I took a sip from my silver flask. The whiskey burned all the way down but I loved the feeling. Just a few more minutes and Tracey would be here. My parents wouldn’t have a clue I was out and I would get to stay out all night. Possibly even until the morning if Mr. Danger was there tonight. I was counting on it. He was the prize that I would do anything to obtain. I tucked a pack of gum into my over the shoulder bag, an extra pair of panties, and my travel contact solution with the case. I was usually more careful than this. I didn’t go home with strangers. I didn’t drink when I actually got to the party and I always drove.
Tonight I was tossing caution to the wind. I was going to cut loose in every single way possible. I only had, maybe, one more year in this little college town. Graduation was right around the corner. I could practically taste it. I ran my hands down the front of my black leather skirt and readjusted the laces on my knee-high boots. My off the shoulder crop top clung to me like a second skin as I rushed down the stairs. The doorbell rang and I tugged at the hem on the shirt for a moment. This was the most risqué thing I had worn. I knew my parents would see me leaving and coming home. I couldn’t risk my parents actually knowing what I was doing. We had to be extra careful.
Tracey held up her backpack and spilled out her favorite lie. Just in case my parents listened over the doorbell camera like I knew they would. “You ready to study?”
She wore gray sweatpants with an oversized sweater. I didn’t know how she wasn’t sweating herself to death in the getup. But I also knew she was going to strip as soon as she was in the den. I kicked the door closed and smirked. The sweater came off first then she shucked the pants.
Under the pants were skintight black pleather leggings. A leopard tank top was tucked into them. She pulled her ponytail holder from her hair and light honey curls bounced around her shoulders. She shoved her clothes into her backpack.
“Where did you park?” I checked my reflecion in the mirror that was hanging in the hallway by the kitchen.
“Two streets over, just in case.” She winked as she put massive gold hoops in her ears. Her tan skin glistened like she had sprayed herself with a glitter mist. But I knew better, she always looked like a goddess. I envied her beautiful skin tone.
She smiled and the little gap between her front teeth flashed. “I can’t believe we have to do this to keep your parents off of your trail.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not everyone can be as lucky as you. You get to live in the dorms while my parents moved our entire home to the campus town and they’re hardly here to enjoy this massive home.”
She grimaced. “True, let’s get going,” She took a long sniff. “You pregaming without me?”
I tossed her the silver flask as we stomped up the stairs. It wouldn’t be easy to sneak out but I was determined. My parents had thought they didn’t need cameras on my side of the house because my window was practically impossible to get to. Theylovedto underestimate me. The locks clicked as I flicked them away from the window. The glass groaned as I shoved upward with all of my strength. It had been a few months since I had opened it and it was in desperate need of some oil, but there was no way I was going to tell my father that. I would have to dig in the garage for it later. I had a feeling this was going to be a regular thing. Keeping a can of WD-40 under the bed would hardly be my worst sin.
The eave of the house was at least four feet from my window and then from there, it was another five-foot drop. The only problem was that the eave was at an angle. I had to kick off just right or I would completely miss it and fall the nine feet. I had done this a few times for practice. Just in case this moment arose, but that didn’t mean that my feet weren’t sweating just thinking about what was about to happen. I rolled my shoulders and relaxed my limbs before I swung my legs outside of the window and perched there.
If I didn’t get this right it could be very bad. I flexed my fingers on the window sill. Tracey grabbed my arm. “What? We are jumping to that?”
I nodded my head and shook her hand off. I had told her this wouldn’t be easy but she had insisted. I could have stayed in another night but she wanted to get me drunk too badly to wait a few weeks for my parents to leave again. I didn’t mind this. Adrenaline was the sweet drug coursing through my veins right now. I liked the feeling.
As I shoved away from the side of the house, I felt like I could fly. For a brief moment it felt good, then my feet hit the shingles and I started to slide a little bit. Little pebbles dug into my palms and I was glad I had pulled my hair up and away from my face. Sweat slid down my temples. I prayed it didn’t smudge my makeup.
Tracey looked down at me with her wide topaz eyes. “I don’t think I can do this.”
My feet slid on the roof as I scooted down the shingles. I would have to get to the ground before she jumped. I couldn’t risk her missing the roof. I would have to try to catch her if something went wrong. I gripped the gutters and lowered my body down from the perch. It wasn’t even considered a roof, more like a decorative piece of shingles that made the house look like it had dimension. It jutted out from the side of the house in an odd way and didn’t really do much but keep the water from splashing up on the dining room window. My body hung there for a few seconds before I dropped to the ground into a crouch. My knees gave out in the process and I sprawled onto the grass. I heaved a breath and shoved myself up from the ground. That wasn’t so bad.
Tracey shook her head. “What about the window?”
“Pull it down a little.”
Surprise rang through me as she managed to pull it down enough so only her butt was inside. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she pushed off of the side of the house and sailed through the air. Her arms windmilled around wildly and a soft shriek escaped her lips as her feet barely made it to the edge of the roof. Her hands scrambled for something to grip as her body slid down the shingles.
“No, no, no,” she gasped as her body left the side of the house and she tumbled down. I rushed to get under her and soften her fall. The impact of her body was a lot more than I had expected. It knocked the breath from my chest as we both hit the soft grass.
Tracey rolled off of me and ran her hands over her body like she couldn’t believe she was still alive. The roof had softened the fall some. If she hadn’t made it to the roof, this would have all been much worse. I sat up and unscrewed the flask that I had retrieved from my bag. I dumped the rest of the contents in my mouth and scrunched my nose as I swallowed the fire down. At least her body hadn’t killed me. That would have been a story to tell.
The buzz was starting to work its way through my limbs and I could feel myself getting more fluid. It wouldn’t take me long at all to get completely wasted tonight, but that was only if Mr. Danger wasn’t there.
Chapter 3
Jade Rivers
The house we had bought just a few short years ago butted up to the woods that circled the little university town. It had creeped me out the first two years of college. Especially when my parents had started to go on vacation. It had started with an anniversary trip and then a birthday trip which eventually led to more trips throughout the year. Mom had felt guilty after the first year of them being gone but then Dad had reassured her that parents didn’t usually hover like they did. Parents were supposed to enjoy their lives, especially when their children went off to college and they worked remotely.
But three rounds of in-vitro fertilization and seven years of infertility would do that to a couple. I didn’t mind that they had always hovered, but after I had turned eighteen it had started to get slightly annoying. Even when Dad wasn’t very convincing that their vacationing was valid, I chimed in and helped. I loved the freedom and the massive house they left behind. But the freedom had been short-lived when a door to door salesman had sold the whole package of surveillance with a shiny red bow. They didn’t need much convincing to leave after that. I was happy to see them go too. They had given up so much to have me and then to raise me. I didn’t mind them leaving to do whatever it was that they wanted now.
As much as the woods scared me, it was the only way we could get out of the yard without being spotted by the motion detector cameras posted almost all the way around the house. If we hugged the fence, they wouldn’t see us. Which was good because the last thing I wanted to do was hop the fence and come face to face with the mean-ass dog next door. We hopped the back fence easily.
The mean-ass dog next door took that moment to bark at us and I could have sworn my soul left my body in shock. I clutched my chest as we ran for the cover of the trees. My body was on high alert but the adrenaline hadn’t worn off yet plus there was a whole lot of whiskey in my system. I grinned at Tracey as she shined her phone flashlight into the woods. All we had to do was go a few feet and we would be out.
An eery howl split the air and Tracey wrapped her arms around my middle. We both stayed locked in that embrace for a few seconds before we rushed the rest of the way out of the forest. We didn’t bother with looking back because as soon as we broke the line of the woods the howl rang out again. We took off into a run. The street light was the only bit of hope we had as we raced away from the shadows of the woods. We slid to a stop on the pavement and I gripped Tracey’s hand in mine as we both bent over at the waist and laughed. It sounded slightly hysterical but what did it matter? Somehow we had managed to live through the entire ordeal. First the crazy escape from the house and now wild animals. What could possibly happen next?
