Read Seven Years for Free Online

me.
    There was no next time with Michael. Maybe I was naïve in thinking the first time should have been special, but he was an insensitive jerk and I regretted giving myself to him. When I had refused to have sex with him again, he broke up with me.
    That’s when he made up the nickname and harassed me for the rest of the school year with obscene gestures in the hallway and spreading rumors.
    I snapped my arm back again but he kept hold of it. The streets were empty and most of the shops had closed down except for the pizza place and theater.
    “Look, I’m sorry,” he finally said. “We were just a bunch of dumb kids. Let me walk you to your car and we’ll go our separate ways. It’s been a long time and I don’t think it’s fair you’re holding me accountable for something I did when I was a teenager.”
    We were moving toward the car and I was too confused to react because of how reasonable he seemed.
    “If it’s any consolation, your brother had his friends kick the living shit out of mine as payback.”
    I blinked. “No, he didn’t.” Not that Wes would have told me, but it didn’t sound like him.
    “Yeah, he did. I don’t know who did it, either, because none of the guys talked about it. Someone must have threatened them because I can’t even get them to talk about it today. They stayed out of school for a week with their faces all messed up.”
    We approached the car and I sighed. “Thanks, Michael. Look, what’s done is done. Have a good life.”
    Damn, that sounded cold, and I opened the door to my cootiemobile.
    That’s when Michael gripped the hem of my skirt and yanked it up, pushing me against the open door. My heart raced and I couldn’t breathe from the sudden shock of being forcefully pinned. Either I’d have to stand there and let him grope me or get in the car. I sure as hell wasn’t getting in the car with him right behind me. My hands rested on the roof and I started to push back when he grabbed my hips with a painful grip.
    “Still feels good, Sexy Lexi. Real good,” he growled in my ear, running familiar hands over a place where they had once been. “Just like old times.”
    The next thing I knew, Michael was yanked off me quicker than a heartbeat. I pulled down my skirt and turned around, confused by the abrupt cessation and silence.
    Oh, my God.
    Austin was straddling Michael, his brutal hands wrapped around his throat, squeezing tightly. Michael’s face swelled up until it turned an ugly shade of bluish red, his mouth agape as he struggled to get air in. He tried to punch Austin and buck him off, but that was about as effective as moving the Great Pyramid of Giza.
    I tackled Austin, knocking him onto the cement and falling on my side. Michael made a sound like a donkey as he pulled air into his lungs and Austin rolled over to finish what he started.
    I climbed on his back and curved my arm around his neck in a viselike hold. “Austin, no! You’ll kill him, you idiot.”
    Michael catapulted to his feet while holding his throat and jogged the hell out of there. When Austin stood up, I lost my grip and fell on my back. He turned to go after Michael but changed his mind when he saw me laid out on the concrete.
    “Christ, Lexi. You okay?”
    He knelt down and looked me over. I disappeared in his frosty blue eyes—so pale they resembled a Siberian Husky’s. They were rimmed with inky black lashes and wolfish brows, which furrowed with concern.
    “Lexi?”
    “What are you doing here?” I asked, propping myself up on my elbows.
    “Besides saving your ass from a dead man? Walking.”
    I lurched up and pushed myself off the ground. Austin slid his large hand beneath my arm to help and I knocked it away. “I can do it myself,” I said.
    “You always were stubborn,” he mumbled.
    “Capable,” I countered, glaring up at him.
    Up . Because I swear Austin had sprouted a few inches in the last seven years. I mentally measured him to be just over six foot, but when we last