Page 19 of Hot Girls Read Book Club

The headlights blink on.

I smile, still waving. Maybe he didn’t see me before.

The engine cranks to life, and the conversation beside me fades into background noise as I keep watching. The truck backs out of the parking space.

Wait—the truck keeps moving, front tires turning, and my heart starts racing as I realize what’s happening.

“Lily?”

I barely hear Becca.

The red glow of the brake lights flashes across the pavement. Jax turns onto Main Street and drives away without so much as a pause.

I stare at the empty parking lot long after the truck disappears from view.

“What the hell?” I whisper.

OF ALL THE people in Bellewood who could’ve decided to join a romance book club, it had to be them.

Across the parking lot, Lily stands outside the library talking to two women I recognize immediately—Becca Walsh and Rachel Matthews.

“Fuck.”

My forehead drops against the steering wheel as I try to get my pounding heart to submit. I don’t need to hear the conversation to know exactly how it’s going. Hell, I could probably recite it word for word.

Did you know Jax got arrested?

Did you know his wife left him?

Did you know he spent a year drunk off his ass?

Did you know… Did you know… Did you know?

Everyone in Bellewood always knows everything. The town has a long memory when it comes to my mistakes and practically no room for grace or redemption.

I glance up again, chest tightening. Watching her face fall is all I need to see. “God damn it.”

For two weeks, I’ve been stupid enough to pretend this could actually work without interference from the busybodies in this town. Two weeks full to the brim with morning coffee, stolen kisses, book club, and absorbing the way she’d smile when she saw my truck pulling into the parking lot.

For two weeks, I let myself forget who I am. Or maybe who everyone else thinks I am. It doesn’t matter because the result is the same either way.

Sooner or later, somebody was always going to tell her, and she was always going to look at me differently, but I really thought I had more time to show her who I am. That when my reputation was finally dragged into the light, there would be enough good to outshine my failures.

Maybe this is better—leaving now lets me keep a little dignity because at least she’s figured out that she deserves better before I got any more attached.

The thought slams into me like a punch to the ribs.

Attached doesn’t even begin to cover it.

I grip the steering wheel until my knuckles ache, then I take a steadying breath and start the truck.

“Fuck.”

The word comes out rough. I throw the truck into reverse and steal a glance back toward the library. Across the lot, Lily lifts a hand and waves again.

My heart cracks clean in half.

I almost stop—the voice inside my head is screaming for me to stop. Instead, I back out of the parking space.