As a sick, unstable Jeb starts to threaten all Macy values, she is reminded of what has always been perfectly clear. Macy belongs to him, only him, and he won’t let her go. Ever.

If only Macy could’ve loved Jeb, she wouldn’t have to worry about surviving him now.

Excerpt

“All right, here goes nothing.” She hopped off the rock to stand right in front of me. “You remember, after I told you, that Bubba didn’t want to see me again?”

“Yeah, and I gave him a what-for and threatened to tell Jeb if he didn’t apologize.”

She laughed a little and brushed her hair back, her fingers still shaking. “I remember. He was so scared. But he had no reason to apologize.”

“Ah, yes, he did.”

“No. He didn’t break up with me. I broke up with him.”

“Okay, I know you’re going somewhere with this, but…”

“Yes, just listen.” She took a slow breath. “After we–you know–it felt…wrong. Not wrong like ‘we shouldn’t be having sex’ wrong, but like wrong, you know?”

Impatient was too soft a word for what I felt at that moment. “No, I don’t know ’cause I never had sex before.”

“Well, I didn’t know why either up until a few months ago.” Another tear dripped from her left eye.

I jumped off the rock before I could convince myself not to and hugged her. “You can tell me anything, Rachel. I won’t tell.”

She hugged me back and buried her face in my neck. “Promise you won’t hate me.”

“Now that’s a promise I know I can keep.”

“It was wrong ’cause he wasn’t…you.”