Edge of Chaos (Love on the Edge #1) by Molly E. Lee Read Free Book Online

supercells and Blue October between bites while Lindsay pecked at her bowl of lettuce and pouted. She wasn’t obsessed with storms like the rest of us, but she was clearly obsessed with Dash. She hung on every word he said and desperately sought his attention—grabbing at his hand even if he was using it to eat or rubbing his back while he told a chase story. I only noticed because I knew the gestures all too well. I used to paw at Justin that way, desperate for any kind of confirmation that he loved me as much as I loved him. That desire faded after time, natural after being together as long as Justin and I had been.
    The thought of him returned the simmer in my gut. My earlier anger had been blissfully forgotten, lost among my new friends and their endless stories about storms I’d kill to see. I reached in my purse and checked my phone. No missed calls. He was really being an ass. I huffed and finished the last of my second beer.
    “You all right?” Dash asked, leaning closer to me.
    He smelled like Irish Spring soap and pure man. Heat from his body so close to mine landed on my skin. I backed away slightly before noticing Lindsay’s absence. She must have snuck off to the bathroom while I revived my anger.
    “I’m fine,” I said, glancing around for Diana. Once she locked eyes with me, I held up my bottle. She gave me a nod from across the room.
    Dash raised his eyebrows.
    “It’s nothing.”
    Diana set my third beer down in front of me, and I quickly took a long swig. My head was already fuzzy and my tongue was thick. I really needed to build up a tolerance to this stuff, but it wasn’t like I got a ton of opportunities to drink. The disconnected sensation was extremely welcome.
    “Want to talk about it?” Dash asked, his green eyes never straying from mine. He put his hand on my back and tension I didn’t know I held uncoiled under his touch. He seemed like someone I could trust.
    Maybe it was the beer.
    I took another gulp. “It’s my boyfriend, Justin.”
    He nodded, allowing me to continue at my own pace.
    “He’s just so . . .” Where to begin? “Well, he’s super pissed I came out tonight.”
    “He wanted you to be with him instead?”
    “He said he did, but I know better. I’d be nothing but an extra body in the place.” I took another drink. It was probably a bad idea to talk to Dash about Justin, but I needed to talk to someone, anyone. And he was here, willing to listen. “He’s having an all-boys COD party.”
    “Call of Duty, nice.” Dash smiled, but the grin dropped when I gave him a stern look. “Anyway,” he continued, “I’m confused; why is he pissed?”
    “Because he’d rather me be at home alone than out with friends.” I went ahead and used the word, hoping that after tonight I really would be able to consider them all friends.
    “That seems unfair.”
    I shrugged. “He’ll find some way to apologize for everything tomorrow.”
    “And you’ll let him off the hook?”
    “It’s what I do. After eight years, there isn’t anything else to do.” Every time I even mentioned taking a break he threatened to kill himself—the last time he’d grabbed a bottle of pain pills he’d recently been prescribed after a small hand injury on the job, and said he’d swallow them all. My chest tightened at the thought, the rope he held me with constricting around my heart.
    “Holy shit, eight years. You’re practically married.”
    “Oh no I’m not,” I said, my words dragging slightly. Justin had brought up the idea of marriage more times than I could count, but I’d constantly squashed the idea. I always blamed my parents’ divorce, but really I couldn’t see myself walking down the aisle with him. I already felt bound enough. “It has been a long time,” I said and looked around the room for Diana. She handed Paul and John two more frosty mugs where they played shuffleboard. She saw me and nodded. “All my life really,” I continued, twirling my third empty