Home is Where the Heart Is (Home #1) Read Online Free Page B

evils?
    She pulled out her phone and checked the time. One in the morning.
    She turned towards Tate then back to her house weighing up her options. With only a moment’s hesitation she ran towards her house, praying her parents were fast asleep.
    With shaking hands she turned her key in the door and barely made it inside before Tate was slapping his hands on the wooden door.
    “Isabelle! Open up this door!”
    “Just go away, Tate,” she rasped.
    “What the hell did he do to you?” he demanded. “You disappear for ages and then when I see you there’s blood on your fucking face and you’re sprinting away from me!”
    “You’re seeing things, I’m just tired and want to go to bed.”
    “Stop treating me like I’m a fucking idiot, we both know you would never just leave me there without saying anything, and I know what I saw.”
    “I… I tried to break up a fight and got caught in the middle,” she lied, speaking through the sobs trying to force their way out. “I knew you would over react and I just wanted to go home.”
    There was a long pause and then a shuffling noise as he slid down the door. Isabelle did the same so that they were back to back with the solid wooden door between them.
    “I’m going to kill him,” Tate said matter of factly.
    Panic gripped her chest again. Tate couldn’t hurt Jason without raising questions that would lead back to her parents and her dad going to prison when he heard and reacted with violence against Jason. No one could know, not here and not ever.
    “Just go home, Tate.”
    “Belle, I love you and I would do anything for you but...”
    “But you won’t do that?” she quipped, resting her pounding head against her knees.
    “Just let me in,” he pleaded. “Let me be there for you and we’ll find a way through this together. I won’t tell anyone if that’s what you’re worried about, I just want to fix whatever has you spooked.”
    Fix? Because she was broken now, wasn’t she? Already her skin no longer felt like her own, and her mind was warring against her, planting poisonous seeds of blame.
    One day left and then she was leaving, would never have to come back to this place or deal with this if she didn’t want to.
    “I love you too,” she whispered. “I really am tired and just want to go to bed. Can you please just give me a little space?”
    Tate sighed deeply through the door. “Fine, I’ll give you tonight, but we are going to talk about this. Whenever you’re ready, whatever you need – I’m here, ok?”
    Isabelle stayed silent until Tate couldn’t take it anymore.
    “Belle?”
    “OK.”
    “Don’t shut me out,” he begged in a tortured whisper and then he was gone.
    Slowly getting to her feet and trying not to whimper in pain, Isabelle moved through the dark house and found no sign of her parents anywhere. Vaguely she remembered her mum telling her they were staying in the city after her dad’s work farewell party. Thank god.
    Leaving all the lights off and just relying on her phone to guide her, Isabelle slowly made her way to the bathroom. She waited until the door was softly shut before she turned on the light, then frantically turned her phone off before Tate could bombard her with calls.

Her whole body shook as she worked up the courage to turn around and look in the mirror.
    You can do this, just take a deep breath and then you can work out the damage control.
    Giving herself until three she hesitantly turned around to face her reflection and had to fiercely grip the counter so that she didn’t collapse in a heap.
    A mess of blood and ruined mascara stared back at her with a fat lip, swollen eye and bruises spreading around her neck and face. She wrapped her arms around her chest to try and keep from shattering apart.
    How was she going to hide this from her parents?
    With great effort she pulled her ruined clothes off her aching body, turned the shower on and stepped under the hot jets of water, letting the liquid run over