Heather
The TV was on in my parent’s room when I walked in the house. I slowly closed the door behind .
"You’re back already?"
I jumped at the sound of West’s voice behind .
"What the fu—"
I slapped my hand over his mouth. "I don’t want Mom and Dad to know." I paused. "Seriously."
He nodded, and I moved my hand slowly away from his mouth, ready to slap it back if he started yelling again.
"Who did that to you?"
West was in protector mode. He reverted to it whenever I was hurt or being picked on. I prayed for patience. "Can you please find wherever Mom put the first aid stuff and et in my room?"
He narrowed his eyes at . Yup. There was no way he’d let this one go, but he went in search of the kit anyway.
My shoulder was full on throbbing by the ti I got upstairs. This night had been a disaster of epic proportions. If I could get into my room without Mom or Dad checking on , I’d be happy. I couldn’t face telling them that co Monday, life would go back to status quo in Hazealand.
I crept up the stairs, desperately trying to rember if there were any squeaky boards.
"I’m ho," I said from my bedroom door.
The TV muted. "You’re early. How was the party?" Mom’s voice ca from their room.
"Fine, but I’m pooped. Can we talk about it in the morning?" I held my breath as I waited for her to answer.
There was whispering back and forth as they debated. "Okay. Get so rest," Mom said finally.
I breathed a sigh of relief when the TV’s sound ca back on. I threw my belt and shoes in the closet. In the light I could see the blood staining my gloves. I chucked them in my trash.
What was I going to do now? I couldn’t lift my arm up to take off my dress.
Oh well. It was a nice dress while it lasted. I grabbed a pair of scissors from my desk. There was a soft knock on the door. I had a mont of panic before West opened it.
"Get in here, and help ," I said.
He closed the door and dumped the first aid stuff on my bed. I handed him the scissors. "You’re going to have to cut the dress off ."
I could feel his breath on my back. He was investigating my cut without touching it himself.
He sighed. "This looks really bad, Haze. You need stitches."
"Don’t say stitches. That involves needles and I don’t do needles." The thought of them made queasy. "It doesn’t even really hurt. A few butterfly bandages will do. Just cut the strap and move the material away from it. Then pour a bunch of peroxide on it until it stops fizzing."
"Yeah. Yeah. I’ll do it. But Mom’s going to find out in the morning and she’s going to say you need—"
"Don’t you dare say the ’s’ word again. I really don’t need them. I’ve had cuts worse than this."
"No. You haven’t," he muttered. The scissors sliced through my strap. "Stay still. This is probably gonna burn like a motherfucker."
He poured it down my shoulder, and tears filled my eyes. "Shit. Blow on it or sothing."
"Seriously? I don’t want to get that close to it. It’s bubbling up like crazy."
"I don’t care what you do. Just do sothing!" I dug my fingernails into my hands to take my mind off of the pain.
"Okay. Okay. Hang on." He grabbed a book off my shelf and started fanning it.
It totally wasn’t helping. "The peroxide was a bad idea."
"You know what a good idea is? The ergency room. In fact, it’s a fantastic idea."
I rolled my eyes. "That’ll take hours. No way. I already said it twice, but I’ll say it again. I don’t need stitches. You can’t make get them."
"Fine. But you’re just being a stubborn baby." He poured more peroxide on it.
"Fuck! That burns," I said when I could get air enough to talk again.
"See. You’re such a baby." West started digging through the clear plastic bin that had all the first aid supplies in it. He ca back with a tube of antibiotic ointnt.
"Don’t use your finger."
He showed the Q-tip in his hand. "Please. I want to touch that as much as you want to." He rubbed it on and put an extra-large bandage over the cuts. "So you going to tell whose ass I need to kick?"
Nope. Not a chance in hell. "It doesn’t matter."
"It definitely matters. No one hurts my sister and gets away with it."
I wanted to cry and scream and hit sothing, but none of that would help right now. "Can we talk about it tomorrow? Please. I’m hurting and tired and sad. Really, really sad."
He stood there, staring at for a while. "Okay," he said finally. "We’ll talk tomorrow." He handed an ice pack.
"Thanks," I whispered.
"Take care of your lip. Okay?"
I nodded.
When he left, I grabbed the scissors again, and cut down the front of my dress. It was one of the only
dresses I actually liked.
It was a damn sha to have to destroy it completely. Once it was off, I studied the material and saw four inch-long rips where my left shoulder blade was.
How did Brent manage to do that with his bare hands?
I snorted. It didn’t matter how he’d done it, but it sure sucked that he had.
I threw it in the trash and grabbed a giant sleep shirt, slowly easing my arm into it. As I put peroxide and ointnt on my bottom lip, my mind drifted back to Brent.
Sothing was off about him. Okay, so maybe the biting and scratching thing was it, but I couldn’t get over the fact that I didn’t get any visions when we kissed. And that connection. Intense didn’t even begin to cover it.
He was different from everyone else I’d ever t. And, even accidental biting aside, I was still drawn to him.
This was stupid. Why was I pining over so la guy who I kissed and then who ran away? I couldn’t lose my shit over one kiss. Hopefully the cuts would be better in the morning, and I could forget this whole thing ever happened.
A shiver rushed down my spine. Sothing was watching . Soone was waiting for outside. Dad had put curtains up on Friday night, so no one could see in, not that anyone ventured down our road, but I couldn’t shake that feeling.
I slid the curtains silently along the rod and leaned close to the window and jumped back.
Oh crap.
A wolf was in my driveway. I stepped back toward the window to double check.
It was sitting there. Watching with its golden eyes. I wanted to go out to it, but that was crazy. It was a wolf. A dangerous, wild, totally not-ta wolf. I threw the curtain closed and slid into bed.
It wasn’t until that mont, as I waited for sleep to co, that I realized how much I wanted friends. I liked to think I was fine alone, but sotis being alone was flat out lonely. West was great, but he had his own life to live. With him gone soon, I was going to be the outcast again.
The wolf howled outside, and I wanted to howl with it..
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