In the Heart of Forever Read Free Page B

out. The hall was still dark and there was no sign of him anywhere so I ran into my room, slamming the door behind me.
    With a sigh of relief, I leaned my forehead against my door. My heart raced and blood pounded in my ears. I took a couple deep breaths and turned around, sighing with relief when I didn’t see him anywhere in my room. Maybe I was being paranoid. He was a douchebag but he wouldn’t hurt me in that way. Would he? My skin crawled just thinking about it.
     
    ***
     
    I grabbed an apple as I left the house and headed to school. The cool morning wind whipped over me. It was the beginning of February but we had a warm front set in. Our small town hardly got touched with snow but frost coated everything.
    Allan wasn’t home when I left the house, his work hours thankfully taking him away for most of the day.
    My phone rang as I walked down the street and I smiled when I saw who it was. “Hi Jake.”
    “What’s wrong?”
    I frowned. “How do you know something’s wrong?”
    He chuckled. “I know you.”
    He had a point. “Bad night.”
    “Anything I can do?”
    I sighed, slowing my steps. “No. I’m fine.”
    There was a pause and then Jake cleared his throat. “Okay, well I’ll see you at school.”
    “Jake, wait.” I gripped the phone, praying silently that he hadn’t hung up.
    “What’s up?”
    I took a deep breath. “I just want to thank you for—“
    “We’re friends, Jesse. You don’t have to thank me.”
    Anxiety flowed through my belly at the disappointment in his voice. “Okay, well I—“
    “I’ll talk to you later.”
    The line disconnected and I tossed the phone back in my bag.
    I reached the school a couple of blocks later and went right to the library, needing an escape. My cheek still stung from where Allan had slapped me and my stomach churned at the memory. I took deep cleansing breaths and tried telling myself that it could be different. Others had it far worse than I did. I had to be strong, not give up.
    I pulled a book from the shelf and sat down, leaning against the wall. My muscles twitched and moaned in protest, as I stretched my legs out in front of me.
    I looked down at my book and frowned when a water drop landed on the page. I lifted my glasses and roughly wiped the tears from my cheeks, surprised that I was crying.
    The heroine and hero happily expressed their love for each other and I grumbled, throwing the book on the floor in front of me.
    “Now that’s no way to treat a book.”
    I jumped at the deep smooth voice filling the aisle. Rave stood a few feet from me, leaning against the stack of books. A soft smile splayed on his handsome face, his eyes warm and inviting.
    His light cologne filled my nostrils, making my heart skip. His deep green gaze bored into mine. His shaggy black hair was messy, like he didn’t even bother doing anything with it.
    God, he was dangerously gorgeous. I bit my cheek, angry at myself that I let him affect me so. I ignored him and rose to my feet, picking up the book. I put it back on the shelf and turned to leave when a warm hand landed on my shoulder. I jumped at the contact.
    He pulled his hand away. “It’s Jesse right?”
    I looked back at him, surprised that I had wanted him to touch me again. I nodded in reply and grabbed my bag, heading to a table in the middle of the room.
    “Aren’t you going to talk to me?” he asked, following behind.
    Why would I do that? So you can hurt me too? I sat down in a chair, sighing and pulled my homework out of my bag.
    Rave sat across from me. “You’re not much of a talker are you?”
    I could feel his intense stare, drilling a hole into the top of my head but I didn’t reply. I wasn’t shy by any means but if I ignored him, then he would hopefully take the hint, leave me alone and then he wouldn’t be able to hurt me. I was protecting myself.
    We sat in silence. Neither of us saying anything as I flipped through the pages of my textbook.
    A moment later, as he continued to