Falling Awake by T.A Richards Neville Read Free Book Online Page A

outside.
    "I do try," she said smiling, then ran over and climbed into the front seat of the waiting car. I locked the door behind me and headed over to the car, getting in the backseat. A rock song I'd never heard before thrummed quietly from the radio.
    "You look gorgeous tonight," Drake said to Mellissa, smiling like a lovesick puppy as she stared back at him with the same soppy expression. Twisting his body around from the driver’s seat giving me the once over he said, "You must be Pria."
    He was good looking I would give Mellissa that. He wore his blonde hair brushed back into a short ponytail that sat on the crown of his head, and a small gold cross hung freely from his right ear. His eyes were the most fantastic shade of cobalt blue; they practically took my breath away. How unusual I thought to myself.
    "And you must be Drake," I said with a smile.
    "I must be," he said smirking and I got the strangest feeling he’d just shared a secret joke with himself at my expense.
    I looked away as Mellissa kissed him like he was a soldier just returned from war and told him how much she missed him, and then revving the engine loudly, he pulled away. Mellissa had never mentioned Drake’s age and I’d never asked, but I was guessing he must be older than us. He looked it anyway, and I wondered where all these gorgeous guys had turned up from all of a sudden.
    "That's not really a good idea to rev your engine like that," I said to Drake as he swung a right onto Spring Street. He looked at me with his eyebrow raised in question through his rear-view mirror.
    "I mean, it's fine if your only doing a few thousand, but you’re going way past the red line and that will cause valve damage over time," I said matter of factly.
    "Oh yeah? And what do you know about cars?" he asked dubiously.
    "Enough... I help my dad out at his garage sometimes when I’m bored."
    "Impressive," he said.
    "Hang on a minute," Mellissa interrupted, twisting back in her seat. "You've missed the turning for Jets. Its way back there." She pointed over her shoulder towards the neon lights hanging over the green building.
    “I thought we could go somewhere a little more lively,” Drake said, grinning more like a wicked hyena than a cat.
    ***
    We stood in the makeshift gravel filled car park, outside of what I can only describe as a dive bar, on the outskirts of town. I didn’t even know this place existed. It was nestled on a dead end street, secluded by the tall shrubbery that lined the road making it invisible to see if you were driving past. The light wooden structure sadly boasted the half-lit sign, ‘Sully’s’
    I looked over to Mellissa who just shrugged and followed Drake inside with great difficulty in her ridiculously skinny heels, and I was grateful I was wearing boots. Reluctantly, I tagged along; dreading what kind of people inhabited a dump like this.
    As we walked through the door, I was instantly greeted by a thick cloud of stale grey smoke that penetrated the dimly lit room, and I coughed as it became lodged at the very back of my throat. Apparently, you could smoke in a place like this. Great, I would probably leave here with acute lung cancer.
    “Come on let’s go and sit down,” Mellissa said, grabbing my hand. I looked at the people around me occupying the grubby wooden tables as we passed them. It seemed there was a certain criterion to fill to drink here, and it seemed to be male, dirty, and quite menacing. 
    A group of longhaired bikers stared at me as we passed, and I quickly averted my eyes when one of them blew O’s with his cigarette smoke in my direction.
    Mellissa dragged me up a small set of about ten rickety stairs, over to an empty table on the second level next to the pool table.
    We sat down and I let my eyes wander over my surroundings. There was a gathering of men opposite, on the other side of the pool table, huddled around a small-overcrowded table. I let my eyes wander over their head's idly and I froze. I