Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(14)
Author: K.A. Linde

I cursed under my breath. “What the fuck do you think is going to happen? We’re going to sit around and sing ‘Kumbaya’? He killed my mom! This conversation is over. I don’t want to have any contact with my dad. Maybe you’ll get that one day.”

I hung up before he could say anything else, and I hurled the phone. It smashed against the wall and then fell to the floor. At this point, I didn’t give a shit if it completely stopped working. Every phone call was getting worse and worse.

The bottle of Jack temptingly smiled back at me. I grabbed it and tipped it back.

Disappear.

Foggy.

Numb.

The pain ate away at me, and I was so fucking tired of feeling. One day…one day, I wouldn’t feel it. But if all I had now was this bottle, then I’d let it do its fucking job.

“Shit.”

I peeled my eyes open, my vision bleary. What the fuck happened? And where the fuck was I?

I propped myself up on my elbow. A wave of nausea hit me, and I collapsed back down. Holy shit. I might still be fucking drunk.

After a few minutes, I forced myself to sit up again. I leaned over the couch and rested my head in my hands. Why was I on the couch? Fuck, I didn’t remember shit.

“You awake, bro?”

I looked up and saw Vin crashed on the opposite couch in the garage. Why the fuck was I in the garage? Jesus!

“No. Stop talking.”

“That was some fucking party.”

“Party?” I groaned.

“Yeah. Half the city was here last night.”

“What? No. We were just supposed to drink and smoke and get fucked.”

Vin laughed roughly. “Sure, man.”

I held my head as I stood and left the destroyed garage to head back into my house. It was a mission, getting up the stairs to my room, but it was all worth it to see Ari passed out in my bed. I fell into the bed next to her and pulled her body against mine.

“Princess,” I murmured.

Ari rolled over and groaned. “Hey.”

“What happened last night?”

She popped up. “Oh my God, what time is it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe slow down a bit. I’m still messed up.”

“Shit, shit, shit. I have to go, Grant. I have my O-chem test today, and I didn’t study last night.”

She bolted out of my bed. I’d forgotten about her test. I shouldn’t have taken her away from her study session yesterday. Shit!

“Hey, take my truck. Keys are…downstairs. I think,” I offered.

“Okay,” she said, rushing toward the door.

“Ari,” I called before she could leave. “Thanks for being here for me.”

“You know I love you, Grant. I realize you’re going through some awful shit. I’m here for you. But I can’t sacrifice my career like this again.”

She left my room in a hurry, and I sighed.

Yeah, I’d royally fucked that one up.

B.

I’d been staring at the letter long enough that most of the rest of the class had emptied out of the room. My professor still stood behind the lectern, but I was too embarrassed and horrified to speak to him. I wasn’t certain that I wouldn’t break down into tears if I opened my mouth right now.

“Miss Graham, it’s time for you to leave,” Professor Williamson said.

I hadn’t even noticed that he had snuck up on me. “My paper has a B on it,” I told him.

“Yes. I was surprised by that as well.”

“I can’t get a B.” My voice didn’t even sound like me. It was high-pitched and squeaky as if I might combust at any moment.

“You’ve done exemplary the rest of the semester, Miss Graham. I’m sure if you study harder for the next one, then you’ll keep that A you’ve earned thus far.”

Study harder. Ha! Maybe I would have if my boyfriend hadn’t gone off the deep end.

I realized I was sneering at my professor in my attempt at a smile, and I stopped. How the hell was I going to get out of this? I’d never gotten a B before in my life.

“But you do have to leave,” he insisted.

“Right. Of course.” I robotically packed up my stuff and then slung my bag over my shoulder. “Just have to study harder. Do better. All that.”

“Feel free to stop by during my office hours, and I’d be happy to discuss the problems that you missed.”

I laughed maniacally and then swallowed down the crazy. I needed to get a grip.

“Thank you, sir. I’ll take you up on that next week.” I rushed out of the room before I could freak out anymore in front of Professor Williamson.

I fumbled around for my phone as I walked out of the building.

Grant picked up almost immediately. “Hey, Princess, are you all ready? I had to do some rearranging, but I think I have everything perfect.”

“I got a B on my test,” I croaked.

“Congrats! That’s awesome.”

“Are you kidding?” I nearly screeched. “I’ve never gotten less than an A-minus. Not even a B-plus. Definitely not a plain old B. Do you know what this could do to my GPA?”

“Oh…well, it’s not like this is the final grade. You probably still have an A in the class or something, right?”

Just the thought of not keeping straight As was making me hysterical. “I have to cancel tonight,” I hollowly told him.

“What? You want to skip our date? It’s Valentine’s Day.”

“Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. It’s Friday the thirteenth, and I received my first B. Yes, I want to skip. This night is only going to get worse.”

“Aribel, come on. Don’t do this,” he pleaded. His Southern accent was more pronounced than ever.

Dirty tricks. It was a good thing I couldn’t see his smile.

“I need to stay in to study and figure out how not to ruin my life.”

“It’s one bad grade. Let me take you out to make you feel better. That’s what’s supposed to happen in these situations, right?”

I shook my head and plopped down onto a bench. “I’m not up for it. I’m emotionally devastated.”

“I didn’t know you had a flare for the melodramatic.”

“Grant McDermott! Do not make fun of me in my time of need!”

“Princess, I’m not making fun of you,” he said earnestly. “I’m the reason you didn’t study as much as you normally do. I’ve spent a lot of time getting everything ready for the ride into the city. We can’t cancel now. I will resort to kidnapping your ass.”