The Outskirts (The Outskirts Duet #1)

After shedding the heavy skin of my past, I was practically skipping down the street feeling as light as I’d ever felt.

“You like the new look, don’t you?” Josh nudged me in the arm.

“More than you could ever imagine,” I sang, spreading my arms out to the side, tipping my face up to the sun and bathing in the sun’s rays that were kissing places it had never kissed before.

“Sunscreen. I recommend lots and lots of sunscreen,” Josh said, grabbing me by the hand and dragging me into the general store.

She introduced me to Lucy behind the counter then I roamed the aisles, picking up some necessities including a few more gallons of water and some food that wouldn’t go bad without being refrigerated since the little fridge in the camper didn’t get all that cold.

“You know, apartments are fairly cheap here. You could probably afford an entire place on your own from what you’re making at Critter’s now. Shit, I have a place of my own. They say the police in big cities don’t get paid well? They should see my lousy check.”

“An apartment? Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“I don’t know. My mom left me that camper before she died. It isn’t much but I feel, I don’t know, closer to her somehow. I think I’ll stay where I am for now.” We came to the corner where a thick metal pole at least six feet around at the base jutted up into the sky. I craned my neck and followed with my eyes all the way to the top. “Maybe I’ll buy one of those someday.” I pointed to the billboard overhead. It was so high it could be seen from the highway. Which was probably the point. The ad was for park model homes and depicted a happy family of three smiling and waving their new keys in front of a small house with white siding and blue shutters. The edge of the billboard was peeling, revealing another ad underneath for something involving pink tacos.

“I just thought you might want to get away from Finn,” Josh said, “Although I don’t think he’ll be giving you any more problems.” She smirked.

“His truck windows,” I suddenly realized. “That was you?”

“Rule number one. Never admit to your crimes,” Josh said, pointing at me. “ALLEGED crimes,” she amended. “EVER.”

We laughed and as the night took over the sky from day I felt as if I could take on the world. That was until a loud clap of thunder popped the feeling like a knife being tossed into a balloon.

During the drive back to my camper I smiled and tried to engage in everything that Josh said. Meanwhile, my thoughts were on the approaching storm.

The one OVER my head.

And the one IN my head.





Chapter Seventeen





Sawyer





You’re being irrational, Sawyer. It’s just a little storm. You’re an adult. You can deal with this. You’ve dealt with so much more.

I thought once I’d gotten inside I’d feel better, but as the sky darkened and I felt the rumbling of thunder beneath my feet, I found myself rocking back and forth on my bed.

It didn’t matter how many times I assured myself that it was just a little storm. That it couldn’t hurt me.

It made no difference.

I’d run away from a life I hated and stupidly thought that because I’d been so brave in that aspect that a little thunder wouldn’t have the same effect on me it once did.

However, with each clap of thunder or bolt of lightning, I was learning how ridiculous and how wrong I’d been.

I curled myself into a smaller and smaller ball, hoping I would just disappear until the storm passed.

My mom used to come to my room and sing to me during a storm to ease me back to sleep. But that was only after he’d disciplined her for one reason or another. Each roll of thunder was a flying angry fist.

I tried to imagine her words. Her arms around me. To find comfort in her even though she wasn’t there.

It was no use.

Heavy rain pounded against the thin walls of my little refuge. High winds angrily pelted mud and debris against the window, shaking it loose. I found myself counting the seconds under my breath until I was sure the window would eventually break.

I pulled my worn knit blanket over my head, willing away the weather that had my heart beating like an airplane propeller getting ready for takeoff and my breathing reduced to quick shallow pants. I felt dizzy. Stars danced in front of my eyes. A strong clap of thunder rolled through, slowly at first, shaking the ground like a warning of things to come. A roar of wind slammed into the camper so hard I felt like I was turning.

It wasn’t just me.

It was the entire camper turning.

Slowly at first and then faster.

My heart raced faster and faster under the sound of crunching metal.

I held onto the wall and screamed just as the wall fell and met the ground.

Then everything went black.





Finn


I used to find the rain comforting.

What wasn’t comforting was watching Sawyer run through it as it started to pour down from the sky.

Not just because she looked like she was about to melt as the first drop hit her head or because she was running like she was escaping a pack of zombies, but because she’d left dressed in an uglier than hell long skirt and straight plain shirt and came back wearing something completely different.

Something that showed off every single bit of what she’d been hiding under all that fabric. A tight black wife-beater style tank top showed off her spectacular perky and rounded tits—the ones that I’d been shocked to see were bigger than I’d guessed when I saw her in the shower—bouncing with each of her hurried steps. Short dark denim shorts revealed surprisingly toned calves and strong thighs leading up to a high and round ass that most women would get on their knees and pray every night to possess. To top it all off?

Sexy as sin boots to the middle of her calf.

Yeah, I was uncomfortable all right. Probably because I kept imagining those boots around my shoulders while I worshipped her pussy with my tongue and fingers.

Fuck. I needed a damned drink.

I’d just grabbed the neck of the bottle when I heard a noise in the distance.

I thought I was imagining things or that it was the wind howling. I stilled my own breathing long enough so I could hear it again.

There it was again and this time there was no mistaking it for the screaming wind.

It was an actual scream.

I ran to the door and ripped it open. A bolt of lightning hit a palm tree nearby, splitting the top of it down the middle like a broccoli spear. A gust of wind lifted the camper a few inches from the ground and tossed it onto its side.

The screaming stopped.

I pushed my way through the wall of pounding rain and wind, ducking under flying mud and debris. The window of the camper was underneath it now and the door on top. I climbed up using the water tank as footing. “Sawyer!” I yelled.

No answer.