Destruction: The December People, Book One by Sharon Bayliss Read Free Book Online Page B

“friend.” He should have recognized that as a dangerous sign and gotten away as fast as he could.
    It didn’t take long for their friendship to turn into more. The second time they studied together at a coffee shop, Crystal kissed him. They sat side by side on a couch, sipping double espressos. David had been talking about something… he couldn’t remember what… something boring, something unsexy. And, out of nowhere, she leaned over and kissed him. A quick, innocent kiss, like a twelve-year-old trying it for the first time. After her peck, she leaned back and waited, biting her lip.
    If David had said what he should have said in that moment, such as, “I’m in love with my girlfriend”, or “Thanks, but no thanks; I don’t cheat”, everything would have changed from that point forward. But he didn’t. He didn’t say a thing. He smiled. Then after a moment or two of silence, which probably drove Crystal mad, he leaned in and kissed her, a lot less like a twelve-year-old. It felt right.
    Four months later, they went away together, but not on purpose. On a random Wednesday, when Amanda had class, Crystal suggested they go for a drive.
    “Where?” David asked.
    “Let’s just see what we can find,” she said.
    They took the highway out of town and turned down the first road that looked interesting. They drove purely on gut, and always agreed on which way to go, based on absolutely nothing. Without planning it, they drove almost directly to Enchanted Rock, a huge natural dome of pink granite outside Fredericksburg, Texas.
    They hiked to the top of the dome and arrived at sunset.
    “Is this what you were looking for?” he asked. No planned trip could have ended better, and he expected a wistful ‘yes’ but got a different answer.
    She wrapped her arms around herself and looked across the orange-streaked sky. He remembered that moment clearly. She had on a thin white sweater that she hugged to herself as if it had protective powers, and her dark hair twirled and twisted madly in the wind.
    “No,” she said. “I want more.”
    His tongue got dry, and his heart hammered in his chest. But he couldn’t remember why he had felt so agitated.
    She turned and stepped toward him. Her brown eyes pleaded with him. “Is there more, David?”
    “I don’t know what you mean,” he said, but the blood rushed through his head as loudly as the wind. He remembered he had been lying to her. But that made no sense. This memory, like a lot of his memories, felt a little off. Maybe he had drunk enough in college to burn holes in his brain.
    She kissed him. Her lips tasted salty from the hike.
    “Why do they call this place enchanted?” she whispered in his ear.
    He could barely hear her over the wind. “The sign at the bottom says the rock moans at night. When it gets cool, the rock contracts, and that makes the sound. The Indians thought it was ghosts.”
    “I see,” she said. “Maybe we can spend the night and check for ourselves.”
    “I didn’t pack,” he said. “I don’t have a toothbrush or anything.”
    She kissed him again.
    “Okay, we can stay.”
    “I know you have the answers,” she said. “You have to tell me.”
    “Crystal… I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
    “I know there’s more. I want the
more
.”
    “Who says more is better? What’s wrong with what you can see with your eyes?” He had shouted it. Why had he been so pissed? Probably because he had thought the day was perfect and she hadn’t. The amazing view wasn’t enough for her.
He
wasn’t enough. But he hadn’t felt angry, exactly. He had felt scared.

    Amanda announced they would have dinner together. Jude, Patrick, and Emmy responded as if she had asked them to rip out a tooth and hand it over. But it didn’t matter. They would do it. Amanda wore a quiet simmering rage like a vest of TNT. So, everyone would sit and the table and eat the lasagna she made. Even her stepchildren lacked immunity to her force