Free Hitting to Win (Over the Fence #2) by Carrie Aarons

it before. Mainly because I had driven her to the drug store to get it.
    "Oh, Chloe. Did you have to go by yourself?" This is why I needed her home. She read my mind and felt my emotions like no one else could. For two people who were so different, we could have been twins.
    "I did. I went yesterday morning, right when they opened. It was tough, but I'm glad I went." I'd been a wreck the last two days. Right after Miles ran out, without so much as a goodbye, I broke down into a snotty pile of tears. I'd allowed myself two hours, until the dead of the morning, to lose it. Then, I'd picked myself up, gotten a few hours sleep, and went to get the pill from the pharmacy at 8 a.m. the next morning. I may have been dumb Tuesday night, but it didn't mean I was going to be dumb in the aftermath.
    "Well, who was it? And tell me that little fucker didn't promise you he'd pull out? Guys who fake that are such assholes." Kels always knew how to make me laugh. I giggle at her crude question. Gosh, I missed her humor.
    "It was...um...Miles." I wait for the shriek, which I get about half a second later.
    "WHAT! You slept with Miles Farriston? Is this a dream? Mink had told me you two had been spending time together with this competition but holy shit. How was it? I heard he's great."
    I frown at her last statement. I didn't need anymore reminders of just how many people Miles had been with. Not that he hadn't bragged about it himself when he was stroking into me. I didn't protest about it then, though. I could barely breathe, let alone think when he was winding me up like a top.
    "It was...fantastic. Mind-blowing. The best sex I've ever had. And also the worst. He was horrible to me." I feel the searing heat as blotches of humiliation bloom on my face. Remembering the way he'd spoken to me, how he'd pushed into me almost violently. The sex had been completely consensual, I was practically salivating for him. But after, when he'd run like his hair was on fire, was when I'd realized he'd only fucked me. Hard. Almost as a punishment. Or revenge.
    "What? What are you saying...did he, hurt you?" Kels looks pissed, but also worried.
    "No, no! Nothing like that. I wanted it, very much. Its just...I get this feeling he was hate-fucking me or something."
    "Oh...that's hot. Tell me more." Her tone immediately turns from worried to naughty. Typical Kels.
    "Kels it's not hot. It's pathetic. I've had a crush on this guy since he saved me on the playground at Mitchum Elementary, which by the way, he probably doesn't even remember, and I let him use me for sex because I figure it's the only way he'll ever truly see me? And without a condom nonetheless. I'm almost as gross as him. I was so stupid."
    "Chlo, ugh, you sound like Minka. Life is not a romance novel. The white knight does not come to sweep you off your feet, sex is just for pleasure, not connection, and it doesn't end in a happily ever after. Once you remember that, life, and hooking up, gets so much better." She shakes her head in dismay. Miss Sexpert is mad at my overenthusiastic picture of love.
    It was the one area where we differed. Kels didn't believe in monogamy or relationships. I saw my parents, who'd been married for twenty years, more in love with each other on a daily basis. It was only natural I wanted to find someone who made my life complete. The kind of love my parents had.
    "So, are you gonna do it again?" Kels leans in close, waiting impatiently for my answer.
    "Um, no. He hasn't even texted or called to see if I'm okay, much less ask me to hang out." Did I even want to do it again? No, and yes. It had been the best sex of my life. Not that I'd been with too many guys, only four. But I just knew that no one would ever be able to come close to Miles.
    He hadn't been there for me though. He'd fucked me in spite of me. Whether it was actually about me, all that anger, or about something entirely different, he'd taken it out on me. And as forgiving as I was, I was not about to be