Read Online Angered Seasons: The Worst Birthday Ever (Volume One) by Mireille Chester - Free Book Online Page B

sucks. God, it beyond
sucks. There is no word for what this is. We’ve killed people,
Lane. Max ran over two more today and I had to shoot one. I don’t
even want to think of the ones we killed last night. They’re sick.
I mean, I know they tried to kill us, but god!” The shock of the
past two days tightened my throat and my eyes let slip a fresh
stream of tears. “The one I shot, he was confused. I could tell. I
raised the gun and he stopped. He knew he would die if I pulled the
trigger. He was scared. He was scared and confused and whatever
made him sick still pushed him to try and kill us and I had to pull
the trigger…” A sob cut off my words and Lane tightened his hold on
me.
    “I think Max is sick,” I whispered.
    “What?”
    “His eyes… when we were in the park, his eyes
were glowing silver. I think I was going to shoot him, but he
blinked and it went away.” I let out a shaky breath. “I almost shot
him, Lane. He’s one of our kids! What are we going to do? And
Lizzy’s using again and Max can’t handle it, he had a meltdown
while you were gone. And you were gone and I was worried about you.
All I could think was that something had happened to you and I
can’t do this without you, Lane.”
    “I’m not going anywhere, Gabrielle.” He held
me close and I started to relax at the safe and familiar feel of
his strong arms around me. “I’m sorry.”
    I frowned at his words. “What are you sorry
for?”
    “The last little while. I know I’ve been hard
to get along with.”
    I stayed quiet, not wanting to start another
fight.
    “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I’ve
been a little stressed.”
    My heart jumped. “Please don’t move out,
Lane. I’ll be nicer. I’ll stop walking around in my underwear. I’ll
even disappear if you bring girls over…”
    “Christ, Gabs.”
    “Lane! Gabby!”
    Brent’s yell just outside the door made both
of us jump. I quickly wiped my tears away and took a deep breath
before following Lane out of the closet.
    “Max is about to lose it.”
    We ran back to the front where Lizzy had Max
back up against a wall.
    “Why would you do that? It wasn’t up to you
to tell her! I told you what would happen if you told anyone!” She
poked him in the chest and I saw him flinch. His eyes were squeezed
shut. He stopped mid count to look at her, the shock at her words
clear on his face.
    “Alright, that’s enough.” Lane calmly stepped
between them and I put an arm around Lizzy to start leading her
away. She shrugged away from me, stomped up the stairs and I
watched until she disappeared then turned my attention to Max. He
was still pressed against the wall, his eyes darting around the
room.
    “Listen to me, Maxy. You don’t need to hit
anything.” Lane’s voice had dropped and lowered.
    Max squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his
jaw, the tendons in his neck cording from the tension.
    “Just take a deep breath. Come on. Breathe
in.” Lane started to count out loud while everyone else stood
still, scared to make any noise that might break Max’s
concentration. His lips moved in time with Lane’s words, though no
sound came from him save his heavy breathing. It took to sixty
before the tension started to ease out of his shoulders. By a
hundred, he’d slipped down the wall so that he sat with his knees
up, his head buried in his arms. He inhaled deeply one last time
and looked up at Lane who was squatting in front of him. Lane
smiled.
    “Good job.” He put a hand on Max’s shoulder
and glanced up at the rest of us. “What happened?”
    Pete sent Max a sad smile. “Lizzy came down
the stairs and told Maxy he had to drive her into town and she
wanted to go before the two of you reappeared. When he asked her
why, she reminded him she had to meet someone.”
    Max swallowed hard. “I told her I wasn’t
driving her to meet her dealer; that I’d talked to Gabby and we
were all going to sit down and figure out how to get her
better.”
    “Dude, she