Free Scarlet Awakening (Sweet Secrets #2) by Taylor Henderson Page B

were currently sitting in my room on the floor on the side of my bed that was away from the door. We had shut and locked the door as a safety precaution. This time instead of starting from the beginning and flipping through, we had gone halfway into the book and scanned for John’s name before starting. What we had found so far was strange. Mom’s entries seemed to be talking about the past, and explaining her prospering relationship with John, who had been her coworker, and her dwindling relationship with Dad.
    Raising my eyes, I met Ella’s gaze. Ella scowled. She looked betrayed with each new entry that I read. Honestly, I felt a little betrayed too. So far, we hadn’t read anything confirming that Mom had cheated on Dad, but it surely seemed like she wanted to from her journal.
    “Do you want me to keep reading, or are you taking this new information to heart?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at Ella. Despite our small age difference, I was still her older sister, and part of my job description since she was born was to protect her. That not only meant physically, but also mentally and emotionally. If she couldn’t handle this new information about our parents’ relationship, then I would skim through and only tell her the information that pertained to the twins, and what we needed to find them.
    Ella shrugged in response, but then took a deep breath, and said, “Yeah, I’m fine. Keep reading.”
    I searched her face for a sign that she wasn’t telling the truth, but when I didn’t find one, I went back to looking at the journal. Flipping the page, I took in a breath of air in preparation for reading again. As I read the words I could practically hear my mom’s voice in my mind.
     
    Jamie and I spent a majority of our time together arguing. That wasn’t an excuse, but it was so hard to stay interested in a relationship where I didn’t want to even spend time with my husband. We argued so much about the smallest of things. Sometimes I couldn’t even remember what the argument was about, I just stayed angry. During that time, Jamie was sleeping on the couch every night. I remember how annoyed I used to be when he woke me up in the morning to climb into bed, but it was a must. We didn’t want the girls to know that things were getting so bad that we didn’t even want to sleep in the same bed togethe r .
     
    I thought back to two years ago, before Mom had gotten pregnant, to when I used to wake up every morning for school and Dad would be the first one out of my parents’ bedroom. Now I saw that was all false pretenses, and that my parents’ marriage had been rocky even before the twins came into the picture.
     
    Jamie didn’t make me smile anymore. Nothing was the same between us. With Jamie, all I felt was tension, but with John I felt something different. I felt young and beautiful again. I felt wanted. I remember having butterflies in my stomach, warmth in my cheeks, and that flustered tongue-tied feeling I had gotten whenever he stopped at my desk and gave me that heart-stopping smile of his. Even now I think he knew what he was doing to me. He had to. Men aren’t oblivious to their good looks, and charm. At least, I don’t think most men are.
     
    I paused for a second to add a comment of my own. “This John guy sure sounds like a tool.”
    Ella nodded her head vigorously. “He does. I can’t believe Mom would fall for his bullshit. Isn’t she the one who told us that all men only want one thing?”
    “Hell yeah, and that one thing isn’t love.” I rolled my eyes. Of course some men want love, but it didn’t seem like it in this case. John was probably just trying to test his skills at getting a married woman.
    “Trust me, I know,” Ella groaned, rolling her eyes as well. “Keep reading.”
    I furrowed my eyebrows at her response, but chose to leave it alone. I probably didn’t want to know what she was referring to anyway.
     
    John must have known what he was doing to me. He took