Read A Christmas Affair: A Seaside Cove Romance (Seaside Cove Romance Series Book 1) for Free Online Page B

her way through the tables towards the hallway. A chaperon, someone's mom, stopped her. "Do you need help?"
    "I'm just going to use the bathroom," she said.
    "There is one in here," the woman said.
    "I know, but with my crutches and big dress, it's so much easier to use the one by the lockers." She tried to give her sweetest smile. Jack had run out that way to use the bathroom earlier, she hoped he had not been caught vomiting in the hallway. "I'm a big mess, I don't want anyone to walk in on me trying to wiggle around."
    The woman gave her a pitying smile and opened the door to the hallway for her.
    Only lit by the fire escape lights, the hallway was dark and eerie. Molly began her hobbled walk with her crutches towards the locker bathrooms. Hopping around the corner, she almost fell over as she ran into a football player and his cheerleader girlfriend. Chad and Izzie.
    "Oh! Sorry guys." She started to crutch around them, then she stopped. Chad looked as though he had been in a fight, bloody nose and half untucked shirt. Izzie looked as though she had been crying, and Molly noticed one of her spaghetti straps dangled, torn from her dress. "Um, is everything okay?"
    Chad looked at Izzie, his arm around her. "Not really Mols. I was just getting ready to take Izzie home."
    "Izzie?" Molly was concerned for the doe eyed pixie of a girl.
    "It's alright Molly. I just want to go home," Izzie said from behind a tear stained face.
    Molly stood her ground. "Did something happen Iz?"
    Chad took a deep breath. "I didn't want to have to be the one to tell you this Mols, but I found Jack down by the bathroom, his hands all over Izzie."
    Izzie burst into tears, covering her face. Molly shook her head. "No, what? What are you talking about?"
    "He attacked me," Izzie cried, not taking her eyes off the floor. "He tried to... he tried..." the girl stopped speaking and broke into deeper sobs.
    "If I hadn't got there in time, he would have raped her. I fought him off, he was so drunk. He was nothing to knock out." Chad almost sounded boastful to Molly. Blood drizzled from a cut on his lip.
    Izzie suddenly looked to Molly, fear and desperation in her eyes. "Please don't tell anyone Molly."
    Molly felt as though the world was spinning, sucking her down into the ground. Her mouth was dry and her stomach churned. "But, Jack? Jack wouldn't... He couldn't..."
    Chad stepped in between Izzie and Molly. "Are you calling Izzie a liar?"
    Molly shook her head. She had known Izzie her whole life. Even when Molly had been a poor kid, Izzie had always been nice to her. But, Molly loved Jack. They had only been together four months, but would she not have noticed if he had a side to him like this? Believe Izzie. She did not want to. Everything in her body told her not to. But Jack was drunk. Izzie was crying. Chad had been in a fight. She had noticed Jack spending more time with Izzie lately, he was giving her rides to and from school in exchange for tutoring in English. Could he have really...?
    "I don't want anyone to know, I'm too embarrassed, please Molly, promise me you won't tell anyone?" Izzie pleaded. "Please?"
    "I promise," Molly stammered pushing her emotions away. "Where is he?"
    "He's by the bathroom, I knocked him out," Chad said standing a little taller as he said it. The couple continued towards the exit. Molly watched, and when they reached the door, Izzie looked back one last time. Then they were gone.
    With a heavy heart, Molly continued to crutch her way towards the bathroom, and found Jack passed out, just as Chad had said. Molly hobbled over to him, checked for a pulse, and when she did Jack's eyes opened. He saw Molly and smiled, and she felt a confusion within her body of the usual way her heart leapt when he smiled at her, and a deep sadness wash over her at the same time.
    "Izzie," Jack muttered. "Izzie, come here."
    Then closed his eyes again and began to snore.
    Izzie. Molly backed away and crutched back towards the gym, fighting back