Darkest Dawn Read Free

moved away from him, stumbling down the cement steps, stunned by the rain as it soaked me in seconds.
    “Bri. Wait!”
    “I have to go.” I backed away from him. I turned away. His hurt expression made my chest tighten. I jogged around the building toward the motel. I touched my pocket again. The further I got from him, the clearer my head became. What the hell was I thinking? I should have gone with my first instinct and fled the diner after I’d eaten. And who the hell was Bri?

CHAPTER TWO
    Bri
    “Mom! Get your butt down here!” Bri Taylor called up to the second floor of the condo. She checked her phone for the hundredth time in five minutes and shoved it back into her bag. Abbey Taylor ran across the hall to the other side of the second floor, her robe flying behind her like a cape.
    “Oh no you don’t!” Bri dropped her bag and bolted up the stairs after her mother.
    The lock on the bathroom door clicked just as she grabbed the handle. Bri pounded on the door.
    “Two minutes, Brianna!” Abbey called, her voice muffled by the shower.
    “You have less than that!” Bri turned, sliding down the wall and sitting cross-legged by the door. It wasn’t like her mom’s snooze alarm hadn’t gone off three times.
    Bri unlocked her phone to check the time then scrolled around the screen to her text messages. She pressed Jake’s name to open their recent conversation.
    Come by the diner tonight. We need to talk.
    Bri had received the message around seven the night before. Her mom had already been passed out in bed. The papers she’d been reading were spread across her lap in an unruly mess. By the time Bri had stacked everything neatly on the nightstand, cleaned up after dinner, and done a load of laundry, it had been eight-thirty. And with the stupid laws that went with her driver’s permit, she couldn’t go anywhere in the car past eight without an adult. She’d contemplated dragging Abbey’s unconscious body into the car but did wonder how she’d get back in the house after. It was one thing going down the dangerously steep driveway; it was a different thing entirely getting back up.
    Her message remained the last part of the conversation.
Sorry. Let’s talk tomorrow?
    She knew he could only get on his phone at the beginning and end of his shift. All night she wondered what Jake wanted to tell her. Lately their relationship had been leaning toward something more than the friendship they’d had since middle school. “Hello?”
    Bri shoved off the floor and leaned on the banister, her chin resting on her arms. Her best friend, Max, stood in the doorway, her short black hair pulled back in a tiny ponytail at the top of her head, with a thick curtain of bangs shading her already dark eyes. She arched an eyebrow at Bri.
    Bri shrugged. This wasn’t the first morning battle.
    “Mrs. Taylor!” Max called. “If I’m late again, Mrs. Brewster is going to kick my ass.”
    The bathroom door opened. Bri looked over at Abbey who was fully dressed and in the middle of pulling her hair into a bun as she walked back to her bedroom. “Watch your language, Maxine. And Madelyn and I are on the best of terms. I will explain your tardiness, if necessary.”
    Bri checked her phone again. They would be at the tipping point of being just in time for first period and being late. She groaned. At this rate, she wouldn’t get a chance to see Jake until lunch. Her fingers hovered over the phone screen. Ultimately she decided to wait until she could see him in person. He had wanted her to come to the diner last night so it was something he wanted to say to her face. A hole widened the pit of her stomach.
    Bri lifted the handle of the suitcase she’d placed at the top of the stairs earlier that morning. Abbey came out of the room, her hands on her hips, scanning the area.
    Bri tapped her finger on the handle of the bag. Abbey grinned and fluffed Bri’s hair before taking the bag and gliding down the stairs. “Thanks,