Love Brewing (Love Brothers #3) by Liz Crowe Page B

jerk. You’re…you know, kinda big. It hurts
    still, sometimes.” Pissed at his smug expression at that comment, she wadded
    the tissues up, wondering how she could sneak down the hall and do a proper
    clean up. She had blood, but not period blood. And she hurt pretty bad.
    “Oh, baby.” He pulled her so close she heard his heartbeat.
    “I’m sorry.” He kissed her hair. “Forgive me?” He tilted her chin up and gave
    her the sad puppy dog eyes again.
    “Yeah.” She pressed her nose into his chest. “But if you
    take her to prom I’ll lighten your load down there with my daddy’s hatchet.”
    She cupped his crotch. He jumped away from her and executed his usual nervous
    tick, running his palm around the back of his neck. She hated it, and him, and
    her own stupid self at that split second.
    “All right, I’d better take off.” He moved past her toward
    the window.
    “Wait.” She grabbed his arm. “Show me.”
    He grinned and flipped his wrist over. She held hers next to
    it. The entwined pair of fancy capital letter Ds with stars matched more or
    less. “You’re my boyfriend, right Dominic?” she demanded, not letting go of his
    arm.
    “Sure thing, sweets,” he claimed, lightly kissing her nose
    and winking before climbing out the window, making his practiced way down the
    trellis, then scurrying into the shadows. She touched her neck, tingly where
    he’d likely sucked another hickey on her, then got another twinge of pain
    between her legs. Limping, she snuck into the hall and grabbed a washcloth from
    the linen closet.
    “Diana, honey?” Her father’s voice floated out from his
    room, sleepy but ever vigilant—or so he believed.
    “Yeah, Daddy, sorry. I had, um, a bad dream. Got all sweaty.
    Getting a cold cloth.”
    “Want some warm milk?” he asked.
    She slumped in the bathroom doorway. “Yes, please. That
    would be great.”
    “I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
     
    Two Weeks Later
    Diana clutched her books to her chest. Sweat beaded her skin
    but she didn’t bother swiping at it. She couldn’t move.
    Renee had her arm linked through Dominic’s, grinning her
    perfectly white grin, flipping that stupid, flawless hair over her tanned
    shoulder. “Tell her, Dom.”
    Dom blinked. “I’m taking Renee to prom.” He sounded like a
    robot. She frowned, focusing on him and not the slutty girl clinging to him.
    “Oh?” She sensed the high school population swirling past
    them, taking it all in without seeming to do so.
    “Yeah, honey, sorry.” Renee patted her arm.
    Diana jerked out of her reach. “Forgot that bit about me
    lightening your load, did you, Dominic?”
    “What is she talking about?” Renee frowned at her, then Dom,
    who had his mouth hanging open like a fool. Diana’s head cleared.
    “Never mind, honey .” She spoke to Renee while looking
    straight at Dom. “It’s a dumb farm-girl thing. Catch you later, Love.” She gave
    a jaunty wave and forced her way through the crowd and out of the building, to
    her car, home, and into the barn where she saddled her horse and rode for what
    felt like hours. By the time she’d returned to the barn and wiped the horse
    down, her parents were frantic. Her sister stood next to them in the paddock,
    arms crossed. Diana stomped up to her and slapped her, hard. Jen didn’t make a
    sound.
    “Diana!” Her father held her arm so she couldn’t do it
    again.
    “It’s all right, Daddy. She knows she deserves it.” Diana
    wiped her stinging palm on her jeans, the hole in her chest aching like a
    rotten tooth. “You’re right about him, though. He’s bad. But I want you all to
    know that I’ve been having sex with Dominic Love since July.” The expression of
    surprise then horror in her father’s face, and the one of non-surprise, then
    hurt on her mother’s, gave her a grim satisfaction. “Yeah. So now you know. But
    we aren’t together anymore so he won’t be sneaking up the trellis into my
    bedroom to fuck me