Page 29 of I Was Born Ruined (Death by Daybreak MC 1)
“You mean away from Cat?” he purrs and I grin, nice and sharp.
“Out of the way, Tre.” He steps aside and I bring the axe down—twice as hard as before.
If I imagine that particular piece of wood as Cat's head, well, who the fuck's gonna know?Dinner that night is fucking atrocious, but I try to enjoy the bonfire, singing at the top of my lungs and making sure that Wes can hear my every word.
After that, that's when the real fun starts.
“Never in all my years at camp …” Reba starts as I drag her down the hill towards the river. There's drinking and pot and make-out sessions galore—as usual—but there's also some skinny dipping and ghost stories that I'm showing up for.
Plus, Trevone's going to be there and at this point, I'm pretty sure he's into me. I wonder what it’d be like, to try dating someone my own age? I mean, to really date someone at all. Even with everything that happened between the guys and me, I'm quite sure that I never actually dated a single one of them.
Imagine that: dating someone who actually attends high school. Someone who's really fucking good at it: perfect grades, a sports star, on track for college.
All of that instead of men dressed in leather and bathed in debauchery and depravity.
Wouldn't that be nice?
“Sneakin' out after curfew …” Reba continues, tsking under her breath. “All these years I felt like I was a good influence on you, but maybe in reality, you were a bad one on me.”
My mouth curves up at the corners as we push our way through the brush and into the real party. This is the main reason most of these teens are up here. Sure, maybe some of them—like Reba—really are into the good Lord's word, but over half the camp is here and dressed in bikinis and swim shorts.
“Miss Gidge,” Dena says, handing me a beer and not bothering to offer one to Reba. We all know she doesn't drink. I stare at Dena for a minute, her lipstick so pale she looks like a drowned girl, and force my mouth into a smile.
“It's Gidget,” I say with a flirty hair toss, moving past her and leaving Chardou and Amiya to gossip behind my back. “Hey Trev.”
I pause next to Trevone and notice that at least for the moment, he's separated himself from Kellen and Tina. Good. Because I'm in the mood to flirt tonight.
He glances back at me, mouth splitting into a big grin. Firelight dances across the dark ebony color of his skin, little flames playing in the deep brown depths of his eyes.
“What's up, Gidget?” he asks, taking me in again and trying to gauge the reaction on my face. I make sure to give him a warm smile, a licentious one. Why not? What do I have to lose anymore? My life's already been broken into a million little pieces. What's left of it … not worth fighting for.
“So you jumping in or what?” I ask, nodding my chin at the long stretch of dock sitting in the darkness. Moonlight dances on the surface of the water, little silver puddles of light that somehow make the darkness seem even more ominous. But I was raised in the dark: I know there's nothing about it to fear.
No, the real monsters aren't bound by light. They're as likely to strike in a warm, sunlit afternoon as they are in the velvety blackness of night. Just as likely to spill blood during the day. Just as likely to kill.
I blink the memories back and tip the beer to my lips.
“I was thinking about it,” he says, licking his lips and stepping back, gesturing with an arm for me to step onto the dock. “Why? Think you're brave enough to take the plunge?”
I raise both my brows and try to hand Reba my beer. She refuses to take it, so I pass it over to Trevone and move across the splintered wood boards in my boots and bikini, taking my cover-up off at the end and tossing it onto the ground.
“Holy shit,” I hear him exclaim behind me as I put my hands together and leap into the water. Perfect swan dive. Even though it's been years since I was on the swim team, I've still got it.
“Fucking Christ, that's cold!” I scream as I break through the water. It feels like I've dropped myself into an Antarctic lake. Or the space inside my father's chest that holds his heart. It's so cold in there, I wouldn't be surprised to find I was swimming in his blood.
Trevone's laughing at me from the dock, but I've drawn a crowd, and in just a few minutes, there's a good two dozen people in the water with me, screaming and splashing and kissing with lips frosted in ice.
