Dark Child (Wild Men 5)

Beautiful, muscular, and unavailable.

I assume he’s unavailable. Come on, with all those girls at his feet? If he sleeps with one of them every night of the month, he’ll be busy full-time.

Not that I’m bitter or anything.

And he’s not my only type, I think as I stop to check the map again. The other one is hot, available and an asshole. That’s my usual type, in fact, just like Steve who literally kicked me out of his apartment a few months ago.

It’s probably a blessing that this one hasn’t even noticed me. I’m not even a blip on his radar.

My phone dings with a text, and I whip it out, grateful for a distraction, expecting a message from my sis.

Instead, I find a message from Mom. It reads, ‘What did your sister want this time?’

Rolling my eyes, I put away the phone without answering. I mean, does that text warrant a reply? Not in my book. Not from Mom who’s always been more interested in her current boyfriend and her appearance, her hair and her nails and her girlfriends and going out—rather than us.

Unfair? Nah, I don’t think so. Am I a bad daughter? Maybe. I don’t know. I’m just too pissed off to be civil right now. I’ll answer her later, when I cool down.

Cool cat. Good cat. That’s me. I snicker as I locate the elusive classroom and enter right in the middle of class.

Oops.

Well, those notes won’t take themselves. I slip inside and sit at the back, pull out notebook and pen and get to work. When the list is passed around, I sign and then ask the guy sitting in front of me about anything else the professor said before I came in.

Mission: on track for success.

Halfway through the day, my phone chimes once more with a text. Again I expect a text from my sister, and again I get one from someone else. But I grin when I see the number because this time it’s from my bestie, Lin.

She really is the best, putting me up when I didn’t know where to crash. With disastrous after disastrous relationship—if you can call them that, those train wrecks you can’t look away from—and all the time I wasted on stupid guys who only wanted to screw me and dump me, it’s a wonder she hasn’t left me, too.

‘Can I call you?’ Lin writes, and before I can blink, she calls.

“Hey.” I juggle my phone, then jam it between my ear and my shoulder as I gather my notes and stuff them into my bag. “Why ask if you’re gonna call me anyway?”

“You took too long to reply. I could feel my hair going gray and my skin sagging while waiting.”

“Psh. I barely had time to finish reading your text.”

“You’re a slow reader. Work on them skillz, slowpoke. Where are ya?”

I duck my head and hurry out of the classroom. “Last class of the day, thank God. What’s up?”

“Nothing much. Place is dead without you.” She clucks her tongue. “Miss you, woman.”

I groan, though I’m smiling. “I’ve only been gone two days. What will you do in a week?”

“Get drunk off my ass and cry over you? I dunno. You tell me.” She snaps her chewing gum. “You staying that long?”

“Yeah, probably. Longer than planned.”

“So the rumor’s true? You quit your job, packed your things and hit the road?”

“It’s not a roadtrip. Also, that job was temporary, and you know it.”

She tsks. “Because you won’t take a permanent one, or follow your dreams.”

“Reality is different from dreams, Lin. You know it.”

“What I know is that you’d do anything for your sis, wouldn’t you?”