Bitter Angel Read Free

heart. And down in a place where my love for my friends was beginning to warm my tiny Grinch heart, I knew that Heather and Nilah were going to win.
    As I formed a response though, something strange happened.
    “Okay,” I replied, all defeated and slouchy. “I’ll go.”
    Then a piece of me also said, “Nope. I’m staying with you. They don’t really need me, and we’re celebrating this weekend so I technically wouldn’t be missing it. Besides, I’m the only taken one, and I won’t get in the way of their outrageously whorish ways.”
    And he laughed—at both answers, even though I knew I had only said one. When he led me back inside, I couldn’t remember which response I had given him.
    In the room, I withered my friends with a disdainful glare, which tipped them off to their victory and they squealed in ear-piercing delight.
    I dressed in a top that was purply and silky but not too slutty, some tastefully holey jeans, and strappy sandals. Just before we strolled out the door, I gave Jay a kiss with tongue so fiery he was going to regret ever letting me leave.
    I so adored his softy side, but I would love it if once, just once, he could be a man and demand something from me, like take me by the ass and throw me on the bed. Every girl, even the bossy ones, liked to be dominated now and then. Just sayin’.
    As Nilah hooted and woohooed, it took less than a minute for her Infiniti G35 to reach illegal speeds. Her hollering was a painful side effect of her birthday high. If she weren’t driving, she’d have probably stuck her head out the window and let her ears flap in the wind. From the front passenger seat, Heather was blowing on her French manicure, even though her nails were way past dry.
    I leaned forward from the back, an elbow on each of their seats. “Where is this place again?”
    “We went there once,” Nilah reminded me. “It’s near that Fourth Street Park place we went to last time, but we’re going to dinner as soon as we get into town. I made reservations at the most expensive seafood place I could find.”
    Grimacing, I sank back into the plush, heated leather. I’d never been a very big seafood fan, but it was Nilah’s birthday. Her day, her rules. We’d always had that tradition for our birthdays—we got to pick where we ate, what we did, and go wherever we wanted on our special day.
    I sighed, already missing Jay. At that moment, I began to daydream that I was clawing my way out of the car, curling into a ball, and rolling to a stop on the concrete. Then, magically uninjured of course, I’d race back to him.
    When I came to my senses, however, I was overcome with a very strange sensation. Like I didn’t have to imagine it.
    Because I was still with him.

Friday, 8:37 p.m.

    I knew exactly what time it was because I was peeking at the clock from my slit eyes as Jay and I made out on my bed. We’d already made love twice since Nilah and Heather had left. Still naked and wrapped together, we laid back against my piled pillows and stared at each other. Now that all the built-up sexual tension had its turn, we could chill and enjoy each other’s company.
    I made the right decision by staying behind.
    “How did your test go?” he asked softly in the darkness. I’d told him on the phone yesterday morning about my Bio exam.
    “It went,” I replied sarcastically as my fingers lightly caressed the scar just below his left shoulder. The disfigured and discolored skin was nearly the size of my palm. His dad had put it there one night when he’d decided Jay’s eleven-year-old goofing off had pissed him off, so he’d tossed a scalding pan of hot water at him. (Jay’s dad was another story for another day.) I loved that he didn’t shy away from me touching it like he used to.
    “To the incinerator or to the moon?” He laughed boyishly as he shot his hand in the air.
    I just shook my head and smiled. Jay and his silly little sayings, I thought, spreading my fingers across the scar.