Clipped by Love (Bellevue Bullies 2)

I don’t answer him as I look away. It’s so much easier said than done. He doesn’t understand how it feels to watch my mom cry. To see Lucy nervous and stressed out. To watch Jace being so fucking careless. He has a one-track mind. Sex and getting into the NHL. It drives me insane, but fuck, Jude’s right. Nodding, I look up, holding his gaze. I hadn’t realized how much I needed this talk. I needed to know that I had him behind me, but maybe if I had asked, I would have known earlier. Maybe then I wouldn’t have been carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.

“Yeah, I got you.”

“Good,” he says, squeezing my shoulder again. “Now, let’s walk over to this chick’s house so you can apologize.”

Looking up, my brows come together. “What?”

“Come on, I’ll go with you to Baylor’s so if she tries to stab you, I can save you,” he says with a grin. “She looks like the stabbing type or maybe a clawer. Oh shit, you remember Cassie? How she tried to claw my eyes out?”

I laugh as I nod. “That chick was nuts.”

“Right? And I told her that I didn’t want a girlfriend, jeez,” he says, shaking his head, and then he smiles before glancing over at me. “But yeah, come on, we’ll go together.”

I smile as I scoff. “She won’t see me.”

“Yeah, but you can yell at the door that you’re sorry. I know it’s killing you.”

“It is,” I admit as the door opens and Jace comes out.

“Hey, I made us an appointment for parasailing. Let’s go,” he says, slamming the door behind him, swinging the car keys in his hands.

“What time?” Jude asks.

“In an hour. Figured we can go hang out at the beach, check out chicks and shit,” he says, coming up to us. “You ready?”

“Yeah, you know where Delanie is staying?”

He nods. “Yeah, why?”

“We’re gonna stop by real quick. Jayden wants to talk to Baylor,” he says, hooking his arm across my shoulders. “And because we are good brothers, we are gonna protect her from clawing his eyes out.”

But Jace shakes his head. “No can do. They left.”

“What?” I ask, confused, as my stomach drops. “They weren’t supposed to leave till eight tonight.”

“Yeah, well, you pissed her off so bad, she wanted to leave right away,” Jace says, pulling his phone out. “Yeah, they left twenty minutes ago.”

Well, shit.

“Damn it. Okay,” Jude says, putting his hands on his hips as he thinks. “Wanna fly to Arkansas?”

I laugh as I shake my head. “No man, I guess I’ll just never get to apologize. Which is probably for the best. Gotta keep my eyes, ya know?”

Jude laughs as Jace nods. “For sure, plenty of oth

er girls to see.”

But...I don’t want to see any other girls.

I want to see Baylor and I want to apologize.

“You could always find her on Facebook, send a message,” Jude suggests, but I shake my head.

“Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll see,” I say with a shrug. “Let’s go.”

I see them hesitate, but I’m sure they know that I want them to let it go. Even though that will be very hard for me. I don’t do well without closure. I have to make sure all my loose ends are tied, but this is something that may never get tied. I should take Jude’s suggestion and message her, but that doesn’t seem right. When and if I apologize, I want it to be in person.

Because she deserves nothing less.