Read 27 Truths: Ava's story (The Truth About Love Book 1) for Free Online

taken. So, I figured—”
    “Damn right it is,” he agrees. “My one true love is my country.”
    Double ouch, but Daddy didn’t raise a quitter.
    I position myself in front of him, use both hands to grab his face, and look him right in the eyes. “The flag is a beautiful thing, but that chest, that heart, I think they’re big enough that you could probably love someone else, too.”
    “Don’t have time for round two, Ava.” He gently grabs my wrists, but I hold tight.
    “I’m done with school. I’m a grown woman, and you are definitely a grown man, Luke Lane. We’ve been playing this game for seven years in hiding, and I would rather play it out in the open—”
    “Ava.” His tone is one that begs caution.
    “I love you, Luke. Always have, always will,” I say with a smile. “I know you feel—”
    “That’s fucking it up!” He pulls my hands free of his face and steps back. “You all think you know me, but you don’t. You don’t know the real me. Not one of you.”
    “I know everything I need to know in order to stand here, bare, looking at you just the same, and saying it a second time. I. Love. You.”
    “No, Ava!” My name isn’t said with need wrapped in sinful intent like he normally says it. My name is cold and sounds loathed.
    At this moment, I hate the name my parents gave me.
    “You don’t know me. None of you do. The whole bunch of you think this little pissant town means everything when, in reality, it isn’t shit. Nice place to visit, but there’s no fucking way I’d make a home here.”
    And then the final blow…
    “The world doesn’t begin here, nor does it end here. And I hate like hell to say it, but the same goes for being between your legs.”
    Silence. Deadly, ugly, excruciating silence.
    ***
    When he pulls into my driveway, he finally looks at me, “I thought things would be cool with you and me. I thought you were grown enough to separate physical and emotional feelings, Ava. Guess I was wrong.” He sticks his hand out to fucking shake mine, “Life lesson, kid.”
    I don’t shake his hand. Mine are shaking so badly I couldn’t if I tried.
    When I can’t get my seatbelt unfastened because of the shaking, I could swear I see hurt in his eyes. When he tries to help me, I manage to bat his hand away without crying. Again, I think I see some sort of emotion, but I know that’s a lie.
    In fact, everything I thought I felt, everything I told myself about mine and Luke Lane’s … fated love, everything I believed with all my heart, all my soul—it was all a big fat lie.
    How stupid am I? How pathetic am I? How childish am I?
    When I finally get my seat belt unfastened and jump out of his truck, I turn and open my mouth because I am Ava fucking Links, and I may be stupid, naive … both, but there is one thing for certain: I damn well don’t let people get the best of me.
    What comes out? Not what I expected.
    His name breaks my voice. The embarrassment of that breaks the dam holding back the flood of emotions I have been fighting to keep bottled up. Then, by some miracle, my legs regain feeling, and I turn and bolt like a child runs from a snake or an angry dog in fear.
    As soon as I am inside the safety of my childhood home, a sound escapes me that is so full of emotion and pain that I can’t believe it comes from me. I run up the stairs to my bedroom and dive onto my bed. However, I can still feel him, smell him, and I want it all gone.
    I jump up and run to the bathroom then start the water. I strip bare and get in the tiled double shower. Then I stand under the scalding hot water and cry. I cry like I never have before.
    I cry for my broken heart; I cry for seven years of dreams now shattered; and I cry because the man I love is so messed up he can’t even see what I know is there. Then I cry because, down deep in my soul—past the hurt, past the pain, past the embarrassment, and past the shattered dreams I harbored for years—is a rock solid foundation,