it.  When she received the house she told me we could share it.  So now we do.  Half of the twelve bedroom, four bathroom, two kitchen, four-car garage domain, was mine. We come here any time we’re able to get away for weeks on end.
    At first my mother was reluctant to have me live in the beach house once more after I came back last summer different .  But when I brought up the idea to her just last month she practically packed my suitcase for me and pushed me out the door. It was as if everything that had happened last summer disintegrated.  I didn’t mean to but I pretty much made my mom’s life a living nightmare.  I was her sick child – the talk of the incredibly large and multiplying city.  I knew I embarrassed her.  And I would always feel horrible because of that.
                  As an almost-senior I've been attending classes at Brooklyn College living at home with my mom in Brooklyn, New York, which was the city Tory and I lived since birth.  My mother wanted me to go to a campus close by because we couldn’t afford anything better.  But when the idea arose that I should come back to the big blue beach house I neglected one simple, disastrous detail – this place was his .
    He haunted this house, these walls with his invisible presence.  And he wasn’t even a prisoner in a facility.  Or dead.  Not that I knew of anyway.  So I was always living in this constant state of fear, wondering if and when he’d return for me.
    I walked down the narrow hallway to come across my bathroom – full-size with a black and white theme.  One of the best views in the house was from this bathroom.  There was an oversized counter top on one end, a toilet on the other and a stand-up shower in between.  Outside the big French doors across from the granite countertop was a comfy red leather chair on the balcony overlooking the beach.  In the past I would go out there and read, feeling the cool summer breeze touch my skin.  But today it was windy outside I saw as I watched the trees blow outside the closed window.  The weather seemed odd for the end of May.
    “I don’t get what your deal is.  One minute you’re barely looking at me and the next you’re glaring at me like I’m on your hit-list.”  Although he was insulted by the fact that I had turned him down I could tell he loved this.  The amusement in his eyes was undeniably there.
    “Totally,” I muttered.  His forced words hadn’t offended me at all.
    “What’s so funny?  Care to share with the class?”
    “You…” Adrenaline pulsed through my veins as I thought of what to say.  In a senseless way I wanted this flirtatious bantering to continue.  “You come in here, unannounced, and expect me to fall head over heels for you or something!” I shouted, releasing some of my pent-up frustration – which, in context, was not directed towards Jensen, really, but more towards him .  “Well I’m sorry,” I continued, “but I won’t be falling in love with anyone any time soon.”
    “And why is that?”
    “You don’t need to know.”
    “No one needs to know anything.”
    “Digging won’t get you anywhere with me.”
    “Has anyone ever gotten anywhere with you?”  I didn’t answer.  “So someone has got –”
    “Can you please stop talking?”
    “I’ll stop once you tell me what happened to make you so bitter.”
                  I was taken aback.  “I…I’m not bitter.”
                  “You are.”
                  “I’m