Bad Storm by Jackie Sexton Read Free Book Online

she go visit my brother? It couldn’t be because she missed
me. I was back.
    Dread filled my
stomach. Because I knew Sierra better than the back of my hand. Tony was her
type. Tall, dark, and super mentally disturbed.
    “Oh.” I could feel
my heart sinking in my stomach. “Well, I guess I’ll have to come and say hello
to her. Don’t tell her I’m coming though,” I added. I wanted her to explain
herself—she was so good at crafting lies that I wanted to catch her off
guard. I wanted her explanation to be earnest. I wanted her to tell me that it
wasn’t what I thought.
    “Okay mijita , it will be a nice surprise!” she
laughed.
    “Yeah, I’ll be
right over.” I jumped to my feet and walked briskly over to my room, my heart
pounding furiously.
    “Aren’t you
cooking?”
    “I want to see you
more,” I said quickly.
    “Okay, I’ll cook
something up for you! Love you!”
    “Bye mom, love you
too,” I said before hitting the end call button. I dressed myself in a flurry,
not paying attention to much more than getting a top and bottom on my body and
pulling my hair back in a clip. I was scared, mortified, and livid. Just
moments ago I was on cloud nine, preparing a meal for the two of us so I could
gush about Trent. We would drink wine and gossip and watch that movie we had
agreed upon.
    But now it was
different. Now she was hooking up with my brother. The one who was bipolar. The
one I committed to a mental hospital.
    Needless to say,
I’m a little bit more than over-protective.
    I pulled on a
hoodie and threw up the hood, not bothering to find an umbrella. The rain
splashed on my face as I ran out to my Vespa and started up the little engine,
racing down the colorful, narrow streets of Deston Beach. The apartment
complexes, people walking the streets, and small shops passed by me in a blur.
Once I finally got to my mother’s quaint, baby blue villa, I ran up to the
porch and pounded on the door, too alive with nerves to fumble through my purse
for my key.
    “Coming!” I heard
my mother call. She opened the door and smiled at me, and I smiled weakly back
as she pulled me into an intense hug.
    “Oh Bailey!” she
kissed the side of my face viscously before pulling away to size me up and
down. Seriously, it was like I had been gone for months instead of a couple of
days.
    “How are you, mija ?” she cooed. She was wearing a
floor-length skirt and a green-print tropical shirt, her dark, silky hair piled
up on her head in a messy but fun kind of way. She looked much younger than
forty-five, and her youthful smile and short stature kept her cute and lively
as ever.
    “I’m fine, mom,” I
said, my tone easing at the sight of my mother, who was clearly so happy to see
me. “How are you?”
    “Good, good! Come
into the kitchen, I made you some quesadillas and soup.” She took my hand and
lead me to the kitchen.
    “Where are Sierra
and Tony?” I asked between gritted teeth. “I want to say ‘hi’ to them too.”
    “Oh, probably
playing the Xbox, they do that a lot,” she said, laughing. “Antonio! Sierra! I
have a surprise for you!” she called out in her thick accent, her voice
bouncing off the tiles and walls.
    The kitchen
smelled wonderful, filled with the strong and heavy scents of tomatoes and
jalapeño peppers. My mother made her way to the stove top and I sat down at the
kitchen table nook, trying to think of all the other possible explanations for
Sierra taking an interest in my brother.
    Maybe she was
trying to figure out a way to contribute to the community. Maybe she suddenly
started volunteering to help the mentally disturbed.
    Except I knew that
wasn’t it. Sierra was a mess herself. She was the kind of girl you pulled out
of bathrooms at clubs. She was about as stable as a roller coaster.
    I heard loud steps
thud against the tile. I knew instantly it was Tony. He came into the kitchen
and leaned against the entryway, folding his arms against his chest and giving
a small