Fighting to Survive (Guarded Hearts Book 3) by Alexis Noelle

be.”
    “Why?” When I don’t answer Mads, she gets up and sits beside me. “What is going on?”
    I just shake my head, though. “I can’t tell you guys.”
    Madison lets out a frustrated groan. “Ugh! Why not? I thought all of the secrets were over? I’m going to tell you right now, Shawn, you either tell us what’s going on or don’t bother talking to us again.”
    My head snaps up. “Are you serious?”
    She doesn’t answer me. She just stands up and walks to the door with Holly and Nicole following. I want to stop them but I can’t. A couple of minutes later, my door opens again, but this time when I look up it’s Jason. “Not you, too.”
    “Listen, I’m not here to lecture you.” He shuts the door and takes a seat. “You also know I’m not into this whole share your feelings shit, either, but what the fuck is going on? I get you can’t talk to the girls, but at least tell me. If you fucked up just let it out. I’ve made my share of mistakes, so I am definitely not going to judge you. Shit, I pushed Nicole away in every asshole way you can imagine.”
    I run my fingers through my hair, knowing it would be nice to be able to tell someone about what happened. “Okay, I’ll tell you.” I tell J everything—from the dinner with her parents, to the blackmail her dad laid on me, and even what happened before I left. When I’m done he doesn’t say anything for a couple of minutes.
    “Fuck, that’s messed up. I get you not wanting anything to happen to your family, but you know you are letting him win, right? If it was me, I couldn’t stand him knowing he got the best of me.”
    “What the hell am I supposed to do, J?”
    “You are supposed to grow some damn balls, go to the stupid-ass party she’s at tonight, and tell her dad to stick it up his ass. You know how much Christen means to them and how much they don’t want to lose her. If you tell her what’s going on, she’ll make sure your family is okay.” Can it really be that easy? “Plus, the girls said her mom is making her go to the party with some douche tonight so she could probably use the help right now.”
    “What?” I jump up.
    “I’m guessing you know the douche? Oh wait, is it the douche from dinner?” Jason starts laughing.
    I grab my jacket off the chair. He’s right, we’re both miserable and I can’t stand it anymore. I can’t wait to see the look on her dad’s face when I show up there tonight. “You feel like a road trip, J?”
    He smiles at me. “Hell yes.” We walk out to the living room where Carter and Madison are. “I talked some sense into him. You wanna take a boys’ road trip, Carter?”
    Mads smiles. “You’re going to get her?” I nod my head and she jumps off the couch and gives me a hug. “Carter, you should go with them.”
    “Are you sure, babe?”
    “Yeah, I’ll text Nic and see if she wants to come over and hang out. Holly has a date tonight so she will be out anyway.”
    A date? I look over at Carter and can tell he had no idea about this. “Mads, who is she going out with?”
    Madison’s eyes get wide as she realizes she said something she shouldn’t have. “Just that guy Josh she has been talking to. You two need to leave her alone, though. I promised her I wouldn’t say anything.”
    Carter reluctantly agrees and we make our way out to my truck. I just hope when I get there she is happy to see me.
    And that she even wants me back.
     
     
Holly
     
    Thank God Josh isn’t here yet. I’m usually never late, but of course, everything which could go wrong has gone wrong. Not to mention the fact I had to go over to Jason’s apartment and try to talk some sense into douche-nugget, Shawn. I still can’t believe he acted like such an asshole, but I’ll have to deal with him later.
    I’ve been waiting to go out with Josh for almost three months now. We met on Facebook and have been talking almost constantly since. I swear it’s like he’s my twin, and I am so nervous for