Read The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves for Free Online Page B

forth, before settling back
upon her. A crooked smile, he could barely maintain cracked the
lower half of his face.
    Thinking, she glanced
about quickly. She couldn’t make hide or hair of Derek, and felt a
modicum of relief. She looked upon her boyfriend once again,
wondering how she was going to get rid of him this time with a
minimum amount of fuss.
    “ You sure you can drive,
Son?” she asked using her pet name for him, half-expecting him to
go off the deep end as she came off the railing, shifting slightly
to the side. She was facing him more directly.
    To her surprise, he merely
smiled wanly, looking at her through muddled, light-brown eyes,
focusing on her face for a few moments, then unfocusing the next
few. He chuckled, almost losing his balance, as if he stood on the
deck of a crab fishing boat and not upon the concrete of the
walkway.
    Jesus, this dude is wacked
out of his mind!
    “ Fo shō I can drive,
baby,” he slurred, reaching out to grab onto the railing in order
to steady himself. He missed on his first attempt, but succeeding
with the second.
    Crap, I gotta do
something. There’s no way I’m gonna get in a car with him, he’ll
kill me… and probably somebody else as well…
    “ What took you so long?”
she inquired, forging on, but stalling at the same time, trying to
think her way out of the situation.
    “ I told you, sweet azz. I
had to walk all the way from the other cul-de-sac like three blocks
away,” he replied leaning into her space.
    For the first time, she
could smell the burnt metallic residue of the drugs in his clothes
and the sour waft of alcohol on his breath. Great, fucking Meth and booze , she
thought. He held the railing so tight, his
knuckles were turning white from the pressure. She knew the moment
he let go, he would crash to the ground like a stone.
    “ And your being late has
nothing to do with the fact that you’re baked out of your mind,
right?” she asked, willing to risk a confrontation versus being
around him in his current state. There was no way she was going to
let him get her into his car. There was no telling what could
happen then.
    He smiled anew, as if he
hadn’t heard her. He fell back to lean fully onto the railing,
glancing up at the sky and the few clouds lingering
above.
    “ Sonny?”
    His gaze remained
skyward.
    “ Sonny!?!” she said in a
raised voice, not caring who heard.
    The number of students
around them was rapidly decreasing as the minutes passed. Still,
though, a few heads turned their way.
    “ Yeah, what, girl? Do you
have to freakin’ yell in my ear?!” His eyes looked down into hers
with the first signs of irritation.
    “ What do you expect me to
do when you can’t keep your train of thought longer than a
two-year-old?” Her response was filled with an equal amount of
irritation.
    Sonny’s face had already
lost all expression. Suddenly, it melted into a smile he could
barely sustain. It looked like it was made of clay. “Give me a
kiss, baby-girl. I want to taste your luscious lips.”
    Kimberly, for the second
time in the last few minutes, felt like throwing up. The last thing
she wanted to do was kiss the gross remains of the crystal-meth and
Jack Daniels in his mouth. She felt his other hand grab a hold of
her elbow in an attempt to pull her closer to him.
    Out of instinct, she
resisted.
    “ Hey, Kim, give meh sum
love.” His voice sharpened when he realized she didn’t intend to
get any nearer to him than she already was.
    “ Are you crazy? You smell
like shit, Sonny! There’s no way I’m gonna make out with you when
you’re walking around with the stench of an addict!” croaked
Kimberly through clenched teeth, afraid if she relaxed in any way,
she would indeed sick-up on the concrete.
    Sonny’s brow furled with
anger fast becoming fury. His grip tightened on her arm until it
became painful.
    Here it comes.
    “ Wha d-hid you say, you
little bitch…?” His voice trailed off dangerously.
    “ Let go of me,”