Free Runaway Heart (A Game of Hearts #2) by Candace Knoebel, Sonya Loveday Page B

what.
    Fuck. That.
    I made my escape when I was seventeen. When he hit me for the first and last time. It was then I knew I’d never let a man into my life. Not like that. They all had a mean streak… an evil streak that eventually came out. Some used their fists. Others used their words or their straying dick to hurt you.
    Buckets of acid poured over in my stomach as I pulled the sheet up to cover my nose, my knuckles white from gripping it so tight.
    But, no matter how many times I told myself that, there was the old me… the innocent me deep down that called bullshit.
    I knew I was jaded. Knew there was so much I didn’t know about love, because witnessing what grew between Maggie and Phillip told me I was wrong.
    That there was a loophole to love.
    But it was for girls like Maggie. Girls with fathers who didn’t make them feel like garbage or break their trust. Girls with mothers who taught them what a woman’s true strength was and didn’t tune the world out to avoid dealing with what was really happening.
    I had neither growing up.
    I had anger. Resentment. Abandonment.
    I had only myself, and that was all I could trust.
     

     
    MY EYES FELT RAW BY the time sunlight hugged the gathering morning clouds.
    Maggie didn’t believe in curtains. The windows to her room were wide and long, showcasing the oceanic view like a prized painting.
    I tried to roll away from the window, my eyes barely able to stay open, but it was the gusty breeze and the concerning grayish hue to the clouds that kept my mind from falling back into the arms of sleep.
    Damn it all to hell.
    Reaching for my thin pajama pants, I sat up, wiggling them up my legs. I thought about throwing a T-shirt over my sports bra, for Ed’s sake, but decided not to. This was who I was. This was what I wore. I wasn’t going to let a guy make me feel like I should have to cover myself up to keep the heat to a minimum.
    Or maybe I just didn’t want to keep the heat low, I thought with a smirk.
    Trudging my way down the hall to the kitchen, I found Ed on the phone, cursing under his breath.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked as I reached on tiptoes for a mug to fill with coffee.
    “You’re not gonna believe this, love,” Ed said as he spun around to answer me in just his pajama pants.
    I pretended not to care he had the abs of a track runner. Ones I wanted to run my fingers and tongue over. Acted like I didn’t notice how his swimmer’s V pointed like an arrow to the exact spot I had the pleasure of feeling more than once.
    My hormones did cartwheels inside the pit of my stomach, and I prayed to Aphrodite herself I wasn’t being delusional in thinking he hadn’t noticed just how quickly he had me wound up without even trying.
    The subtle, sly glint in his warm, coppery eyes told me to keep on praying.
    I cleared my throat for composure. “Believe what?” I asked, putting the mug to my lips and averting my eyes to the window.
    He ran his hand up and down the back of his head, stretching his stomach as he said, “A storm’s heading this way. The kind planes won’t fly through.”
    I nearly choked on my coffee.
    “Yeah,” he said, getting the reaction he wanted from me. “I got Phil on the phone now. They’re trying to work out when we’ll be able to reschedule our flights.”
    Storm? Reschedule?
    I marched right over to him and yanked the phone from his hand. “Phil, put Maggie on the phone,” I demanded, my foot tapping against the tile.
    Ed lifted an eyebrow at me.
    I squinted at him. “Please,” I added for good measure.
    Ed smirked as Phillip called out, “Sure thing. Hoops, Hannah needs to speak with you.”
    My heart galloped in my chest like a racehorse as I listened to the steady flow of rain falling outside. As the nightmare from last night tried to work its way back into my mind.
    “Hannah, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I mean, I knew there was a storm brewing out there, but its trajectory was all over the place. I didn’t think it