Free Loving Lies by Lora Leigh Page A

never believed he would take her to his bed, that he would tease and promise to wait for her, if he hadn’t wanted more than a weekend.
    She leaned her head against the leg of the table and she cried. She had no intention of holding it back, or “bucking up” as her father called it when one of his children cried. He had never been able to handle the tears. But he wasn’t here now. He was gone, and the misery inside her soul was ripping her apart. It was cry or die, and she would be damned if she would die for Slade.
    She loved him. It wasn’t a death sentence, she was young, and she would get over it. Right?
    â€œOh God.” She wrapped her arms around her stomach, leaning forward with the convulsive shudder of agony that shook her from her soul outward as she heard the motorcycle start up, heard it scream from the parking lot. “I love you, Slade,” she whispered, knowing that all the love in the world could never hold what wasn’t hers. “I love you.” And it didn’t matter, not really, because she wasn’t mature enough, wasn’t slick enough to fit in his world. The only difference was he had realized it before it was too late, where she had continued to hope. And to dream.

Chapter Seven
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    The world didn’t end with a broken heart. There were still classes to attend, a job to hold down, and Jessie did both on autopilot. The only difference was that she immersed herself now in both school and her job, working herself to exhaustion, praying that the night would come when she would fall asleep and she wouldn’t dream of Slade.
    She stayed away from the parties and the forested clearing where they were held, avoiding it with a desperation that clawed at her as each weekend rolled around. Was Slade there? Of course he was, he was a steady there, rain or shine, and there was no way she could face him, no way she could face the pity if anyone ever learned how easily, how casually he had dropped her. How deeply he had hurt her.
    Even now, three weeks later, the open wound that had once been her heart, ached continually. She dreamed of him, of loving him, of hearing him whisper his love for her, of his arms surrounding her, protecting her. She awoke to a cold, lonely bed and the tears. There were enough tears to drown her.
    She pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex. She breathed out tiredly as she glimpsed the two Harleys parked beside her spot and the men resting casually on them. Jazz and Zack were good friends but it was after midnight, the shift she had pulled at the local Wal-Mart had been a hard one. She wasn’t in the mood for chitchat.
    She had a feeling though they were after more than chitchat.
    She pulled the car into its slot, staring at the two men through the window as she shut the engine off, grabbed her purse and opened the door. They straightened from their bikes, lean, muscular bodies and eagle-eyed expressions tense and waiting.
    â€œHey, Jazz. Zack.” She threw the strap of her purse over her shoulder as she locked her car and headed for her apartment. “What are you two up to this late?”
    She pasted a cheerful smile on her face as she pushed the key into her door and glanced back at them. She restrained her sigh as she saw they had all intention of going in with her.
    â€œChecking on you, little girl,” Jazz grunted as they followed her into the apartment, closing the door and waiting as she disengaged the alarm.
    â€œChecking up on me?” She threw her purse to the chair beside her before striding into the small kitchen. “Want a beer?”
    â€œYes to both questions,” Zack answered as they stood in the middle of her living-room floor, waiting.
    Hell, she just didn’t need this. Not right now. Not until she managed to patch the open wounds inside her.
    She carried three long-necks into the living room, passing each of them a cold bottle before moving past them and settling back in