First Chances Read Free

have a feeling there’s a whole side of you that you don’t even know about.”
    The funny thing was, he was right. There was a part of me that I was waiting to explore. It was the part of me that could maybe learn to cope with the death of my boyfriend. The old, fragile Hadie couldn’t handle it, but maybe I didn’t need to be her anymore. Maybe I had to be what I needed to be.
    Maybe Three was exactly what I needed to help me get there.

Chapter Two
    -Two Weeks Later-
    Eddie
     
    The radio hummed softly in the background as I drove down the long, boring road that led back to the small town of Statlen.
    Statlen, Iowa was my hometown. Population: ten. That’s what it felt like, anyway. There couldn’t have been more than twelve thousand people in this tiny, Midwest town. There wasn’t a whole lot to look at or do out here, so people had to entertain themselves somehow, and that was by knowing everyone else’s business.
    It was a little after midnight, and I was on my way home after dropping my mom, Jean, off at the hospital where she worked. My six-year-old sister, Hailie, was fighting sleep in the backseat of the car, even though I’d told her it was okay to take a nap until we got home. She was about as stubborn as they came and had tried to stay awake the entire time.
    It was a school night and I felt horrible for keeping her out this late, but right now we only had one functioning car. She was too young to stay home this late by herself—even though she’d probably just sleep—while I was gone for forty minutes.
    It wasn’t ideal, but somehow we had to make things work until I could save up to buy another car. I had my eye on a $3,500 piece of shit at Jack’s Dealership that I was very close to buying. Working late nights and extra hours at Belle’s Diner had finally paid off.
    A deserted motorcycle on the side of the road caught my eye. What the hell? Was there a member of the Madden or Allbrook motorcycle gang wandering around?
    My eyes fell on a male figure walking along the side of the road. About twenty feet ahead of that figure was another figure, more petite—it was a girl.
    I slowed down just in case there was trouble brewing. Maybe she was trying to get away from that guy.
    The girl stumbled a little and turned her head at the sound of the approaching car. In the flash of the headlights, a familiar face came into view.
    Holy shit. It was Hadie Swinton.
    Immediately, I slammed my foot down on the brakes and the car screeched to a halt just past Hadie.
    In the rearview mirror, I saw Hailie jerk awake. “What’s going on?” Her bright blue eyes sought me out in concern.
    “Everything’s fine. Stay right here,” I ordered, jumping out of the car and running back towards Hadie who had stopped walking and was staring at the car.
    The guy was still several feet behind her, but was gaining on us quickly.
    Hadie was a girl from school, but she wasn’t just any ol’ girl. She was the girl. She was the girl I’d been crushing on since freshman year; the one who would never be mine.
    Hadie stared at me in confusion for several seconds before her chestnut brown eyes finally widened in recognition. “Eddie?” she mumbled, her voice slurred.
    “Hadie, what are you doing out here?” I stopped a couple of feet short of her. “Are you alright?”
    “Oh, yeah, I’m great. I just, it’s weird, we were going home, but-” she rambled incoherently, trailing off.
    She didn’t sound like herself and she looked like a complete mess. Her wavy brown hair was windswept, which would make sense if she’d been on the bike with that guy. And her outfit was definitely not something I’d ever seen her in—tight jeans, a top that showed her cleavage, and a black, leather jacket.
    Then it hit me.
    “You’re drunk,” I said, staring into her face and noticing her eyes were glassy. “Where are you coming from?”
    This was not the Hadie I knew. The normal Hadie didn’t go out and get drunk on a school night;