Bad Storm by Jackie Sexton Read Free Book Online Page B

okay?”
she whispered, a concern look in her dark eyes.
    “Yeah,” I said,
trying not to let on how pissed off I was. “It’s been a long past few days.”
    As I walked out of
the house and down the driveway, Sierra ran up behind me.
    “Bailey wait!” I
forced myself to keep my eyes forward, to say strong. She always manage to find
a way of getting my sympathy.
    “Bailey! I’m
sorry! But I can’t have it all figured out like you. You’ve basically known
your prince charming since you were in fucking elementary school!”
    I turned around,
and she looked fierce and angry. It wasn’t what I expected. “You know it’s not
like that,” I said coolly. “Stop making this about me.”
    “Did you ever
think that it sucked, being the third wheel all the time? Knowing that your
best friends were meant for each other, and that all you’re good for is one
night stands?”
    I felt a strong
pang of guilt. It was something I didn’t want to recognize, but her words
carried a lot of resonance with me. Tears made their way down her cheeks, and
though I wanted to hate her, to shake her and scream, I hugged her.
    “I’m sorry,” I
mumbled, feeling her shaking sobs wrack me. “I’ve been so selfish lately.”
    “I’m…I’m sorry
too.”
    I held her as the
sun set, her tears soaking through my shirt. I hadn’t meant to make her take a
backseat. Still, my head was reeling with her admission.
    “Let’s go watch
that movie, huh?” I said once her heavy sobs subsided. She nodded into my
shoulder, and pulled back to look at me, revealing her red-rimmed eyes. All the
questions that were brewing through me left. I took her hand in mine and squeezed
it.
    “Hop on the back
of my moped. The extra helmet’s in the scooter trunk as always,” I tugged her
hand over to my little bike. She had probably walked to the house from work
since the coffee shop was close by, and I wondered, with a sinking dread in my
stomach, how often she had done that. But I forced myself to push the thought
out of my mind. I just couldn’t deal with that just then.
    We drove through
the dreary streets, the rain giving us a break as we zipped through puddles and
wet pavement. As we passed by the old cemetery, something caught my eye.
    “Hold on,” I said,
following this strange instinct I had to pull over.
    “What is it?”
Sierra asked me as I pulled up along a side street parking space.
    “I don’t know…do
you mind if we pop in the cemetery for a sec?” I peered past the iron fence to
see a figure by a headstone, the back of the person’s head covered in a black
hoodie.
    “Um, that’s really
weird Bailey…” Sierra said, but I was only half-listening. I knew it was weird,
but something about that figure, the hoodie, and it being in the cemetery,
triggered something in my memory.
    “Just for a
second,” I murmured, walking around the block to the Old City Cemetery’s gate.
It was wide open, as it usually was during visiting hours.
    I approached the
person, who seemed to be about Sierra’s height, and felt a strange mix of
apprehension and excitement.
    ‘ If you know this person, then why don’t you
know their name?’ I thought.
    “The new mate of
Deston’s pack, fascinating,” a woman’s voice came from the hooded. I stepped
back in surprise and bumped into Sierra, who was only several paces behind me.
    “Bailey, right?”
the woman turned around, revealing a surprisingly youthful face. She pulled
down the hoodie, revealing a short afro and a face riddled with piercings. She
was fiercely beautiful and horrifying all at once. Plus, she knew my name,
which was more than a little creepy.
    “Who are you?” I
could feel Sierra’s body tense behind me.
    “You tell me,” she
laughed, “you’re the one who came over to say hello, didn’t you?”
    Her eyes were dark
and almond-shaped, and I could have sworn I had seen them before. I searched my
mind, desperately trying to remember when and where, but couldn’t.
    “You