Free Bad Romance by Bonnie Bliss, L Kirk

ignored them all. I didn’t block him, mostly because that was a bitchy thing to do.
    I didn’t know the whole story, and for all I knew when I stopped to think about it, Todd really knew nothing about it.
    The fact was I simply wasn’t ready to trust them. For one, every time I spied Dax he had another girl sitting in his lap. Literally, it was a new one every time I saw him. Tamara seemed to have moved on to a new conquest, hanging all over a very handsome dark-skinned guy. He was in my English 4 class and usually sat next to me. At first I thought it was a trick. Get me to open up, spill my guts, and give Dax more ammo. Turns out he was just a nice guy. What he was doing with a girl like Tamara was beyond me.
    It was Friday, my day off.
    Where I should’ve been studying for a quiz on Monday, I had allowed Shannon to drag me to the Montclair Plaza Mall. She wanted new shoes and just got paid. She worked at the local Sprouts Farms Market, and was off today too. The plan was to shop, get a lunch and head down to Disneyland around three. Spend until close there and grab dinner. I needed Disneyland after the month I’d dealt with. The quiet agony that I suppressed was weighing on me. So many nights I wanted to cry for the boy I lost in Dax. This new man that was birthed in his place was a stranger and the more I thought on it, the sicker I got.
    Still, I didn’t tell my dad about him. It would break his heart. He’d been just as devastated when the state came to collect him, saying he was being placed in his father’s custody.
    Marcus Trenton.
    Chills broke out all ove r my body remembering that man.
    A day later my mother was killed in a car accident. Everything came tumbling down at once in my life and I was only a child. It was me against the world back then. I realized quickly my father had lost me, my mother, and Dax. I needed to stop being selfish and allow him to mourn.
    So we did. We mourned together.
    We’d all grown up in or in the outskirts of Chicago. And Dax’s father was one of the biggest career criminals known in those parts. I was pretty sure if I asked around the bad elements here people would know his name. Dax had totally disappeared from my life. He’d promised—why did I really expect a child to keep that promise?
    “ Always, Clara-belle. Always mine, always yours.”
    Always.
    It was like our thing.
    I felt a burning sensation behind my eyes and I started to shake. It hurt every time I thought about it and realized Dax Trenton had totally forgotten me. Who knew what his father had done to him once he went back? The state had put Dax in our custody and for two wonderful years he’d lived with us. Then he was just gone.
    A clearing throat behind me dropped me out of my internal musings. I’d been just standing in the middle of the Doctor Who section of Hot Topic, zoning out.
    Great, Clara, just great.
    I shifted my gaze towards the sound, and instantly I felt my body go on high alert.
    Todd stood, leaning against the table with all the Doctor Who shirts. His perfectly muscled arms were crossed over his chest. There went that simmering again. It was slow at first and as my eyes locked on his unique blue hues I was lost to his playful gaze.
    “Fancy seeing you here, Ms. Clara.”
    I felt the heat spread in my cheeks and I turned from him. I sealed my lips shut. Maybe if I said nothing he would go away. It’d been working so far. Then again, so far I’d only seen the top of his head. I would leave an hour early in the morning just to avoid running into my hot neighbors.
    I walked away from the table, and went to look up at the wall of Disney themed tanks, hoodies, and other items I didn’t really need. They had an Elsa sweatshirt—my dad would kill me knowing I was spending my food allowance on Hot Topic crap.
    “You can’t ignore me forever. At some point you will have to talk to me, then you will remember how much you adore my company.” I could feel the tug in my lips. I dropped my