Rock Bottom (Dragon Within #4) Read Online Free

or a touch the way Zack had kissed me. He was talking
about Zack trying to hurt me and that had never happened. I mean, sure, I was
hurting inside from the way he kept trying to pretend nothing had happened
between us, but it’s not the same thing, okay? Stop looking at me like that.
         “I could
use a little peace and quiet,” I said. “I won’t get that with Hannah here.
Please, Derek? I promise you, Zack is not going to hurt me.”
         He made a
face. “All right. But I don’t like it.”
         “Thank
you.”
         “You’re
welcome. Now take a nap. We’ll leave after you wake up. I don’t want you dozing
off while everybody is gone.”
         “Okay,
big brother.” We smiled at each other. It was kind of annoying being treated
like a kid, but it was a little nice as well. Nice to know he cared about me
even though we’d missed so much time together.      
    After he left, I laid back down but it still wasn’t
easy to fall asleep. Now my mind was spinning around trying to think of what I
was going to say to Zack once everybody left. I’d meant what I said to Hannah
about making things weird, but it was getting too hard to deal with. Even if he
didn’t like me, even if a kiss was nothing but a kiss, it had to be better knowing
for sure one way or the other. Right?

 
                                                            

 
    CHAPTER
TWO

 
 
         All
right, I admit it. I’m a coward. Derek and the others had been gone for over an
hour and I still hadn’t worked up the nerve to talk to Zack. He was prowling
around outside but that was really no good excuse. I could have gone out there
to him. But I hadn’t.
         Can you
blame me, really? I’d never been in a position where I wanted to tell a boy I
was in love with him. How do you even start a conversation like that in the
situation we were in? I’m no expert on relationships, but I figure most people
are an actual couple before they start saying things like that. Me and Zack had
only kissed once. We’d never been on anything even remotely resembling a date.
And for all I knew, he didn’t even like me that way. Maybe everything I thought
had passed between us was all in my head.       
         Zack
walked through the front door and before I could have a chance to talk myself
out of it, I spoke up. “Hey, do you have a minute?”
         “For
what?”
         I opened
my mouth and nothing came out. How was I supposed to say what I needed to say
while he was standing there glowering at me? “Nothing,” I muttered, looking
down at the table. “Never mind.”
         He made
an annoyed sound. “Look, if you have something to say to me, then say it. I
don’t have all day to stand around waiting on you. Somebody has to keep an eye
out for trackers and I seem to be the only person who cares to do it.”
         My head
snapped up. I glared at him. “You’re a jerk.” Not the best way to start off
trying to tell a guy you're in love with him but the tone in his voice had hit
me all wrong. “You’re rude and egotistical and... and mean. And not half as
cute as you think you are.”
          He raised a brow. “I’m so glad I hung
around for that. If you’re done...” He started toward the back door.
         “I’m not
done.” I pushed back the chair and stood up. “I need to say something to you.
We need to talk about...” I licked my lips. “About what’s going on between us.”
         He
stopped, tension written across the tightness in his shoulders. “We don’t have
anything going on between us that needs talking about.”
         I almost
let him get away with it. He had his hand on the doorknob. I could have let it
drop. But it was too hard to keep going on this way. “You kissed me. You can’t
pretend it never happened.”
         “I thought
that’s exactly what we've been doing.”