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"You’re laughing right now?" She pulled back and looked at ry and half-confused

Yeah, I definitely shouldn’t be laughing right now

"Well, I was kind of worried about er issues, but now I’m kind of worried about yours You like to hit people" I couldn’t hold back the huge grin on ot what she deserved, and I was attacked first"

I picked Tate up, guiding her legs around my waist and carried her down the hall, unable to not touch her anyain

"It’s your fault, you know?" she said against my ear

"What?" I asked

"You uys," she added, and I wanted to laugh again, thinking of the daht say that I turned e of hbully," she teased

And I gripped her tighter, hoping I could, sos

Chapter 38

Over the next week, orked hard to take down the video or report it to the host site

Tate handled it with a straight face until she read the comments on the video on one of the sites Some were cruel Some were twisted All of them were sordid

She was ready to torch the entire internet, so I ended up just telling her to leave it, and I’d handle the rest of it myself Actually, I passed the task to Jax He knew his way around that shit better than I did And he’d be faster at it

Piper’s parents found out about the video and her involvement They took her out of school for the rest of the year She’d be horaduated

Nate was another matter He’d been MIA since the shit went down in the hallway last week, so I put him on the back burner for now

But he’d show up eventually, and I wasn’t anywhere near over it

Tate’s dad, on the other hand, was the hardest part to deal with He supported our new relationship, but we had to "slow the hell down"

He and I took Tate to Chicago last weekend to buy the R8 she’d been eyeing online He wasn’t thrilled with spending that much money on a car for her, but he wanted to see her sht consider his therapeutic tactics hiding, but it wasn’t The Nova project he invented for me last year was a way for et space, distance, and perspective

It was already working on Tate I couldn’t believe how quickly she was getting over the video

"What’s this?" Her curious eyes smiled at the box I’d just placed in her hands

I sat onback on my feet "Open it"

Tate had been in bed when I clih the tree--and the rain--to sneak in a visit

I had dragged Jax with me to some outlet mall Madoc toldbullet and asked for ideas

I wanted to give Tate so special

She slid the top off the box and picked out the char with surprise and a little confusion

I watched her study the four char off the bracelet: a key, a coin, a cell phone, and a heart

I kepthoeak I was HowI orth a damn

After a few moments, her eyes widened, and realization hit her "My lifelines!" she blurted out, s, and I exhaled a relieved breath

I didn’t know, until recently, about Tate’s survival tactics with s she always carried on her when she went to parties or other social gatherings in high school

Eency type objects that she used to escape me if she needed Money, phone, and car keys

"Yeah" I ran a hand throughto o about how you alanted your escape plans when dealing with me in the past, I didn’t want you to see me that way anymore"

"I don’t--" She shook her head

"I know," I interrupted "But I want to ain I want to be one of your lifelines, Tate I want you to need me So" I pointed to the bracelet "The heart is me One of your lifelines I took Jax with otten her a bracelet with a heart That’s it A fking heart That was all she needed I was the one to keep her safe I was the one she’d run to--if Tate ran to anybody at all--for help or cohts

"He’s hanging in there," I offered "My et custody He wants to meet you"

And he did My brother’s words, "I wanna "

Such a little shit

"I’d love to," she said softly, and my heart swelled as I watched her twirl the bracelet around her fingers, studying it with a twinkle in her eyes

"Put it on nore the tear that fell down her cheek I hoped it was a happy tear, and all of a sudden, I couldn’t wait for her father to relax on the rules of how ether I dahteen, but we both respected her dad But in his head--and probablyfor the stuff I wanted to do to her

For the stuff I’d already done to her

I worked the clasp, fastening it to her wrist, and then pulled her onto my lap so that she straddled me

Oh, Christ

She wrapped her ar on

Okay, only a week, but still

When you’ve tasted the one thing that fills you up, it’s impossible not to want more of it