All Chapters of I Never Hated You : Chapter 211 - Chapter 220

290 Chapters

Chapter Eighty-nine

“But you don’t think they will. ’Cause if they do, that’ll solve all your problems, right? Mark’s not going to wait around for another three years.”Lucas couldn’t fool himself about that. “So if I go back to jail, Mark and I will be over anyway. If you thought I was going, you wouldn’t have offered me all that money.”She frowned at him for a while before admitting, “It’s Plan B.”“I hope Plan C is you backing off and getting used to it, because A and B are getting you nowhere.” He wanted to be respectful of Jimmy Webber’s mother, and it wasn’t like he wanted to piss off Mark Webber’s mother either. But she wasn’t leaving him many options.And she wasn’t leaving him alone, either. She peered curiously at his face before slowly saying, “No. Plan C…there’s a reason it’s the last one on my list. It’s the plan that depends on you having some level of human decency, some tiny speck of compassion or affection for my son. You can understand why I didn’t think it would be successful. But at

Chapter Ninety

“We’re just going to listen,” Daniel Cohen said. The lawyer sounded as if he’d said the same thing to countless clients countless times. “We don’t decide anything right now, and we don’t give them any information. Okay? You can exchange greetings, talk about the weather a bit, but that’s it.”Mark nodded. He understood the strategy. The church had come to a preliminary conclusion about Mark’s situation, but nothing was formalized yet. Nothing was final. Mark needed to keep his mouth shut and let Daniel do his job.“We walk away, discuss their offer, and get back to them with a counteroffer if needed.”“It’s definitely going to be some sort of offer? You’re sure they aren’t going to just apologize for being paranoid and ask me to get back to work as soon as possible?”“That would be lovely. And it’s not completely impossible. But I don’t think it’s the most likely outcome, no.”Mark nodded slowly. This was all so far from what he wanted the church to be about. They should be helping pe

Chapter Ninety-one

“No,” he said. “I won’t make that choice. I can love Lucas and love God. I know that to be true. And I believe that I can love Lucas and serve the church. If you don’t believe that I can, you’ll have to decide what to do about it. But I won’t give him up.”“And I think that’s a good place for us to leave things,” Daniel said smoothly. “You’ve offered Mr. Webber his previous position. We accept that but reject any special provisions that go along with the position, any rules that apply only to him. He’s done nothing wrong and does not deserve to be placed on any sort of probation.”“It’s not a special rule to say that priests work within certain boundaries and are held to a higher standard,” Berton retorted.“Well, that’s something we can discuss at a future meeting. In the meantime, should Mr. Webber return to work tomorrow?”Berton frowned at the lawyer. “No,” he finally said. “Not until this is resolved. If it can’t be done at this meeting, he can just sit on the sidelines until it

Chapter Ninety-two

It was the opposite of the way he was behaving now. “Something happened,” he said firmly.“It just caught up to me,” Lucas said. “All of it. I don’t want to have to fight for every damn thing. I want one thing in my life to be easy. Plain and simple. You and me—we’re not simple.”Mark had no idea how to respond. “I want to quit the church,” he said, almost to himself. “I decided. I haven’t done it yet, but—”“Don’t do it!” Lucas looked almost ill. “You’re made for that job. It’s your calling, or whatever. More than a job. It’s part of who you are and you were always happy doing it. You should keep doing it. It’s important.”Mark stared at Lucas. “Yeah, I was happy doing it. But that doesn’t mean that I’ll be happy doing it now. Things have changed. You know that.”“Changed because of me.”“Yes. But in a good way.” He’d said the same thing to Daniel a few hours earlier, but maybe he should have been making it more clear to Lucas all along. “I feel like I’ve woken up. Sleeping wasn’t ba

Epilogue

Lucas stared at the little white house. The roof was in bad shape, so it would be the first priority. And the place definitely needed a coat of paint, and some weatherproofing before the winter hit. Then there was plenty to do on the inside—some rewiring, some plumbing, and lots of cosmeticstuff. It was a fixer-upper, for sure. “It doesn’t feel real,” he said almost to himself.Mark grunted as he lowered the tailgate of their rental trailer. “It’s real. Now come help me. This stuff isn’t going to move itself.”They were just maneuvering the couch down the trailer’s ramp when Elise’s pickup pulled into the driveway, its back piled high with the last of Mark’s belongings from the apartment. Alex swung out of the driver’s side and grabbed a box from the truck bed. “Moving sucks,” he said in greeting.Sebastian climbed out of the passenger side. He and Alex had only been together for a couple weeks, so he was kind of a saint for helping with the move. And for putting up with Alex’s bitch

Chapter 1

Jules’ POV“Jules!”I looked up from my book. My four-year-old sister, Riley, stood in my doorway, wearing a blue princess dress, a Batman mask, and a tiara.“It’s tea time.” She waved a plastic teapot at me, a huge grin on her face.I slipped a bookmark between the pages of my book and put it on the comforter next to me, sat up and swung my legs over the side of my bed.“You’re late.” She shoved the teapot at me so she could put her hands on her hips. She gave me an exasperated look.“Sorry, kiddo. Can’t keep your guests waiting.” She slipped her small hand into mine, holding on tight, and tugged me down the hall. “I’m going to miss you when you go back to school.” She skipped beside me, swinging our hands.“Same, kiddo. But I’ll be back at Thanksgiving, then again at Christmas.”“But that’s sooooooo far away.” Her lip came out in an adorable pout, and I had to suppress my smile.Riley was the only person in the house I gave two shits about, and the only one who gave a damn about me

Chapter 2

“See something you like, Julian?”I snapped my eyes up, my face heating. I’d been staring at his mouth.“Can’t say that I do, Asher.”He smirked and took another sip of his juice.“Here you go, Giant Max.”Riley held out a plate with two cookies on it. Ash and I both reached for it. I pulled my hand back as if burned and put it on my lap as another wave of irritation swept through me.Ash took the plate and put it in front of the giant teddy bear.“Do you like the tea, Jules?” Riley asked.I picked up my teacup and took a sip. The juice was warm and overly acidic. I wasn’t a fan of apple juice to begin with, but I could drink it for Riley.“It’s incredible. The best tea ever.”“Do you want sugar?” She picked up the plastic sugar container and looked at me expectantly.“Of course.”She busied herself with scooping imaginary sugar into my cup, then turned to Ash.“Ash?”“Yes, please.”“Milk?” she asked when she’d finished adding a half dozen fake scoops into Ash’s cup.“Please.”“Yes, t

Chapter 3

Ash’s POV “Are you doing homework?” I paused in the open doorway to Jules’s room. He looked up from his book. “It’s called reading, asshole. You should try it sometime.” “Nah. I’ll leave the nerd shit to you.” “Yes, because reading is soooo nerdy. What do you want?” “Mom said it’s time for dinner.” “I’m not hungry.” “Don’t care. She said we both have to come down.” “Why?” “No clue.” I glanced around Jules’s room and resisted the urge to roll my eyes. My perfect stepbrother’s room was immaculate. The tiny space held a single bed, a bookshelf, a dresser, a hamper, and a night table. Everything was neat and tidy, and nothing was out of place. Even the clothes in his hamper were folded. Who did that? “Why are you still here?” He looked up from his book and glared at me. “Just soaking in all the nerd energy.” He picked up his pillow and chucked it at me. It landed on the floor about a foot away from where I was standing. “Nice throw.” “Fuck off.” I bit ba

Chapter 4

My dad was court-ordered to pay my tuition. He’d also paid for my living expenses for the last three years. He had a shit ton of money, and since he’d spent my childhood ignoring me to make his fortune, he could damn well pay for my education.“And the costs of dorms have gone up,” Ken said. “We’ve priced it out, and it would be more cost-effective to have you two share an off-campus apartment.”My jaw dropped, as did Jules’s. It would have been comical if we’d been talking about something that didn’t involve us having to live in the same place in a week’s time.Jules and I had an unspoken agreement that we didn’t interact outside of the house. We’d successfully avoided each other the last three years.It hadn’t been exactly difficult. We were in different programs, had different friends, and he’d lived in the dorms while I’d lived off campus.We never crossed paths, which was exactly the way I wanted it.“What?” Jules squeaked.“Your father has agreed to provide you with a cost-of-li

Chapter 5

Jules’s POV “This place is a dump.” For once, I agreed with Ash. It was a dump. The inside of our new apartment was even worse than the outside. And we weren’t even close to school. Instead, we were on the other side of town, in a residential area. Rutherford College was a small school in a small town. The area was divided by socioeconomic class, with the rich living close to the school and working in one of the surrounding towns and cities, while the poor lived in the outskirts. There was no middle class, and the town’s population more than doubled every year when school started. Objectively, we weren’t that much farther away from school than we would have been in off campus housing, but the area wasn’t nearly as safe. Students stayed away from the east side for a reason. The square and squat outside hadn’t given me much hope. The brick facade of the five-story building was faded and grimy. The lobby consisted of an open area with ten mailboxes, one for each apartment.

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