Read Online The Better to Bite by Cynthia Eden - Free Book Online Page B

that sudden. We’d both been changing for a while.”
    From the stilted tone, I got that he didn’t want to keep talking about his ex or their changes. Fine. I could understand that. It wasn’t like I wanted to dish on Valerie for hours, either.
    New topic.
“So do you often have parties at your house? I mean, parties that start when you aren’t even there?”
    The truck took a sharp left curve, then a right. My ears were popping a bit as we drove higher up the mountain. I swallowed again to ease the pressure.
    His low laugh came as I’d hoped, and I was happy to hear that sound. He had a good laugh. “During football season, yeah, I do. My place is the un-official hangout.”
    “And your parents don’t mind?” I shook my head. “My dad would flip.”
    “That’s because he’s the sheriff.” Because I was staring at his hands—again—I saw the way they tightened around the steering wheel. “My parents aren’t in town for most of the fall or winter, so it’s no big deal to them where I go or what I do.”
    His words made me sad because I could hear the echo of pain in his voice.
    “They’re divorced,” he said into the silence. “My dad moved away two years ago, and my mom likes to travel with whatever flavor of the week she’s dating.”
    I knew Brent had money—a lot of it. When I’d been on the Internet—I couldn’t help it, I did like to snoop—I'd found some info on his parents. His mom was an ex-actress-slash-model, and his dad had been a guy with old money. Put the two together and what do you get? Parents who didn’t seem to care much for their son.
    “My mom split on us last year,” I confessed to him and my hands fisted in my lap.
No, if you’re telling the story, tell it all.
“She left, I’d hoped she’d come back but—”
    He glanced at me. “But what?”
    “But then she died.”
Was murdered.
“She was killed in Chicago.”
    “I’m sorry, Anna.” He sounded it.
    When had this become about me? “Don’t worry about it, I mean—I just…you’re not the only one who knows what it’s like when a parent leaves, okay?” Only in my case, she’d left forever. “You’re not alone.”
    His eyes glittered at me. “No, I’m not.”
    That stare of his seemed to see too much. I looked away, darting a fast glance toward the windshield and—“
Brent, watch out!”
    The truck swerved as his hands jerked the wheel.
    I stared with wide eyes as a wolf—a big, dark wolf—raced right toward us. The headlights made the beast’s eyes seem to glow yellow and its jaws hung open, all of its sharp teeth bursting from its mouth.
    Oh, crap, it was gonna hit us.
    “Brent!” I screamed again.
    He yanked the wheel to the left, too hard. I knew it, I knew—the truck wouldn't come out of the swerve this time. Instead, it spun, once, twice, and the world disappeared in a fast blur as we tumbled, sliding over the edge of the road and rolling down the mountain slope into the woods. Pine trees slammed into the truck. The glass shattered in the windshield and rained onto me. I couldn’t scream anymore, my breath was gone.
    My head snapped back, and the last sound I heard was the wolf’s howl.

Chapter Five
    I opened my eyes to total darkness. Darkness…and pain. I pushed up with my hands, and something hard and sharp—glass?—fell from my fingers.
    My eyes adjusted slowly, and I could make out the smashed interior of Brent’s truck. I turned my head to the left and hissed at the pain that rolled over me.
    A tree had shoved through the windshield and plunged into the driver’s seat.
    My heart stopped then. “
Brent!”
    He wasn’t in the seat, thank God, but the glass was everywhere and blood dripped into my eyes. “
Brent, where are you
?”
    Lost…an image clicked in my mind immediately. I saw Brent’s body, sprawled face down, near some a group of pine trees. Was he moving? Was he alive? I had to get to him!
    The truck was tilted at an angle and the seatbelt bit into my chest. I