Read Online Sassy Ever After: Dragon Sass (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Selena Kitt - Free Book Online Page A

getting drunk and high all the time.”
    Jesus. Kai closed his eyes at this revelation, pained. No wonder Jules was so attached to him. And her parents had enabled the poor kid just as much as Jules was doing now. Kai had a flash of sympathy for Stuart. It was brief, but it was there.
    “What happened that day?” Jules asked softly. “What happened in the car? You were there, Stuart. Tell me!”
    “I don’t remember…” Stuart sounded afraid. Kai was pretty sure he was lying. Had been lying a long time.
    “My father was a good driver. He didn’t fall asleep at the wheel—I don’t care what the police said happened.”
    “Jules, don’t,” Stuart pleaded. “I told you a million times. I don’t remember. I hit my head. You know that—I’ve had headaches every single day since the accident. I don’t remember.”
    “You were drunk,” she said. “Cops said you were thrown clear because you weren’t wearing a seatbelt—they called it drunk’s luck. Because you were so fucking drunk, you didn’t even brace yourself. That’s the only reason you lived, you know.”
    “So being a junkie saved me.” Stuart gave a strangled laugh. “Yay.”
    “My father didn’t fall asleep at the wheel, did he?”
    “Jules…”
    “Did he, Stuart?”
    “I don’t remember!”
    “Yes, you do!” Finally, Jules raised her voice. She screamed at him. “You know what happened! Tell me!”
    “I can’t,” Stuart choked. Which wasn’t exactly the same thing as not knowing, Kai thought.
    “If the semi-truck driver had lived, what would he have told the cops, Stuart?” Jules asked. “What would he have seen?”
    “Nothing!”
    “Did the thought of going to rehab scare you that much?” Jules asked. Her voice sounded thick, like she was crying.
    Kai wanted to go to her but he felt stuck, fascinated by this conversation he shouldn’t have been listening to in the first place.
    “I’m not going to fucking rehab!” Stuart cried. “Ever!”
    “I want my key,” Jules said finally and Kai let out his breath.
    “What?” Stuart sounded bewildered. “No. Jules, listen…”
    “This is killing you, Stuart,” she said flatly. “If you want money, the only way I’ll do it is if you go in for treatment. It was the last thing my parents tried to do for you—and it’s the only thing I’ll do for you anymore.”
    “Jules, please…” Now Stuart sounded like he was crying. It made Kai cringe, but at least the kid finally sounded like he was being real. Telling the truth. She’d broken him. “Don’t you understand? I want to die!”
    No answer. Kai marveled at Jules’s commitment to standing her ground.
    “I should’ve died that day!” he sobbed. “I wanted to die when I grabbed the wheel of the car. I… didn’t think. I just wanted it all to end. I saw that semi coming and thought… this is it…”
    “Oh my God, Stuart,” Jules cried. It broke Kai’s heart and took everything in him to keep his feet planted in the dirt and not go in to her. If he’d been angry with Stuart before, now he was murderous. His hands clenched into fists.
    “I’m no good to you. I’m no good to anyone.” Stuart sniffed. “I couldn’t even keep my own mother from overdosing and now I’m doing my best to kill myself the same damned way…”
    “You need help, Stuart.” Jules was really crying now. “You need real help.”
    “Here’s your key.” The tinkling sound of metal hitting against something came from the barn. “Keep it. I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone.”
    “Stuart, wait!” Jules cried, her voice getting closer as she followed him. “Come inside. You can sleep it off—sober up. Then we can talk about getting you some he—”
    Even now, she still wanted to help him? Kai wanted to kill him.
    “Fuck this!” Stuart shook Jules off. They were in the slant of sun at the edge of the barn door and neither of them had seen Kai. “And fuck you!”
    What happened next was so fast, Kai doubted Jules