The wars we wage.
So I take off. I flee the scene, leaving the trashed clubhouse and dead body behind. I follow Tom Cutler into the night, starting down a dark path there’s no coming back from…
1
SOLANA
TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS LATER…
I wakein a dark room with no idea where I am or how I got here.
A small moan slips out of me as I sit up and the room instantly spins. The walls feel like they’re moving despite the fact that I’m sitting still.
Everything’s dark, shrouded in shadows. It makes my head ache even more as I rub a hand over my face and try hard to think about what’s going on.
It’s all so…fuzzy.
I’m so…woozy.
My throat’s dry. My head’s pounding. My stomach’s unsettled, churning like waves crashing at sea. I’m pretty sure if I move too quickly I’ll vomit on myself.
I drop my hand from my face and glance down. The thick comforter I’m wrapped up in, the mattress I’m lying on, the dark shape of the footboard in front of me… I’m in bed.
But not my own bed.
Not the bed at Uncle Eddie’s house. The same bed I’ve had since I was fourteen and he and Dad finally upgraded me from the tiny twin I’d had as a little girl.
Nope, I’m in someone else’s bed. Someone else’s room.
And I’m naked.
It dawns on me as I shrug off the blanket and the cool air in the room rushes my bare chest. A strangled gasp catches in my throat, and I snatch the comforter back up to cover myself.
Last night I’d gone out with Shay and Yvette. We’d used fake IDs to get into the only worthwhile club in Wheaton and met up with two guys we knew from school, Kel and Spencer. The fake IDs worked like a charm.
We were let in, given drinks at the bar, then danced for hours.
Vague memories of me giggling in the women’s bathroom float to mind. I was fixing my lipstick and then became besties with some girl who was in there and complimented my dress. We swore we’d keep in touch and meet up for coffee, but were so tipsy we forgot to exchange numbers or social media handles.
Then I’d… gone back to the dance floor.
Kel hooked his arm around my waist and started grinding against me.
It had been so hot, so stuffy in that club with the flashing lights and packs of people. I wanted water, but the bar counter had been so far away and Kel and I werereallyvibing.
That’s when it hits me, and I gasp a second time.
I glance over at my side and realize I’m not alone. There’s someone passed out next to me, turned on their side, facing the other way.
It’s Kel. I’m in his bed and he’s the person sleeping beside me.
I’m naked, waking up after I’d drank and partied so much last night that I don’t even remember what the hell happened. Does that mean that we…?
No. Nonononono!
I scream the word over and over again in my head, panic like a bomb exploding from the inside out. Grabbing at his arm, I desperately tug on him, hoping to wake him up.
“Kel,” I rasp in a voice hoarse from lack of water and too much alcohol and partying. “Kel… wake… up… Kel…”
