Page 1 of Burn for Me (The Last Snow of the Season 2)
Chapter One
____________
Rumer
What the hell am I doing here? Why am I wasting my time being around people I don't like and who don't like or know me? I look over at the pretty girl standing around directing everybody. Oh yeah, I'm here because of her. Rani was nice to me when no one else was. She was my only friend for the first year I moved here.
I had the unfortunate luck to move in my junior year. No friends, no close family, and I was so lost too. My mom had recently passed. It still hurts to even think about it. The pain is just as fresh now as it was when she died. I went to live with my grandparents, but they couldn't take care of me - or so they said. I think they just couldn't deal with a heartbroken kid who wanted to follow her mom but couldn't. They shipped me off to my aunt.
It's not so bad there. A little crowded. They don't beat me, and they don't hurt me in any way. I'm just still a little lost. I don't feel like I fit in with them and I think they can pick up on that. I would say it's like a healthy neglect. I'm pretty sure as soon as I graduate my butt better have another place to stay because she isn't going to put up with me any longer. To tell you the truth I am shocked that she let me stay after I turned eighteen. I guess I am forever wondering if today is the day she tells me not to come back.
The future scares me because of that uncertainty. And yet here I am. Acting like a normal teenager. Trying to fake it for the people around me. All for Rani.
I spot the little brunette that hangs around Rani and I breathe a sigh of relief. Oh, thank God! Milly is just as antisocial as I am. Rani is the life of the party, and she has her boyfriend to hang out with. I was so worried I wouldn't have anyone else that feels the way I do but Milly is here.
Milly is super sweet to everyone. I have a class with her, and we sit and talk about serial killers and true crime. Well, I do most of the talking but she listens all the time and encourages it by asking about anything new I've heard.
I hook my hair behind my ear. The damn stuff keeps getting in the way. I want to cut it but to do it right costs money I don't have. I've been socking away every extra dollar and dime I can find just in case this is the weekend my aunt tells me to hit the road. And if I cut it myself it would look like someone took a lawn mower to my head. Maybe it's vanity but I would like good pictures when I walk across the stage. If I walk across the stage. If Aunt Vin kicks me out I'm not sure if I will be able to. I'll have to find a job...or three and hope that I can make ends meet so I can eat. There will be no more study sessions, no college applications - not that I have any hope of going so I don't understand why I fill them out, but I have.
God, I'm starting to depress myself. Time for me to start thinking of something else or I'll end up bawling on Rani's front porch. I run my eyes over the group of people that are supposed to be in the cabin with us for this weekend's getaway. Some of them are older men. Big men. These are Rani's boyfriend's friends. Now that is a sentence that doesn't make any fucking sense. Rani's guy is a cop. Police detective actually, which is really fucking cool.
He's brought a few of his buddies from work with him and by the looks on their faces, they think they are here to fuck. Well not all of them. There is one, he seems to be focused in on little Milly. He doesn't look like he wants to fuck her though. He looks like he wants to eat her and keep her afterward.
My attention is drawn to one of the other guys. He's got dark blonde hair and intense green eyes and they are turned straight at me. This guy is younger than most of the guys here. He's way older than me but younger than the other cops. I turn to see if he's looking at one of the women behind me but there’s nobody behind me. So why is this guy giving me such an...intense look.
If he's thinking he can hit it with the sad chick because she'll give it up easier then he should just go look somewhere else and that is exactly what I will tell him if he has the balls to come over here. I cross my arms over my chest to make sure he can't see my nipples which have turned into hard peaks because of his stare - damn it - and put on my best resting bitch face before turning away from him. This weekend isn't a fuck fest for me. It's a way to pretend I'm normal like everyone else I'm around. Even if it is a lie.
