“I will.” The minute the words came out of my mouth I wanted to shove them back in and swallow them down.

She looked down and took a deep breath, and then she turned and walked away. I stood there stuck to my spot until I felt Stephanie tug my arm.

“Are we going to do this or not?” she asked impatiently.

I nodded my head and we left.

I ended up dropping Stephanie off at her house and pulling away without even touching her. Needless to say, she was a total bitch about it. After seeing Patience, I couldn’t have gotten it up if I wanted to and suddenly I had no desire to fuck the loose redhead anymore.

I didn’t want to go home. It was after midnight and I didn’t want to deal with my dad. I went to Finn’s house instead. The party had relocated to his place and the garage was full of people who were at the club. As soon as I walked in, I slammed two straight shots of vodka. I knew in the back of my head that my drinking was getting out of hand, but it seemed like the only thing that brought me peace lately was Patience and she was something I wasn’t willing to indulge in anymore.

“Damn, man, I think you just broke a world record for the fastest fuck.” Finn laughed as he threw his arm around my shoulder.

I didn’t tell him nothing happened. What would they think if they knew I dropped off a wet-and-ready female without even touching her? They’d think I lost my fucking mind, and I was starting to think the same damn thing. Finn started talking about something that had to do with The Pit, but once I saw Megan’s spiked haircut, my eyes started to search the garage for those platinum locks I’d come to love so much.

She was sitting in the corner, drinking something from a red Solo cup. She looked over at me as soon as I spotted her and I didn’t miss the relief that showed on her face. Without even saying anything to Finn, I walked away and started straight toward her.

Fourteen

Patience

I couldn’t decide what was worse—what my dad put me through when Zeke dropped me off Sunday morning or seeing him with the slutty redhead. The abuse my dad handed me kept me out of commission for the rest of the week, but seeing Zeke with the half-naked skank was going to keep me down much longer. I knew that the minute I felt like running to the bathroom and puking up the little bit of food I’d managed to eat that day.

I’d spent the week hiding in my room while I pretended to go to school and practice. The table ride my dad took me on when I got home from Zeke’s house had left me with a set of fractured ribs. So I spent the week in bed, barely able to breathe. It was the longest week of my life and not until Saturday morning did I even feel close to normal.

Things were definitely getting out of hand and needed to change. I was getting desperate and having crazy thoughts. I was starting to plan my getaway. The plan was to pack the dreaded gray Toyota full of everything I could, kidnap Sydney, and drive until I couldn’t drive anymore. It’s what I really wanted to do, but with my mom hanging on to dear life, literally, I couldn’t bring myself to leave her.

It seemed like the only time I felt alive anymore was when I was with Zeke. He was slowly becoming my freedom. So when Megan texted me and told me Blow Hole was playing at The Pit, I jumped at the chance to see him. Had I known I’d leave The Pit with fractured ribs and a fractured heart, I would’ve stayed my stupid ass in bed.

I wanted to leave right then and go home, but that wasn’t a possibility. I wasn’t sure I’d survive another attack from my dad so soon after the last time I came in late looking like, what he called, a slutty heathen. So I spent the rest of the night playing the third wheel to Megan and Chet. I even followed them back to Finn’s garage and took an already opened drink from some dude I didn’t know. Self destruction was kind of my thing now apparently.

I camouflaged myself in a corner with my red cup full of God knows what and watched as the people around me laughed, got high, and lived free lives. My ribs were still hurting like a bitch, but I didn’t care. And then I looked across the garage and saw Zeke staring back at me and everything changed. The room disappeared, including everyone in it. I felt my nerves go into hyper drive when he started to creep across the room toward me. His eyes never left my face and he had on his signature pissed-off expression.

“I see you’re the original party girl now,” he pointed to my cup.

“I see you took the trash out and dumped her somewhere,” I said, referring to the redhead.

He grinned at me and shifted his bangs out of his eyes. “Do you want me to get you a napkin? There’s a little bit of jealousy on your chin.”