Page 126 of Flipping His Script


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Jerk.

Except he wasn't acting like one now. As I watched, he knelt down in front of me and said, "I'm gonna take a look at your ankle, all right?"

When I gave a reluctant nod, he gently removed my left shoe, now caked in mud. I winced when he ran his hands along the ankle and asked, "Does that hurt?"

"A little."

He frowned. "It hurts more than a little."

He was right. It did. "It's fine," I lied yet again. "If you want to finish your hike, I'll just walk back on my own."

"Alone? Forget it."

I sighed in frustration. "Listen, Flynn–"

"Hold that thought."

As I watched, he stood and –What the hell?– hurled my shoe deep into the woods behind me.

With a gasp, I whirled to look. I couldn’t even see where it landed. I turned back to him and demanded, "What'd you dothatfor?"

"So you'd stop telling me you can walk."

I glared up at him. "I can still walk without a shoe. I mean, Ihavegone barefoot before."

"Yeah? You try it onthispath, and you'll have worse problems than a twisted ankle."

Ialreadyhad worse problems. In fact, my biggest problem was him.

I wanted to say something sharp and cutting. When nothing came to mind, I muttered, "But I liked that shoe."

It wasn't that I loved it or anything, but the truth was, I didn't have many shoes to spare.

With something like a smile, he said, "Yeah, well…I'll find it tomorrow."

Tomorrow.

Would I even be here?

I almost wanted to cry. The last twelve hours had been a total nightmare.

I was living with a guy who hated me. I was still burning with humiliation from that scene in his back seat. And I'd come to the awful conclusion that unless something drastically changed, I'd never be able to live up to my end of the agreement – assuming that I even wanted to.

I looked down. And now, I looked like a mud-monster.Good thing I'd worn black.With a sigh, I said, "I bet you're glad I wore my own clothes, huh?"

"Fuck the clothes," he said. "It's you I’m worried about."

I looked up. "Is that a joke?"

His voice was quiet. "No."

"Well that's funny," I said. "Because it seems to me that you find it absolutely hilarious when bad things happen to me."

His gaze softened. "Anna—"

"I'm serious," I said. "I think you actually get off on it."

Slowly, he knelt down in front of me and took my muddy hands in his. He gave them a gentle squeeze. "Listen, there's something I need to say."