Torn by Love (Scarred by Love #4) Read Free Page A

couldn’t take this, I had to get out of here. It was all too much.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    Tanner
     
    I could hear her voice from across the bar, and the hurt in it was like a knife to my chest. Carson stood up and started in her direction, and I followed close behind, pushing through the crowd that had started to form around Lily and Shawn.
    It wasn’t hard to figure out what was happening once we rounded the corner. I was buzzed, but you didn’t have to be sober to know Shawn had fucked up.
    I tried to push past Carson only to be held back by Max. “Let go, man,” I said, shoving against his chest, my anger boiling harder at his resistance.
    “She’s got this, T, it ain’t your fight.” Max was like a damn brick wall as he held me back. All I wanted to do was get past him long enough to bust that prick in the mouth.
    I stopped fighting against Max as I took in the devastated look on her face. Her lower lip quivered, and my knees felt weak instantly. Lily looked back at us, and her reddened eyes gutted me. Watching her rush past us, as Bree and Kate ran after her, was just another punch to the gut. Max made the mistake of trying to shift to get a better hold on me, and I took the opening. One swing to the jaw of her fuckwad date had him stumbling back.
    Carson wrapped his arms around me from behind and held on tight as I struggled. “You stupid motherfucker,” I growled as he pulled me farther away. “Don’t you see what you had in her? Lily deserves better than this.”
    The bouncer approached us, and Max held him off, telling him we were leaving.
    I jerked out of Carson’s hold after he dragged me out the door “Calm the fuck down, T,” he said. “I can’t keep you out of jail, you dumbass. You just assaulted a police officer.”
    “What?” A shuddering voice came from the darkness.
    All three of us turned to see the girls standing just to the side of the entrance. Lily stepped closer, holding her purse to her chest. Her cheeks were wet with tears, and she looked so frail.
    “Are you okay?” I asked, reaching out for her.
    “Stop,” she said, her voice sounding so direct. “What did you do?”
    Everyone stood in silence, looking at us. The girls mirrored Lily’s expression of irritation. The guys steered clear, throwing me to the sharks. The alcohol running ahead of my brain made me speak before thinking. “I busted the fucker in the mouth. I would have done more if five-zero over there would have stayed out of my way.” I nudged my thumb in Carson’s direction.
    “This has nothing to do with you,” she said coldly, no sweet Lily behind her words. “You have no right. This is my life, Tanner, mine. I didn’t want or need your help.”
    “I don’t like to see you hurt.” The confession fell from my lips before I could stop it. “I can’t take it.”
    Lily stepped toward me, looking me dead in the eyes. “Well, if that is even remotely true, then why was it okay for you to hurt me?” She cocked an eyebrow at me. “All those times you flirted when you knew I would fall for it, only to throw your newest flavor of the week in my face.”
    “Lily, I—”
    “Back the fuck off. Your games are old and I’m done playing.” No one spoke as she stepped past me; the only sound was the shuffle of Lily’s feet as she walked away.
    I spun around to chase after her, and a delicate hand encircled my forearm. I turned to see Kate looking up at me, shaking her head. “We’ll take her home. Let her cool off before you try again. Her emotions are running wild right now. It won’t help trying anything more tonight.”
    She didn’t wait for me to agree or fight her on this, she just walked after Lily, leaving me to feel like the biggest ass there ever was.
    Lily was right. I played games. I toyed with her because I knew she was crushing on me. At first her attention was an ego boost, but in the end it was so much more.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter