Bad Wolf Read Free Page A

anger. But I wasn’t finished. I
was boiling with rage.
    “No. You don’t get to control me like that. Nobody does. I already got
enough of it from my Dad and enough of it from Jason. I’m sorry that you
regularly turn into a beast that wants to attack your closest friends, I truly
am. But that doesn’t give you license to tell me how to run my life,” I
snapped, pushing myself up from the floor with my palms. I wanted to make a
dramatic exit, but I just managed to stagger drunkenly towards the door, avoiding
eye contact with the person I just threw verbal daggers at. But he didn’t try
to stop me, he didn’t say anything.
    It wasn’t until I was lying on the hard hotel bed alone, next to the
space where Brandon had set down his night shirt and pillow,   that I realized what I had done. I had
thrown into his face that he was a monster. I buried my face into the hotel
pillow that smelled of Clorox, while all the confused, raging thoughts battled
in my mind, fighting back the impending tears.

 

 
    Chapter
Two
    The next morning I awoke early, my phone buzzing with a text message. It
was from Aamir. Simultaneously my heart skipped a beat and my stomach filled
with dread.
    “Are u OK? Also, found you a house show in Tally. You down?”
    Suddenly the post-coital conversation came rushing back to me. So much
had happened since then that I hadn’t even given it a second thought. Besides,
the particular details of the hook-up were a little fuzzy just then, with my
head pounding furiously and all. I mostly remembered that it was awesome. I
looked around at the guys deep in sleep: Brandon next to me with his arm
hanging off the bed, Nick and Martin with their backs turned against each other
in the bed across from us, and Trent on the floor in our alternating sleeping
bag. I groaned as a searing pain in my head reminded me of the amount of
alcohol I had consumed.
    ‘ Trent ,’ I thought, ‘ Oh God, he probably hates me .’
    Then I reminded myself that I still kind of hated him too.
    I looked back at my phone and sighed. It seemed like the perfect opportunity,
but a part of me wondered if it would piss of Trent further.
    ‘ There’s no logical reason, ’ I told myself. We were planning on
camping out at Lake Okeechobee anyway, and while I would do it, I wasn’t
especially fond of camping. I just didn’t care for it either way. I planned it
as a money saving strategy.
    I looked through my missed texts and realized Aamir had sent me few, all
asking if I was okay. I also had a dozen missed calls from him. My heart
fluttered at his concern.
    “Sorry I missed ur texts! I am OK. And totally. Tell us when and where
:).”
    I waited only a few moments before my phone buzzed in my palm, loud in
the relative silence.
    “OK. Will do. Also I had fun last nite : ). Maybe we could hang out
again? Go out for lunch?”
    I smiled, both disbelieving and thrilled that he actually wanted to hang
out again. Part of me had expected it would remain a drunken fling.
    ‘That would be nice :).” I texted back. I was smiling like a dork,
sitting on my own cloud nine until Brandon stirred, mumbling himself awake.
    “Hey,” I whispered with a goofy smile as he opened his eyes.
    “Hey...”he sniffed the air and groaned, shoving his head into his
pillow. “Mfrggghhh.”
    “Um...what?”
    “You stink,” he groaned as he lifted his head up momentarily only to
drop it back down.
    I looked down at myself and realized with dismay I was wearing the same
dress from last night, covered in dirt and dark blood stains. I lifted my
armpit to take a whiff and I startled myself with my own pungent scent.
    “Oh God,” I moaned.
    Martin stirred, his sandy blonde hair flopping around as he tossed. “Get
up!” I barked, lifting my body out of the bed to skip over to the bathroom.
“We’re going to Tallahassee!”
    “What the hell?” Martin said before a long yawn. “Why?”
    “I got us a gig. I call dibs on the shower!” I shut the door