Fallout by Ellen Hopkins Read Free Book Online Page A

Christmas
party. Perfuming her arms
and legs with ginger-steeped
lotion. Sliding sleek,
    tawny
legs into gartered stockings.
Curling long ripples
into the honey lake of her
    hair.
Enhancing already
impossible beauty with
a touch of blush against
    flawless
skin. She slips into her
new dress—a seraph robed
in red. Then she turns to
    face
me, the question in her eyes
as obvious as my answer:
“You are more than
beautiful. You are
    perfection.”

BEST OF ALL
    She is mine. I am acutely
    aware of how other men stare
    as we enter the ballroom.
    They are not looking at me.
    I love her on my arm,
    an exquisite piece of jewelry.
    A few of the women glare.
    Nikki is the ruby
    they wish they could
    be. Their marble eyes follow
    us to our table, leave us
    there. I offer a chair
    to Nikki. “Stay here.
    I’ll go get us drinks.” The bar
    is hosted, and no one
    asks to see my ID,
    so I order Chardonnay
    for Nikki; Jack Daniels and
    Coke for me. By the time
    I get back to the table,
    Rick Denio has closed
    in. But star-striking Nikki
    won’t be nearly as easy as
    he expects it to be.

AMUSING TO WATCH, THOUGH
    I circle the table, sipping my drink,
    liking the whiskey burn. Rick is all
    over Nikki, and she looks really
    uncomfortable about it. He’s a jerk.
    “Hey, Rick. Putting the moves
    on my girl?” I hand Nik her wine.
Rick is in the game. Your girl?
Didn’t know you had such good taste.
    “There’s a lot you don’t know
    about me. Uh, where’s your wife
    tonight?” The station buzz is she
    ran off. With another woman.
Rick’s face flames, but he remains
calm. She had another party.
    I can’t help but smile at the opening
    he just gave me. “A girl party, huh?”
    I haven’t had a spar-fest for a while.
    This one could be fun, but Rick’s
done playing. Not sure who all’s
there. Excuse me. There’s Montana.

THERE, INDEED, IS MONTANA
    In a bold, backless dress, sparkly
silver. And with her, all decked
out in a complementary gray
    tux, is … “Brendan,” I whisper.
Nikki looks. Looks again.
Harder. Oh my God. You do
look like him. I can’t believe
it. Hey, you’re okay, right?
    Okay enough to chug my drink.
“Yep. Fine and dandy. Except
I need a refill. You good for now?”
    She’s barely touched her glass.
    Good. I can only carry two
glasses, anyway. I order twin JDs.
Doubles. Tip the guy five bucks
    so he doesn’t reconsider the ID.
    When I turn around, I’m only
half-surprised to see who has
joined Nikki at our table. Poor
    Nik looks positively green.
    Goes well with her pretty red
Christmas dress. Ha. I crack
myself up. Too bad I’m spoiling
    to be in a very unfunny mood.

BEFORE I CAN SIT DOWN
    Nikki sees my double-fisted
    whiskey and Cokes. She jumps
    to her feet, extracts the drinks
gently from my hands, sets them
on the table. I’m starving. Let’s get
some food. It is not a request.
    Anger starts to build, like wasps
    daubing mud. But then when
    I glance at Montana, her eyes
    harbor anxiousness. She wants
    the evening to go well. So all
    I do for the moment is say,
    “Hey, Montana. You look great
    tonight.” I know I should say
    something to Brendan, but all
    I can manage is a small wave.
    Then I let Nikki steer me
    toward the seafood-heavy buffet.
When Montana asked if they
could join us, I didn’t know how
to say no , apologizes Nikki.
    “Not your fault.” I concentrate
    on loading my plate. Shrimp. Crab
    legs. Oriental chicken salad.
    Nikki’s plate makes mine look
    greedy. “Aren’t you hungry?
    I thought you were starving.”
I only said that because
I figured you should eat
before drinking all that booze.
The last thing you need to do ,
all things considered, is get
blitzed. She cringes, as if hearing
    the wasp daub. I will keep
    my temper in check. But I also
    plan on drinking whatever
    I please. Free drinks don’t come
    around every day. Still, I will
    play her way. “I’ll be careful.”

I TRY, REALLY I DO
    I eat everything on my plate.
(Chase every bite with a