Maggie Norris and Luke Vaudest come with attitudes of stone-cold, rude, sarcastic snakes. Every single time the pair have clashed, it has never ended up being a good thing. The two are more than fine with never crossing paths, again.
Until Maggie d...
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"It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being." — John Joseph Powell
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Chapter 15 <—————————————>
Luke
I stared at the clock, nearly tearing the skin along my lip off with my teeth. 7:58. 7:59.
I blinked, and then it happened. 8:00.
Shit. Maggie was supposed to be here an hour ago.
I cursed as the wound along my lip reopened. Despite the metallic taste, I wouldn't have even noticed. I didn't bother to fix it.
Instead, my mind was on one thing, and a million others at once. Why the fuck wasn't she here? No call, no text, nothing but my fucking nerves on edge.
Jesus. I sounded insane.
I didn't care about her not being here for the work. Yesterday was supposed to be spent painting, but since we fucked that up, it didn't happen. So, it'd have to be today, but if she wasn't going to show up, it'd have to wait.
But, that still wasn't it.
I couldn't help it. My thoughts went to the worst possible situation. The one that'd been burned into my head ever since she saw me. She didn't want to be around my shit; it scared her or I scared her or—
Fuck.
I wasn't sure why it was irking me as badly as it was. I didn't give two fucks what anyone thought of me, genuinely. At least I thoughtI didn't. But, Maggie, the girl who hated my fucking guts, saw a part of my life no one ever had before.
It was humiliating, and shameful and everything in between. I didn't want to be seen as a victim or abused. I wasn't. My dad had been beating my ass ever since I stepped foot into his house; it was nothing to feel bad over. It was just what was destined for me; there wasn't shit I could do to change it.
But, the way Maggie looked at me yesterday...it was strange, to be exact. It looked like she cared, like she was actually concerned. I'd confused it for sympathy, to which she debunked with just as much malice as I needed.
The oddest thing, though? Her promise to be there for me. I had said the same, and even though I played it cool, I knew I'd meant it. I didn't go back on my promises ever, and it wouldn't change now. The girl was a fucking brat, but I could bare to listen to her shit if she could mine.
I sure as hell couldn't give advice, though. My answer to everything was to punch the problem away, and that obviously didn't help. But, I'd found out from Kade and Levi that some people just needed to talk, and to have someone else listen. To get their shit out, no judgment or response necessary. I supposed I could do that for the girl.
