Read Damage Me (Crystal Gulf Book 2) for Free Online

like a horrible friend for only now realizing it. After she’d lost her virginity to someone like Zane. When we were granted access, we crossed the street. I wasn’t paying attention to where we were going, choosing to follow her rather than worry. I wasn’t hungry anyway. I couldn’t get the look in her eyes out of my head.
    That look made the air cold.
    “Cupcakes cool?”
    “Yeah. Sure.”
    She sighed and opened the door to Wave Sweets Bakery. “Stop it, Hillary. It isn’t that big of a deal, all right? It had to happen.” When I opened my mouth to respond, she glared. “Stop it,” she repeated. “Don’t cat lady this for me.”
    “Fine, Piper.” If she wanted to forget it, I’d forget it. And by forget it I meant think about it incessantly in private.
    Wave Sweets Bakery was my favorite place to splurge in downtown Crystal Gulf. Piper and I pressed our faces to the glass, admiring the cupcakes and cookies. When it was our turn to buy we both got the same thing. Red velvet cheesecake bars with cream cheese frosting and a large coffee with cream in the shapes of leaves. We settled in the back near the windows on the comfy couches and dug in, ripping apart the paper and taking large bites that were followed by moaning and groaning.
    “Want to know a secret?” she said, licking her lips.
    “Lay it on me.”
    “This is better than sex.”
    I took a sip of my coffee and spluttered at her comment. “Was it bad?”
    “Not bad. It was just really not good; you know?” She looked down and dabbed her finger in the frosting. “He was drunk, and I was drunk. It was fuzzy. I wanted to be cool. I mean Zane Eastwood was talking to me. How do you say no to that?”
    “Easy. Like this.” My lips formed the words easily. I had no problem with this word. Mom had been saying it to me my whole life. “No.”
    “You weren’t there. Zane’s so hot he was making me confused. And he kept looking at me and making me laugh.” She smiled a little. “It wasn’t all bad. He was a really good kisser. Like really good.” Her cheeks blazed when she looked up and met my eyes briefly. “I guess if I had an orgasm it would have been more fun, but it was over too soon.” Her gaze tightened infinitesimally.
    “You’d think Zane would be more successful.” I licked my lips and winked.
    She laughed a little in relief, probably because I wasn’t being a cat lady. “Right? I guess looks are deceiving.”
    “Did it hurt?”
    She cringed, and then looked up, wiping her expression away. “How do girls do that?”
    I lifted my mug. “Tea and cats, remember? I don’t know.”
    I had no stinking clue.
    From an early age, Mom drove one simple rule home harder than any others. No boys. For the most part, it wasn’t a difficult rule to follow. I rarely hung around the opposite sex much anyway, but I wasn’t in a bubble. Men were out there. Attractive men, bad men, good men—they existed. I couldn’t pretend they didn’t forever because that’s what my mother wanted. I would be nineteen soon, and the most I’d done with a guy was kiss Jason Gray last year at Piper’s birthday party. It’d been awkward and wet, better forgotten than remembered.
    But even with my lame kiss, it was one rule I had to abide by that I secretly resented.
    I wasn’t untrustworthy. I did the right thing because that’s what was good for me. When it came to boys Mom lost all reason. She almost feared my decision-making abilities. As if I’d end up throwing everything away for a boy from our side of the tracks. Her overbearing behavior hurt. I wouldn’t betray her trust. There was no man worth that.
    “Let’s talk about something else.” Piper sat back with her coffee, crossing her legs. “What are you going to wear tonight?” She eyed my clothes.
    My jean shorts and white top were cute. I didn’t know what her problem was. “What’s wrong with this?”
    “Was it hard to find clothes my grandmother would like?”
    “Grandmother?” I