Page 33 of A Little Bit Reckless

I attempted to ask him with my eyes during certain points of the show, but whenever I did, I gota lookfrom Mr. Reed or my own dad. I also got occasional glances from my friends which were equally angry. Those were bad, but Thatcher couldn’t evenlookat me. His attention remained forward like he cared about this shit, and I could see him well since we were all in a private booth. The dads always arranged for us to have the best seats in the house. They didn’t want their sons to miss anything.

I wasn’t.

I was well aware of everyone looking at me all night. After the show, all I had to look forward to was a drive with Mr. Reed, but I thought my dad would be there as a buffer at least.

He wasn’t.

Dad literally left my ass at the curb when the valet pulled up in Mr. Reed’s Escalade. I slid my dad a pleading look on the street. “You’re not coming?”

“Oh, we’ll have plenty of time together, son. Don’t worry about that,” Dad said. He patted my back, and I was left alone. The other guys had already gone off with their dads toward their own cars.

“You getting in?”

I turned to find Mr. Reed already at the wheel. He faced forward as if he hadn’t spoken.

But he had, and I felt the energy of his words when I got into the Escalade. Outside of my own dad, I’d spent the most time around Mr. Reed when I was younger. Thatcher and I were really close, so that was a given.

Because I spent so much time with him, he had no problem treating me like he would his own son.

Our fathers were all incredibly close, so their sons were raised by a tribe of strong men. I always admired our dads, especially Mr. Reed. He was the badass CEO of several companies.

I felt some kind of way sitting beside him and definitely didn’t like disappointing him. He was like a father to me.

“I don’t know what to say, Wells,” he started, and I sighed. We’d barely gotten on the road.

Honestly, I thought he’d start with yelling. He was like a bear in a cave when Thatcher screwed up. My lips parted. “Mr. Reed?—”

“I mean, you used to protect my daughter.”

I faced him, not expecting those words.

His hands gripped the wheel. “I obviously know what happened between you two and why you fell out with one another. That summer was terrible, tragic.”

I swallowed hard, saying nothing.

“But I know you know that summer was no one’s fault.”

This time I refused to speak for Mr. Reed’s benefit. He didn’t want to know what I had to say about that. He didn’t want to knowhow I feltbecause if he did, it’d make things so much worse. Instead, I chose to sit with my anger and frustration withhisdaughter. I held my fucking tongue, but I couldn’t help but look at him when he said what he did next.

“I urge you to stop all this, but not just for my daughter.For you, Wells,” he said, his lips turned down. “You’re hurting her, but you’re also suffering.”

You’re also suffering.

It was like his words were amplified in the air. This man cared about me just like my own dad.

Mr. Reed faced away, silent after that, and I studied the road too. I didn’t say anything, but my mind was screaming. I did use to protect his daughter. But that was because I was laboring under false pretenses. I’d been the fool. His daughter made me the joke the moment she decided to play her little trick at the pool, and I made a promise to myself that day. I wouldn’t be the fool. Rainbow Reed wouldn’t get anything else from me.

Even if I had fallen for it again that night she was on the balcony.

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

Bow

A book hit the grass in front of me, and I jumped, shrieking.

I almost shrieked again.