Read Seven Days for Free Online

thought of him kissing me with aggression gave me pause. Aside from when Noah and I first started dating, it had been a while since I’d felt any kind of attraction to the opposite sex. To be fantasizing about Ryan gave me hope that those parts of me that responded to desire weren’t broken. Perhaps, I just hadn’t met anyone that inspired these types of reactions before.
    As he rubbed at sleepy eyes, I suddenly couldn’t wait to get into his truck and start our adventure. It would probably amount to a chapter in the story of his life, but for me, I hoped it would replace a few of the nightmares. At least I knew before we started this trip it was all Ryan and I would get. One week from today, Britton and I would leave this town for the last time, and leave this state for the first time ever. After we were gone, I was sure Ryan would learn about my dubious reputation. I hoped I would be a bittersweet memory at that point, rather than his biggest regret. If it ended up being the latter, I was glad I would never have to see that look of disgust in his eyes when he realized he’d wasted a day, maybe a whole week with a whore.
    “If you do not climb that man before we leave, I will disown you,” my sister said, snapping me out of my own personal pity party.
    “I’ll see what happens,” I evaded, stepping out of the passenger side door. I let my hair fall across the injured side of my face as I pulled my duffle from the backseat. Optimistically, I’d packed enough to carry me through the week. Just in case.
    “You’d better take care of her, young man,” my sister called from the open drivers’ side window in her fake stern voice. I knew she was trying to lighten the mood to show me that she was going to be okay. I gave her my own fake stern face as I came around the car to say goodbye to her.
    “Love you, Brit,” I told her, looking into her soft brown eyes as I bent to hug her.
    “Love you, too, Carrie,” she granted, as her hand patted my back. I couldn’t explain it, but the shadow that crossed over me at that point almost had me pulling her out of the car and forcing her to go with us. I knew she’d push me off and tell me that I’d earned this, that I needed to act my age just once in my life. With everything in me, I fought the impulse and stepped back from the car. Chewing the inside of my cheek, I watched as she pulled out of the parking space, taking every last second to memorize her features before I turned to face Ryan fully.
    “Your sister is something else,” he said from behind me, a smile in his voice.
    “Yeah,” I nodded, turning with my head down and handing him my bag. “Ready to go?” I asked, shaking my hair from of my face out of habit, when a piece tickled my nose. Realizing my mistake a second too late, I tried not cringe when I felt him stiffen beside me.
    “Who did this?” he asked, the tips of his fingers sending shockwaves through my body as he lightly traced the bruise that had formed on my cheek.
    “Why do you assume it was a someone and not a something?” I asked, defensively. He didn’t know me or my life. His assumption was right, but I didn’t want him thinking I didn’t know how to wipe up my own spills.
    “Because you hid it from me,” he concluded, adjusting my bag in his hand. “In my experience, if the bruise was an accident, people don’t feel compelled to hide it. You didn’t own it from the beginning, hence you weren’t the clumsy one,” he said, his voice fiercely protective, his amber eyes flashing with anger. I would’ve been scared of what might happen next, but I knew the anger wasn’t directed at me. It was directed at Ben, even though he didn’t know it. Only I knew the face of the person responsible for this bruise, and the ones he couldn’t see.
    “It’s nothing, and you don’t know me well enough to try to rescue me from whatever your Superman complex thinks I need to be saved from,” I brushed him off and stepped back from his