Free STRIPPED 2 (A Ferro Family Novel) by H.M. Ward

simple.
    “She never talks about it.” I tip my head toward the painting and follow her to the cockeyed kitchenette table.
    Beth grabs the milk and two cups, pouring one for me without asking. “To you.”
    “Why not?”
    “She figures you’ve been there and doesn’t want to sound like a peasant.” She grins and hands me the glass.
    “Do I sound like that?”
    “I don’t think so," she says, shaking her head. "You’ve been sleeping on the floor for weeks without trying to get in that girl’s pants. You know what that means.” She puts the glass to her lips and chugs the rest of the white liquid.
    “No clue.”
    Slamming the glass on the table, she smiles and sighs like milk is liquid sex. “You’re either gay, hard up—since you're a Ferro, I ruled that option out—or the L-bomb is floating around in your head.”
    “I already told her I love her. She wasn’t interested.”
    Beth’s face scrunches making her mousy features pointier. “You said what?”
    I tap my fingers on the side of the glass, feeling the cold condensation under my fingertips. “I professed my undying love, and she said she loved me, too.”
    “And you’re sleeping on the floor?”
    “Correct.”
    She studies me for a moment, the corner of her mouth pulling up into a crooked grin. “God! You mean it, don’t you?”
    I don’t reply.
    “She’s been through a lot of shit. She doesn’t talk about it, but I know she’s not dead inside.” Beth pulls her feet up onto the chair and wraps her arms around her ankles. She watches me, her dark eyes studying my face, then dropping to my hands on the glass. “So, you’re just going to sleep on the floor forever?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Have you talked to her?”
    “No, and I’m not going to either.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because of the way we met, okay. I was all about fucking, and she wasn’t interested. I charmed her every day and tried to get into her pants every night. It was a game. I don’t want her to think I’m playing around. I’m not. I’m worried I lost her, that Mark showed up and, although Cassie stayed with me, he stole what remained of her." I glance up at Beth. "If you tell her any of this, I’ll deny it.”
    She frowns and exhales slowly. Her gaze cuts to the side and then at my glass of milk. “Fine, I won’t say anything. Are you going to drink that?” I push the glass toward her. Beth lifts it and guzzles.
    “I’ve never seen someone like milk that much who wasn’t, you know, five.”
    She leans forward and presses her palms to the table. “Ooh! You know what’s even better? Chocolate milk! I’m getting me some of that tomorrow.”
    “I wish I had your zeal.”
    “No one matches my passion for dairy products.”
    The corner of my mouth lifts slightly. “Or tape.”
    She lifts a finger, pauses, and nods. “Glitter tape. If it were invisible tape, it wouldn’t matter so much. You'd have more gusto about something you truly want but have to earn.”
    “You didn’t earn the tape.”
    She smiles at me softly. “Yeah, but I know what it's worth and that it was something I’d never have. You made that possible, Jonny boy.” She ruffles my hair as she walks back to her bedroom. She stops in the doorway and looks back at me. “She’s lucky to have you.”
    “That’s the first time anyone said that.”
    “It won’t be the last.”

CHAPTER 17
JON
    T he next morning Beth heads out to run, and I’m alone with Cassie. I spent the night on the couch, screwing around on Reddit. I started out laughing at posts about crazy horse girls, then moved to something that hits a little closer to home—dating someone who has been sexually abused. From what I read, it sounds like I’m handling things right. It also sounds like I’m fighting for something that might not be possible. At some point, people become too wounded. They wither and die. What’s left is a shell of the person who used to be there going through the motions of life. They slip