Free Love Me ~ Through the Storm by Renee Kennedy Page A

If he tries anything on you, uggggh, I’ll…mess him up. I swear, he better leave you alone.” Lizzie growls.
    “Calm your tits, he doesn’t think of me like that. Besides, I think you probably totally overreacted with whatever went on between the two of you,” I tell her.
    “Overreacted, overreacted? You can’t be serious. Oh Mi Gawd! I can’t believe you even said that. He tried to kiss me while I was crying over your brother . He tried to get me drunk so I would sleep with him.”
    “Lizzie!” Bailey says.
    “Just trust me, Oak, I didn’t overreact. Oh, oh was Megan overreacting when he did the same thing to her? Huh? Oh, that’s right, he got her pregnant.”
    “All I’m saying is that you were drunk, Lizzie, and you have the tendency to see things…” How do I tell her that she sees everything in an exaggerated manner?
    “Lizzie, what I think Oakley is trying to say, not that it was this way with Kane, but you can be a little dramatic,” Bailey says.
    “Me, dramatic? If that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black, Bailey Reynolds. I was drunk because he was trying to get me that way.”
    “It’s Bailey Wilson now and you’d had two bottles of wine before he even showed up. Just saying .” Bailey giggles.
    “Okay, okay, whatever! You still need to watch your ass around him.” Lizzie huffs.
    “I will.  Promise,” I tell her.
    “We love you, Oakley. We don’t like to see or hear you hurt. Now, back to Quinn. What happened between you guys?” Bailey asks.
    “Yesterday, when he got back in town, we met and he asked me to marry him,” I say a little more quietly.
    “What!” Lizzie says.
    “Oakley, honey, you are still so young. I know, pot—kettle, but damn, you’re younger than me,” Bailey says.
    “I didn’t technically say yes.”
    “What does that even mean?” Lizzie asks.
    “He wants me to wear the engagement ring and think about it for the three months while he’s away in his training program.”
    “Oh. You didn’t say yes and he didn’t take no for an answer,” Lizzie says.
    “I guess.”
    “Baby Girl, Clay is going to have a shit fit,” Lizzie says.
    “So is Cash,” Bailey chimes in.
    Cash is the half-brother we found after Mom and Dad’s accident. None of us had any idea about the other. Boy, was that a crazy depressing time. Good thing Margie, Cash’s mom, has a big heart and isn’t the type of person to be resentful. Why Dad did this to everyone is a mystery that died with him, and something I probably wouldn’t comprehend anyway.
    Baby Girl is my brother Clay’s way of keeping me little forever, and now the girls are starting to use the name, too. I’m not liking that, but I don’t want to make a big deal about it. I’ll save that fight for another day.
    “Don’t tell them, not yet. I haven’t made up my mind and there isn’t any need for Clay or Cash to go off the deep end. I really want to stay here and go to school. Q wants us to get married at the end of this semester then I’d go with him to wherever he gets stationed. Truth be told, I just couldn’t find a way to say no, without being a bitch.”
    “Like hell, that’s not going to work. Why should you give up your dreams and goals for him to run off and play G.I. Joe? Nuh-uh, no way. Don’t be letting him rule you. Put your foot down, Oakley,” Lizzie says.
    “Lizzie, shut the hell up and let her breathe so she doesn’t have a panic attack. Oakley, you have time to make up your mind. Don’t make any rash decisions. I’ll come up on Wednesday to see you. We can talk without Lizzie.”
    “Screw that, I’m coming, too.”
    “You have class.” Bailey reminds her.
    “So?” Lizzie says.
    “Bailey, I’d love that, but I have classes all day on Wednesdays. I’m really fine. I’ve made up my mind that these panic attacks aren’t going to rule my life anymore.”
    “Then why did you sound so down when you answered? We really want to help. You’re my sister-in-law, and you’ll