Chapter 3
“Where the hell have you been?”
Crystal winced and shut the front door behind her. She was tired and dealing with her mom was the last thing she needed right now. “I was—”
“Don’t say you were at Beth’s. She’s worried sick about you and hasn’t seen you since Friday. There’s been a lot of weird stuff going on lately with you, young lady. I need to know what’s going on.”
Crystal shook her head and let out a breath. “Nothing, Mom. I’m just—just tired.”
Brandy stood up and walked over to her. She looked up at Crystal and gasped. “Oh Crissy, what have you done to yourself?”
Crystal stiffened. “What?”
“It’s drugs! What are you on? Crystal meth? God knows I’ve seen enough kids on that. Why you? What did I do—”
“Mom, stop!” Crystal groaned. She reached up to tuck her hair back over her shoulders and lifted her head and shoulders up. “I’m tired, that’s all. I wasn’t feeling well last week and didn’t eat much. New diet, exercise, and everything just wiped me out. So I got sick.”
“You’re not vomiting, are you? Anorexia? You’ve lost so much weight so fast!”
Crystal shook her head and then paused as she remembered getting sick in the swamp. “I’m not anorexic, I promise. I did throw up this weekend, but that was just whatever was wrong with me. It’s gone now. I’m better.”
“Cris—”
“Mom, please. Just trust me. When have I ever screwed up? I mean really screwed up.”
Brandy stared at her for a long moment. “Where were you all weekend?”
“With a friend.”
Her mom’s sour look said more than her words could. “And those clothes? Those are new and not your style.”
Crystal kept her grimace to herself. Ember had ridden into town to get her a change of clothes since hers were ruined. She’d done a lot of guessing since Crystal wasn’t even sure what size she wore now. Between the guessing and Ember’s sense of humor, Crystal was wearing a tight denim skirt and a t-shirt that was stretched tight across her chest and too short to hide her stomach if she lifted her arms above her head. “I’m trying something new,” she mumbled.
“Uh huh,” her mom said. “It’s all this new stuff that has me worried. I thought you’d realized that being popular wasn’t important?”
“This isn’t about that.”
“This friend you stayed with, is it that Stephanie girl?”
Crystal clamped her lips together. Stephanie was on her mind, but not because she’d spent time with her. She was trying to figure out how she could take Stephanie to see Clover. She was a pain, sure, but she didn’t want her to get hurt.
“Is this another trick of hers to make you look bad?”
“Mom—no! I’m just, just trying to figure things out. School’s almost over and I’ve got the rest of my life to figure out. Things aren’t easy for me like you think they are.”
Her mom smirked. “Believe it or not, honey, I used to be young too. I’ve been through what you’re going through. I know all about it.”
It was Crystal’s turn to smirk. “Not like this, you haven’t.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Oh God, you’re not pregnant, are you?”
“What? No!” Crystal blurted out. She stopped herself and blushed when she remembered how close she’d come—both the Beast’s attempt to breed her and her own hormones raging out of control with Hank. She shook her head and asked, “Why would you ask that?”
“There’s been a boy looking for you. He seemed upset.”
Crystal’s eyes widened. “A boy?”
She nodded. “Said his name was Chad?”
Crystal groaned. “He’s crazy.”
Brandy laughed. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but he did act weird. Wait—you don’t mean really crazy, do you? Should I call his parents?”
“No, um, not really crazy. He and I had an argument last week. There’s nothing between us, don’t worry.”
“So what did he want? He stopped by twice this weekend.”
“Twice?” Crystal frowned. “I don’t know.”
“Are you sure everything’s all right? I’m worried about you.”
“I’m a big girl,” Crystal said and immediately regretted it. Her mom flinched.
“I’m your mother—it’s my job to worry.”
Crystal sighed and reached out to pull her mom in for a hug. She felt her mom relax after a moment. After they separated, Crystal forced a smile on her face. “I’m okay. I’m not doing any drugs, not smoking, not drinking, not doing anything I shouldn’t. I’m just trying to find myself and see what I want to do. Graduation’s only a couple months away.”
Her mom nodded and smiled. She glanced down and back before saying, “Look, I know you’re young and perky and eighteen. I’m not going to try to make you do anything, but if boys like Chad see you without a bra they’re going to be very interested. More than interested. Be careful, okay?”
Crystal gasped and glanced down to see her nipples prominently denting her shirt. She groaned.
“And take it from me, you’re young and firm now, but without support, gravity is going to make you regret being so well-endowed.”
“Mom!”
Brandy shrugged. “You’re old enough to talk about this kind of stuff.”
“But you’re my mom!”
She shrugged again. “And a nurse. I’ve seen some scary things.”
Crystal held up her hand. “Enough! Please, enough. I’m going to go up to my room, okay? I already ate and I just want to wind down and relax a little.”
“Don’t forget Beth.”
“Huh?”
“Call her? She’s worried sick about you.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ll do that too. Thanks, Mom.”
Her mom smiled. “Sure thing, sweetie. I love you and I’m always here if you want to talk, okay?”
Crystal smiled back. “Okay. Um, thanks, Mom. I mean it. You’re the best.”
Brandy waited a moment as Crystal started to walk away before she added, “You know, it’s been a long and rough road, but I think we did okay. You’ve turned into an amazing young woman and I’m proud to say I had a part in that.”
Crystal stopped and looked back at her. Her mom looked tired but more relaxed than she had when she’d first gotten home. She was pretty, but she’d let too many worries and too many years affect her. Not that Crystal could imagine dealing with it any other way. She smiled and replied, “I don’t think I’d want it any other way.”
Chapter 4
Crystal climbed into Beth’s car the next morning and then screamed when Beth attacked her. The smaller girl pushed herself across the seat before Crystal could react and wrapped her arms around her, hugging her so tight Crystal’s scream was choked off. “Beth,” she wheezed. “Stop it, you’re crushing me!”
Beth backed away and twisted back around. She stopped halfway through, thinking better of it, and turned back to face Crystal so she could punch her in the arm.
“Ow!” Crystal hollered. “What the hell?”
Beth glared at her and finally resumed her seat and buckled her seatbelt. She put the car in gear and backed out of Crystal’s driveway before she responded. “I’m glad you’re alive and okay, but I’m mad at you for leaving me in the dark all weekend. I was worried!”
“I know, I’m sorry,” Crystal said. She shook her head. “I didn’t have my phone until last night, though.”
“Where was it?”
“Ember’s bike.”
“Ember?”
Crystal glanced over and saw Beth’s white knuckles gripping the steering wheel. “They wouldn’t let me alone with Hank, even on the back of his bike.”
Beth snorted. “So what did you do?”
“Beth…” Crystal trailed off, waiting for her friend to glance at her. When she finally did, Crystal summoned up the strength to grin and said, “I did it.”
Beth’s eyes na
rrowed. “Did what? Fucked Hank?”
“Jesus! No, I meant the poison and everything going on with me? I’m cured! Or free. Healed. Crap, I don’t know how to say it, but I’m not going to die!”
Beth’s eyes widened and she breathed. “You’re not?
“No.”
Crystal yelped as Beth slammed on the brake and pulled the car to the side of the road. She unbuckled and threw herself across the car to hug Crystal again. Crystal laughed and returned the hug. “Okay, okay, I get it. Now get back over or people are going to start getting the wrong idea.”
“Fuck them,” Beth muttered into her hair. “Besides, I don’t even get a kiss like Stephanie did.”
Crystal gasped and pushed Beth back off her. “What? That was—you know that was a mistake! Oh my God! Are you jealous?”
Beth bit her lip and repositioned herself in her seat before putting the car in gear and pulling away from the curb.
“You are!” Crystal groaned. “Beth, you know I’m not into girls. Especially not Stephanie! If I was ever going to be like that, it would be with you, not her.”
“Ember?”
Crystal hesitated and saw Beth’s eyes narrow. “No, not Ember,” she tried to say in a rush.
“You had to think about it?”
Crystal frowned and tried to explain. “Ember and I have a special relationship.”
“Special? Jesus, Crys. Do you know how worried I was? I even went to church and prayed for you! I don’t go to church, and I almost never pray! Then Steph and I spent the entire freaking day together and all I heard was Ember this and Crystal that. She even told me she saw you guys riding Saturday morning. Together, like you said.”
“See, my story checks out.”
Beth let out a squeal and punched her steering wheel. “Damn it! That’s not it! I’m not trying to catch you in a lie!”
Crystal leaned back and nodded. “I’m sorry. Look, the thing with Ember is hard for me to explain. It’s weird. She likes to screw with me still, but she cares about me. And I care about her.”
Beth’s jaw tightened and her arms trembled from the tension she kept in them.
“Not like that,” Crystal added. “More like a sister.”
Beth spared her a quick glance and asked, “I thought we were like that?”
“We are, it’s just…” Crystal trailed off and stared at the trees and houses they passed by. She turned back to Beth and said, “Look, it’s different because Ember and I are pack-mates. We share the same blood.”
Beth blinked and nodded. “Oh.”
Crystal watched her drive in silence while she processed what Crystal had told her. Finally, when she couldn’t take the silent treatment any longer, Crystal said, “Oh? That’s it?”
Beth said in a neutral voice, “Yeah, that’s it.”
“That can’t have made sense to you,” Crystal rambled on. “I don’t even think I understand it and I’m living with this.”
Beth shrugged. “It doesn’t, but I give up. I don’t know what else to say or do to prove that I’m here for you. I’ve been trying since middle school, but whenever anything comes up for you, you get wrapped up in it and forget all about me. Then when you get bitten, I have to be there to pick up the pieces.”
Crystal’s heart lurched in her chest, filling her with a dull ache and warming her cheeks. “I know, and I’m sorry. But I know how much you care. And this is different. This isn’t something I got wrapped up in—this is something that happened to me.”
Beth snorted. “And I guess you’ll be the one doing the biting now instead of being bitten.”
Crystal stiffened. “Did you just call me a dog?”
Beth smirked and shot her a glance out of the corner of her eyes. “Well, maybe you can be a bitch sometimes…”
“Oh hell no,” Crystal muttered.
Beth laughed. “So what happened? I mean, how did you, um, get better?”
“You don’t want to know,” Crystal said. “It hurt. I mean it hurt a lot. Boiling soup and being tied down while I had to figure out how to get the Beast out of me.”
“Boiling soup? Get it out of you? What do you mean?”
Crystal glanced out the window and saw that they were about to turn in to the school parking lot. “Hang on,” she said and then waited until Beth parked her car. She unbuckled and glanced around to make sure no one was nearby.
“What are you—holy shit!”
Crystal lifted her butt off the seat and pulled her sundress up past her hips. She pulled the front of it up, showing not only her Hello Kitty underwear, but her stomach. She ran her fingers across the scars on her belly to draw Beth’s attention to them. “This is what I meant by getting it out of me.”
Beth leaned over and stared at Crystal’s flat stomach. “This is new? It doesn’t look new.”
“Beth, you’ve seen my stomach before,” Crystal reminded her.
“Yeah, when you were bigger.”
“Two weeks ago? Maybe three?”
Beth clamped her mouth shut. “It seems like longer,” she mumbled and reached out to trace the scars with her fingers. Crystal shivered, tickled by the touch. “Sorry,” Beth said and snatched her hand back. She glanced up at Crystal and grinned. “I guess you don’t like having your belly rubbed?”
“Stop it!” Crystal said and pushed her dress down and shimmied in her seat to get it under her butt again.
Beth laughed. “Sorry. But wow. So, um, did Ember do that, or one of the others? The witch?”
Crystal shook her head. “I did it.”
“You did it!”
Crystal nodded. “I don’t remember a lot of the night, but it took all night. I got out of the vines they tied me up with somehow and I knew I had to get the Beast’s blood out of me so I—”
“Wait!” Beth held up a hand. “They tied you up with vines? Like, from a tree?”
“Yes.”
“Wow.”
Crystal thought about Clover in her simple loincloth outfit and smiled. There was a lot about the witch that would leave Beth saying wow. Fortunately for Beth, she’d never have that chance. Crystal was not going to introduce the two of them, ever. Bad enough she had to take Stephanie and she didn’t even like Stephanie!
“You need to tell me everything,” Beth said.
Crystal grimaced. “There’s not much more I can tell, honestly. I was out of it for most of it. It hurt so bad, Beth, that I was in and out of it. I kept passing out, I think. Or at least I’m blocking a lot of the memories.”
Beth frowned. “You bullshitting me?”
Crystal shook her head.
Beth frowned and then shrugged. “All right. Let’s get to class. At least I get to keep you around awhile longer now!”
Crystal laughed. “True. I don’t know what’s going to happen down the road, but for now it’s back to a normal life.”
“Yep, normal,” Beth said while staring out the window.
Crystal followed her gaze and saw Chad heading straight towards them. She groaned and said, “You might want to wait.”
“What? You can’t—I thought he tried to—”
“I got this,” Crystal said. The flush of heat she felt pushed the soreness that wouldn’t leave her body into the background.
“Crys!”
Crystal was already opening her door and climbing out. She smoothed her dress, making sure it was pushed down and turned to face Chad as he half walked and half ran up to her. “What do—”
“Crystal!” he gasped and stumbled to a stop. “I’ve been looking for you!”
“Well, you found me. Congratulations.”
He hesitated and glanced around. He was breathing heavy, almost panting, and his clothes and hair looked disheveled.
“What’s wrong with you?” Crystal asked him.
He sniffed and glanced around. “You smell different.”
Crystal froze.
“What?”
“I’ve been thinking about you. About that night in my car. I’m
sorry about what I did. Um, really sorry. Want to get some coffee or grab something to eat? My treat—to make up for it?”
“No.”
His eye twitched and he glanced around the parking lot. “Look, I can’t stop thinking about you,” he hissed. “I don’t know. Is it because you did that to me? You’re in my head.”
“Go talk to the counselor,” Crystal advised. She shut her door, making it harder for Beth to hear what was going on. She didn’t want to hide anything from Beth; she wanted to protect her. Even if she felt that a stiff breeze might be able to knock her over.
“I don’t need a counselor,” he spat. “I need you!”
“That’s not happening.”
He clenched and unclenched his fists. “You don’t get it, do you? I’ve been jerking off five or six times a day and I still can’t get my dick to go down! And it’s your fault. What did you do to me?”
“Whoa.” Crystal took a step back and held up her hand. Her eyes darted to his crotch without meaning to and she noticed how his shorts were bulging. “TMI! I’m sure there are plenty of girls who will take care of that for you.”
“I don’t want them,” he said before taking a step forward. “I want you!”
Crystal glanced around the parking lot again. A few students were walking through it but nobody was close enough to help. Just Beth. Fuck. “Okay, after school. Think you can hold out that long?”
He grunted and nodded. His nostrils flared again. “I can use the bathrooms if I need to.”
“Gross!” Crystal snapped before she could stop herself. She stood straighter, towering over the deranged jock, and said, “No, you won’t. Hold it.”
He blinked and glanced down at himself before looking back at her. “Hold it?”
Crystal nodded. “I want our first time to be extra special.”
He nodded and grinned. “Okay. Okay, I’ll do it. You won’t regret this! You’re not like the other girls. You’re special. I’ve been looking for you all my life! I’m glad you turned into a babe so I could find you!”
Crystal fought to keep her smile on her face as he turned and stumbled away. Crystal watched him go and then turned to see that Beth had lowered the windows of her car so she could follow the conversation. She rolled them back up and climbed out of her car. “What the hell?”
Claimed by the Beast Bundle Page 24
