Good Girl Gone Plaid(33)
He wasn’t proud of the way he let his expression become almost mocking as she stared him down one last time. But it was the only way he knew how not to break. And she was damn close to breaking him.
He forced a crooked smile. “Well now, I’m sure it’s a relief to have that off your chest.”
“You can go to hell,” Sarah whispered. “Both of you.”
And then she’d fled the house.
Ian opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling fan again, bringing himself back to the present. Out of the painful memory.
Every word Sarah had spat at him that day had been like toxic darts, burying deep into his body and poisoning his soul. Killing any shred of decency he’d had left.
He’d known he’d screwed up, and good, but he couldn’t have been prepared to see her sweet demeanor fade into such hate and spite. The way she’d finally stripped away the fluffy outer shell to show exactly how she felt about him. How she’d probably always felt about him, while she’d just been indulging her wild side with a bad boy.
He was nothing. Would never be anything.
How much of a class fool did it make him to have thought she’d seen him differently? That she’d brought out another side of him he’d begun to think possible.
He’d been fooling himself as much as her.
When she’d left the party house, he’d had every intention of giving her a few days to cool off before trying to talk to her again. Trying to smooth things over, at least to the point where maybe they could be friends.
Because the idea of losing her completely had been almost a physical pain. And yet within a week she’d been gone. Hadn’t returned to school and then the whispers came that she’d moved to Japan with her family.
And then moving on with his life was the only choice he had.
Chapter Nine
“So what are you up to?”
Cradling her cell phone between her ear and shoulder, Sarah stared at the computer screen and pondered Kenzie’s question.
“Well, I’m going to try and get some work done.”
“Hmm. Will that take you the entire day?”
“Not all day, but several hours likely.” Sarah sighed and leaned back in the chair. “Okay, out with it. What’s going on?”
“It’s just that you haven’t left your house in two days.” Kenzie’s voice gentled. “There’s a great band coming in to the pub tonight, and you should drop by.”
Sarah sighed and lifted her gaze to the view outside the living room window. A night in the pub both tempted and scared the hell out of her.
She craved human contact and had never been the type who liked to spend great amounts of time alone. The evening with Kenzie watching movies had been perfect. They’d talked about high school and they’d laughed—they’d laughed so hard they’d cried at times, but they hadn’t discussed Ian again.
And though she wanted to see Kenzie again tonight, the idea of seeing Ian made everything inside her chest go tight.
“Sarah, it’s just not healthy turning yourself into a recluse.”
“I’m not a recluse. I just have to work.”
“Not every minute of the day. Come in tonight.”
Sarah clutched the phone and closed her eyes. “I don’t know if I can handle seeing him again.”
“I understand.” Kenzie’s tone softened. “We all do. But you’re going to be here for a month. You guys need to get past this. Or at least form a truce.”
A truce. Maybe that’s what Sarah could call it when she had allowed him to stick his tongue into her mouth again. Among the other things he’d done to her. She hadn’t breathed a word about what had happened between her and Ian to Kenzie. Didn’t want to encourage her.
“Drop by for an hour at least. If you’re not comfortable, head out. Plus, there’s no guarantee Ian will even come into the pub tonight.”
“But there’s a chance,” Sarah protested.
“Of course there’s a chance. Aleck may own the pub now, but our family is still a huge part of it. It’s who we are.”
“Aleck owns the pub?”
“Aye. Da sold it to him when he and Ma moved back to Scotland.”
Sarah remembered the story of the McLaughlins. How Brenda McLaughlin had been an American citizen backpacking Europe, when she’d met and married Rodrick McLaughlin in Scotland. After several years and four children, the couple had moved the family to Whidbey Island in the United States. That was almost fifteen years ago. But now it seemed the parents had moved back to Scotland.
She’d missed so much in the last eleven years. Her heart ached when she thought of Kenzie’s parents. They’d been like second parents to her. She had secretly dreamt of them being her in-laws.