Page 13 of Betraying Him
Fuck, this girl is really getting under my skin.
“You do?”
She lies back again, staring up at the sky. “I think it’s easy to forget we’re all just playing a game. Sometimes, what you show the rest of the world is so believable, people start to believe it. Hell, sometimes evenIbelieve what I show people. It’s hard when there are so many expectations placed on you that you feel the need to comply, and sometimes the weight of that feels like it will bury you.”
“Your dad is hard on you?”
A shadow passes in her eyes, there and gone in a blink, and I wonder if I really saw it at all, or if my eyes were deceiving me.
“You could say that,” she whispers, and the conversation is finished.
We both look up at the sky, enjoying the peaceful moment between just the two of us.
NINE
SAVANNAH
I’m scrollingthrough the list in my notes, trying to make sure I have everything ready for when I head off to college, when a text pops up on my screen. A weird mix of excitement and dread surfaces when I see it’s Harley.
Harley
I miss you.
A trembling breath leaves me as I grin.
You’re crazy, I reply, trying to be nonchalant. I’m not stupid, I know Harley’s reputation, and the more I speak to him, the more he’s pulling me in. I’m getting attached when I know I shouldn’t. Not only because of the whispers I’ve heard about him, but because of what’s at stake if my father finds out.
Harley
Don’t pretend you don’t love it, red.
That one’s a bit obvious, no?
Harley
*sighs* I’ll keep working on it.
And he will. I know he will, because he hasn’t given up with it yet.
I still can’t quite grasp why he’s so interested in me. Is it just because he’s bored, alone for the summer, and I’m giving him something to do? I should distance myself, but I can’t.
I secretly love the way he’s so hell-bent on spending time with me.
I’m not the girl that people pay attention to, I’m just the bookworm who no one notices unless it’s with a fi?—
Harley
What are you doing?
Why?
Instead of replying to the message, my phone starts ringing with a video call from him. I swallow thickly and press accept.
Harley’s grinning face pops up on my screen, and I find my own tilting up in a small smile, which only makes him grin harder. Jerk.
“Hey, Sav,” he says and stretches out on his bed. He’s wearing a white T-shirt that fits him perfectly as he lies on navy blue sheets.
“Why are you calling, Harley?”
