Free Hold On - Part Three (The Hold On Series Book 3) by Tabitha Levin Page B

see straight.”
    “You kissed her?”
    “It meant nothing.” He squeezes my hand, but I don’t feel the reassurance that he meant for it to give me. “I told her to leave; she got pissy and threatened to tell her dad that we fucked anyway.” He grabs a handful of sand and I watch as it falls out of his tightening fist. “She figured that we might as well do it anyway if everyone thought we did.”
    It doesn’t surprise me at all that Lili would manipulate everyone else for her own pleasure and gain.
    “I pushed her out of my room and that was it.” His intense gaze focuses of me. “She’s not to be trusted. Don’t believe anything she says.”
    “That is it?” I still can’t see why this would cause him to feel obliged to help her. It doesn’t make sense.
    “She told them of course. Told the whole club I tapped her.” He grabs my hand back and locks his eyes to mine. “But I didn’t.”
    “Is that why you owe her father, because he thinks you had sex with his daughter?”
    “No. That’s a whole other fuck up.”
    I cringe but forge forward. “Then I need to know about that as well.”
     
     
     

Chapter 3
     
    “I don’t like talking about this. It isn’t who I am anymore.” Ethan leans back and lies down on the sand.
    I lie down next to him and look up at the stars. There are lots of them tonight, as well as a bright full moon that glows in the inky blanket of the sky. “I know it’s not who you are now.”
    He leans to the side and props his head up with his elbow. He places his hand on my hip and circles his finger over my waist. “I can’t have you thinking that I’m that guy. I’m not some piece of shit thug anymore.”
    “I’ve never thought that.” I lean over and glide my hand down the side of his face feeling the emerging stubble on his chin. The rawness of his voice is making me fall even deeper into him, it’s messing with the already conflicted emotions I have right now.
    The hard edge to his face seems to soften from my touch. “You thought that when I first showed up to rent the room.”
    I think back to the first moment I saw him. The way the smooth muscles of his torso tightened as he walked around the room, the way he touched me as he brushed past, the way every cell in my body came alive with desire. I still desire him but its different now. Now, it’s like I’m part of him and he’s part of me. “I thought you were dark and intense when we met, but I never thought you were a thug.”
    “You were never scared of me.” It’s not a question - he knows I wasn’t. “Even after you found out about my past, you were never scared of me.”
    “I’ve never been scared of you, but I am scared that I’ve been pulled into this dark world that I don’t know anything about, and that you keep pushing me away when I try and get closer to you and understand what’s going on.”
    “You know why I push you away.” Ethan scoots closer to me and kisses my shoulder. “I want to protect you. I want to keep you safe.”
    His warm breath on my skin is melting my resolve to be strong. I could so easily pretend there is nothing wrong right now and let him kiss away any fears I have, but I know that won’t help. “Tell me about Lili’s father and why you owe him.”
    Ethan sits back up and stares out to sea. For a few moments I don’t think he’s going to tell me, but he finally speaks.
    “There was a night.” He swallows and then drags his tongue across his bottom lip like he’s parched. “I got caught by a rival club. They were nasty fucks, especially this one guy.”
    I furrow my brow waiting for him to continue.
    “Two of them held me down while this asshole kicked into me. He broke my jaw, smashed my leg. The whole time he’s laughing and saying what a hero he is to catch me. He thought I was some fucking trophy.”
    “Oh my god.”
    “Yep, I could have handled myself if it was only two, but I was overpowered with three.”
    I place my hand on his leg