AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Evan hands me the folder in his hands, his face a mask of sadness. What the hell is in there? Has he found more on my mother? Am I going to sink even further into her pit of debt?
I take it from him, my hand almost pushing it back in his direction so I don’t have to look inside. I’m not sure how much more bad news I can take.
Opening the manila folder, I let my eyes scan over the papers inside: loan documents, financial records, and bank statements. The stack is thick, with some correspondence marked with the … Bethson University letterhead? What the hell are letters from my alma matter doing in this folder?
That’s when a bunch of words catch my eye: Warren and Alana, tuition, scholarship, full ride.
Holy fuck, I think I’m going to be sick.
“I did try to soften the blow with my award-winning brownies, extra cinnamon caramel sauce on the side. If that makes a difference?”
Evan is trying to make a joke to soften the mood, but I barely even hear it over the buzzing in my ears.
It hits me all at once, like puzzle pieces slamming together so fast that the entire image clicks and then shatters.
I didn’t earn a full scholarship to college. My tuition wasn’t paid for by my hard work and dedication. No, not even close. Instead, Warren and Alana went behind my back.
If I’m reading this correctly, which is hard through tears and the rage that is making my hands shake, they created some fake scholarship that only I applied to. They gifted me money through no merit of my own, simply so they could pay for my college without me objecting to it. Which I did many times to their faces. Yet they still betrayed me, went behind my back, and did this.
Hurt cuts so deep that I wouldn’t be surprised to look at my chest and find a gaping wound there. Out of all the stabs in the back I’ve taken in my life, this one feels the most personal. It slices through me like I’m going to have to sew myself back together in a pattern I’ve never been before.
“When will enough be enough?” I throw my hands up, the folder scattering, my voice rising.
Tears sting my throat as the papers in front of me blur together.
“First, I have to grow up with that horrible excuse for a mother, then she dies and leaves me to clean up her mess. And oh, wait, not only is her house fucking underwater, but she’s got illegal gambling debts some guy is threatening me over? And hold on, that’s going to sideline my whole career!” Hysteria has reached into my brain and taken hold. “And because of that, I’ll have to live with the guy who I’ve had a huge crush on forever, except he could give two shits about me. But because that’s not bad enough, then I admit it out loud to him. To you! And I have to keep living with you! Though, the universe has decided that I’m still worthy of some more punishment, because now you’re giving me evidence that the only person who I’ve ever trusted implicitly, who is like family to me, has been lying to me for years. Years! Not only did he go behind my back, but everything I thought I earned myself was a total sham.”
“August, I understand you’re upset, but?—”
Hysteria tinges my blood. “Upset? No, no, I don’t think you understand what I am. I’m livid. I’m off the deep end. I’m going to fucking kill Warren and Alana. I’m so angry at them, I feel like I don’t even know who they are anymore!”
Evan holds his hands palms up like he’s trying to wave a cape at a bull ready to charge.
“Just hold on. I know you’re pissed at them, I’m not thrilled with what I found. But they did this because they love you. With everything going on with that guy who came by here the other night, you need as much support around you as you can get right now.”
My breath freezes in my lungs, and my mind doing a one-eighty to race down another track. “You didn’t tell anyone about that, did you?”
He shakes his head. “I haven’t, but I think we should. It’s not safe, August, and I’d hate myself if anything happened to you. What that guy is doing is illegal, or worse, and you don’t deserve to be swept up in it.”
“Don’t you take it upon yourself to solve this.” My voice is harsh. “And don’t tell a soul. You don’t need to be involved in this?—”
“I don’t need to be involved? We’re living together, August! Even if you’ve been avoiding me, or we’re pretending not to have this elephant in every room we walk into, I don’t want to see you hurt. I don’t want you in danger. Why won’t you just fucking let me help?”
Because I don’t need anyone’s help, but I don’t say that.
“I’m so fucking tired of the world body checking me into the ground. When will I have suffered enough? Never once in my life have I felt like I’ve truly dug myself out of the hole that I was apparently born into. I can’t simply have one thing for my own, one thing I can control and just have out of pure want.”
Evan’s hand comes up to my shoulder, rubbing there as if he’s attempting to comfort me. “August, that’s not true. You’re the most hard-working, resilient person I’ve ever known. You deserve everything.”
“Oh, yeah? Then why wouldn’t you make a move on me? You know how I feel, how I’ve felt, now that I admitted it. I see it in your eyes sometimes, that you’ve wanted to kiss me since I came back to Hope Crest. Yet you haven’t. And it’s probably because I’m me, and you’re small-town fucking royalty.”
I’m playing with fire, letting my emotions lash out in every direction like I’m trying to strike something to blame. My breaths come out in pants, and it feels like all my nerves are burning under my skin.
“You’re worked up over this, and taking it out on me, I see that. But don’t you dare?—”
I don’t let him finish because I’ve made the decision for us. For once in my life, I take something that I want, consequences be damned. It’s not thought out or even the right thing to do, but at this moment, it’s what I crave. It’s what I desperately want.
So, I rush Evan, pressing up on my toes and capturing his mouth with mine before he can push me away.
