What could have happened? She flipped the channel to a local news station to see if there was anything going on in Serenity that would have kept him tied up. There didn’t seem to be. Maybe he lost his phone. Maybe he was sent out of town.
She tried to watch more of the show but couldn’t. Instead, she texted again.
Do you still want to get together this weekend?
There, that didn't sound too needy or desperate. It was a totally normal request. She stared at the words… and got a response!
Her heart leapt in her chest until she read it.
Who's this?
Sage stared at the two words for a long time, trying to figure out what he meant. Finally she replied.
Sage.
Sage who?
Sage couldn’t fucking believe it. What was going on?
Sage Fromthehotel3daysago.
Funny. Send me a pic.
Sage's blood boiled. Was he fucking with her? Was he pretending he didn’t know her?
She calmed herself and sent him a picture that she’d taken at the hotel, cropping it so only some of her face showed.
He replied quickly.You're cute. Where you at? I'll come pick you up.
You don't remember me?
Should I?
Sage stared at those two words for a long time, not knowing how to interpret them. She called him. He answered on the first ring.
“Hello?”
“Canyon?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you remember me now?”
“Should I?”
Sage hung up the phone. She put it down. Her heart broke cleanly in two pieces.
She sat at her kitchen table and wept, utterly alone, unable to tell a soul.
After a long time, she got up, something calling her. She went to her bedroom and dug the choker necklace out of a drawer. She held it out away from her, pain spearing through her at the sight of it. She took it outside, where it was dark. She snuck through back alleys and pathways to avoid family, straight to the golf carts parking area. She picked the cart nearest the exit, got in, and drove down the pathway to the hole, to a spot where she could stand right up near the edge.
She threw the necklace in the hole as far as she could.
“It’s yours, Kiki!” she shouted.
She never, ever should have talked to thatvod.
69—Fucking Asshole Wolf
