Read My Sweetest Escape Online

Authors: Chelsea M. Cameron

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Contemporary, #General

My Sweetest Escape (3 page)

BOOK: My Sweetest Escape
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“Hey, Jos,” Darah said, coming in while I

was putting my clothes away in the dresser.

Her voice scared the crap out of me and I

dropped the Fall Out Boy T-shirt I’d been

refolding.

“Hey,” I said, picking up the shirt and

turning around. I could never figure out

how Darah and Renee had become friends,

because they were like night and day. But

out of all of Renee’s friends, I liked Darah

the best. I hadn’t met Taylor yet, I

supposed, so I couldn’t judge her.

“Are you settling in okay?” It was then

that I noticed she had a plate of cookies.

Oh, Jesus. What next? “Cookie?

Taylor and I made them last night.

They’re snickerdoodles.

I know those are your favorite.” Yes,

they were, but that wasn’t the point.

“Thanks, but I’m fine.” I refolded the

T-shirt and put it in with the others. Darah

sighed and sat down on my bed, setting the

plate of cookies next to her.

“Look,” she started.
Here we go again.
“I

know that everyone is going to be up in

your face and scrutinizing you, but I just

wanted you to know that I’m here for you.

If you want to talk, if you don’t want to talk.

Whatever. Even if you want to…I don’t

know, eat ice cream and cry in the middle

of the night. I’m here, okay?”

She got up and rubbed my shoulder.

What was it with people invading my

personal space? It was really starting to piss

me off. If Darah hadn’t been one of the

sweetest people on the planet, I would

have shrugged her hand off and told her to

leave me alone. But she was the sweetest

person ever, and she’d brought cookies, so I

let her touch me as I gritted my teeth.

“Okay, well, let us know if you need

anything. Um, Hunter and Taylor are doing

dinner tonight, and it’s going to be

vegetarian, if you’re cool with that.” I

nodded. Back in the day I’d been an

on-and-off vegetarian. Back in the day when

I’d been in the Climate Action Club and a

card-carrying member of PETA. I might still

have the thing in my wallet. God, I’d been

wound so fucking tight back then. I’d also

done a lot less cursing.

“Come on up when you’re ready.” She

patted me once more and shut the door

behind her, leaving the plate of cookies. Did

they expect me to polish those off and then

have dinner? I shrugged, snagging one of

the cookies. She must have put them in the

microwave, because they were warm and

crumbly. Oh, wow. I chewed slowly,

savoring the spicy sweetness of the cookie.

Footsteps and voices sounded upstairs. I

heard laughter and chaos. The house above

me was full of life and joy and people. And

then there was me, hanging out in the

basement. Lurking like a creeper. I shook

my head and shoved the rest of the cookie

into my mouth and went back to folding.

* * *

When the smell of whatever they were

cooking upstairs became too much for me

to withstand anymore, I ventured up the

stairs.

“There you are,” Renee said, nearly

crashing into me as I opened the door.

She’d obviously been coming down to drag

me upstairs from my cave.

“Here I am.” I gave her a tight smile as

we walked into the kitchen/dining room.

Everyone went absolutely silent as

Renee and I walked in.

“Awesome. I was totally going for that

reaction. Well played, everyone,” I said as

they all tried to resume their normal

activities. It was weird seeing some of them

in person, because I’d only seen them in

pictures. They really
were

three-dimensional.

Hunter was the first to come over and

offer me his hand. I got to give him the

once-over and I understood what Renee

had said about not allowing him near

anything flammable because he would set it

on fire with his hotness. Yeah, he had the

whole tatted-up, muscled thing going on.

Plus his smile was genuine when he said

he’d been looking forward to meeting me.

Taylor was next, but she didn’t touch me.

Thank God. She was also just as freaking

adorable as the pictures I’d seen her in. It

was easy to see why Renee and Darah had

asked her to move in with them.

“I hope this is okay. I wasn’t sure what

you’d like. We were planning on doing

something bigger, but Renee… Never

mind,” Taylor said, after getting the evil eye

from

Renee. I didn’t need to be able to see

her giving it to know that was what she was

doing. I’d been on the receiving end of that

look more times than I could count. Paul

stood next to Renee and gave me a

comforting smile.

Last was a guy who looked like he

missed his calling as a professional football

player. Or wrestler. Or attractive bouncer. I

guess sexy ran in the family of Hunter and

Mase.

“Little Ne,” he said, giving me a

handshake that nearly crushed all of my

fingers. “It’s cool if we call you that, right?

We’ll probably come up with a better

nickname at some point. Unless you hate

nicknames as much as your sister seems

to.” He looked a little sheepish, which was

kind of funny, given how strong he looked.

“Whatever,” I said, flexing my hand to

get the feeling back into it. “I’m neutral in

nicknames.” I couldn’t count how many I’d

had in my life. Most of them I’d ignored,

including when my sister Cari spent an

entire summer calling me “Stinky Butt.” To

be fair, she was three, and “Joscelyn” was a

mouthful to say.

“Thanks for the cookies,” I said to Darah,

who was absentmindedly stroking Mase’s

arm. “They were really good.”

“Oh, good. I was hoping you’d like

them,” Taylor said, stirring something in

one of the steaming pots on the stove.

“This is about ready, so why don’t you

go sit down?”

“Is there, um, anything I can do to

help?” Granted, I had been forced here, but

they didn’t have to take me in. They could

have said no.

“Don’t worry, sis. You’ll be on the chore

chart soon enough,” Renee said, steering

me toward the dining room table. Someone

had already set out the plates, and there

was a place set for me, with a card sitting

on the plate, and yes, it was handmade.

“Taylor and Darah made that, so you

have to gush about it even if you hate it,”

Renee hissed as I opened it. How could I

hate it? Someone had made some really

cool designs with paint on the front that

looked like fireworks, and there were

letters cut from magazines spelling out the

words
WELCOME TO YELLOWFIELD HOUSE.

“Yellowfield House?” I said.

Renee rolled her eyes and sat down next

to me, Paul on her other side. I caught him

taking her hand under the table and giving

it a squeeze.

“It was Taylor’s idea. She wanted it to be

like in one of those British novels, where

the house has a name. It was, like, the only

way she’d agree to let us all live here. It was

her one stipulation,” Renee said with a

shrug.

“She wanted to make a sign and

everything, but the rest of us vetoed it,”

Paul said. “It was really cute, actually. She

was so excited. And then we shot her

down.”

“Um, weird,” I said.

“Shh,” Renee said as everyone else

carried dishes and pans and other dinner

paraphernalia. The second everyone sat

down it was a chaos of passing plates and

bumping elbows and trying to get everyone

what they needed. Taylor had made

spaghetti with an olive oil sauce with tons

of vegetables and garlic bread and a salad.

It was crazy delicious, and even though I’d

consumed several of the cookies, I put away

more than my share of dinner. It beat the

hell out of the cafeteria food, or eating

ramen for the millionth time.

Everyone laughed and talked about their

day, and for the first time, I wasn’t the

center of attention. It was really…nice.

They were all just so damn happy and

smiley and in love.

It was enough to make me sick, but

instead it somehow had the opposite effect.

I’d really wanted to hate it here. It would

have been more appropriate for me to hate

it.

“Um, I still have some…stuff to unpack,”

I said, getting up as soon as I could. I

needed to get back to the loneliness of the

basement. All the happy was screwing with

my head.

Renee shot me a look, but nodded.

“Are you sure you don’t want to hang

out up here? You haven’t even seen the rest

of the house yet,” Darah said, giving me a

hopeful smile. I couldn’t really get out of

that.

“Yeah, sure.” She led me upstairs,

showing me her room, which was

immaculate, as if they were selling the

house and had a decorator come in to make

it look good for prospective buyers. Renee

refused to let us see her room, and Taylor

only gave me a quick glance at her and

Hunter’s suite on the top floor.

“Just ignore the clothes on the floor. I

know I do.” Hunter and Taylor had tagged

along for our little tour. It was technically

his house, after all.

“Thanks. For…for letting me come here.”

For letting my parents force me on you. I’m

sure you had lots of choice in the matter.

“You’re welcome. Any member of

Renee’s family is part of ours,” he said,

putting an arm around Taylor. Did they

have to do that all the time? “I hope

everything…works out. I know what it’s like

to go through a rough time.” Yeah, yeah,

yeah. I’d heard all about Hunter’s and

Taylor’s tragic pasts and subsequent

“getting their shit together” moments. They

were probably planning my intervention

right now. Luring me into a false sense of

security before springing it on me.

“Yeah, thanks,” I said as he closed their

door and we went back downstairs.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join us

for some music?”

Darah said as she and Mase canoodled

on the couch. What was this, the Partridge

family? Seriously, these people were a

Cleaver short of a heartwarming fifties

family show. “Hunter’s a really good guitar

player.”

“I’m good. I still have…stuff to do.”

“And things?” Renee said, giving me a

look. Yeah, stuff and things, Renee.

“Am I not allowed to do stuff and things

now? Was that the fifth rule on your list?” I

snapped, realizing only after I’d said it that

everyone could hear me.

“Whatever,” I said, heading for the

basement. “I’m going to bed.” It was only

eight, but I couldn’t take being around them

anymore. They were just so damn happy. It

was killing me. I needed to go back to the

basement of doom and comfort myself with

more cookies and heart-wrenching music.

“Good night,” they all chimed almost in

unison. Sick, this was sick. Maybe there was

something in the walls that seeped into

their pores when they were sleeping. Or

maybe it was the water?

I shook my head and walked back down

to what I was quickly deciding was my cave.

My basement of solitude.

My room reeked of the delicious

cookies, and even though I was stuffed from

dinner, I ate two more before heading to

the shower. The water pressure was

significantly better than the dorm, and I

took my time, savoring the sensation on the

back of my neck. All the showers in the

world couldn’t wash away the darkness in

my life, but that didn’t stop me from

enjoying it.

The charm bracelet caught in my hair as

I was brushing it and I spent a good five

minutes and several curse words getting it

undone.

We’re friends, right? And friends give

each other gifts. I know
how much you love

elephants, so…here,
he’d said when he’d

presented me with the box. I remembered

opening it and falling in love with it. Such a

simple, sweet gesture. He’d helped me put

it on, and I’d worn it every day since.

Especially after…

I shook my head and turned on some

music. Something nice and harsh and loud

to drown out the Sing-Along hour going on

upstairs. After scrolling through my recent

purchases, I found the newest Skillet album.

Perfect.

I could feel the joy seeping through the

floor and invading my cave, so I turned the

music up so loud that it was hurting my

eardrums. I should have just put on my

cost-an-arm-and-a-leg-and-a-kidney

headphones, but I didn’t. I unpacked the

rest of my stuff and deleted the voice mails

from my mother and father, demanding

that I call them when I’d gotten to Renee’s.

BOOK: My Sweetest Escape
2.85Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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