Painting in Acrylic by
Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12
Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15
Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18
Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21
For those of you who missed the post of the release, I briefly explained how the series began as an idea for a Young Adult novel, and that I had in fact written what amounts to a novella taking place the summer before REBORN begins, and I decided to release it here on steemit.
BORN
Chapter Twenty-Two
“I know that guy’s your friend and all, but he has some serious anger issues.”
She looked at Leo without really seeing him and closed her eyes briefly. “I have to go,” she mumbled and stumbled out of the beer tent.
She half expected him to have vanished from sight but she found him pacing about ten feet away, his hands clasped behind his head staring up at the sky. She stopped when she was close enough to touch him and waited for him to acknowledge her, trying not to weave from side to side.
He stopped moving. “Explain.” He said tightly, still staring up at the sky.
She took a deep breath trying to organize her thoughts but the effort was too much. “I drank too much,” she slurred. “I just needed a break from the crowd.”
He looked at her fully then, his brows knitting together. “You drank too much and needed a break from the crowd so you took off with Leo?”
She blinked at him and shook her head from side to side, “No, he sat down next to me,” she mumbled.
Austin stared at her, “Jesus Christ Anna, you’re wasted. How the fuck did you manage that in less than half an hour?”
“Long Island Iced tea,” she offered.
“So let me get this straight, you needed a break from the crowd so you went to the beer tent and slammed a drink with the highest amount of alcohol content you could get, then Leo showed up and started pawing you…that makes no fucking sense. Why didn’t you wait for Jess and have her go with you, why would you take off alone?”
She was trying so hard to follow what he was saying that the effort made her dizzy. Instead of answering she stumbled over to a garbage can and got sick. When it was finished her legs were shaky but her mind had cleared some and she was now able to see the entire scene as Austin had, and holy hell it did not look good.
She wondered how long he’d stood there before speaking up. No wonder he was so pissed. So pissed in fact, he hadn’t followed her over here. Amazingly she didn’t seem to have gotten any on her. She backed away from the offensive barrel and looked around. For a second she thought Austin had left her there but then she spotted him seated on a bench with his elbows on his knees, chin in his hands watching her with a mixture of anger and disgust. Great.
The anger she could’ve dealt with, but disgust…she felt the tears welling up and fought them back.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up.
“You okay?”
She stared at Leo in comically horrified disbelief her head swiveling toward Austin who was now standing, his hands clenched into fists. “Austin and I are together,” she said loudly, “I appreciate your apology but I think you better go.”
“Oh, okay, see you around.” He gave Austin a wide berth as he strode away.
Austin glared at her. “That is something you should have clarified the moment he sat down next to you, don’t you think?”
She looked at him steadily, “Yeah, but my brain wasn’t functioning properly at the time…Austin, I didn’t go off with him, he really did just plop down next to me.”
He studied her for a moment and blew air out in a short burst. “Fine. But you still haven’t cleared up why you took off by yourself in the first place. Jess was frantic when she got back to us and you weren’t there!” His voice rose as his anger refueled, “For fuck’s sake you’re the reason we instated the buddy rule to begin with when you got yourself lost the last time!”
She bit her lip. “I do have a reason,” she said in a small voice, “but I can’t…I can’t tell you what it is. Not here.”
He raised a brow his eyes narrowing. “Really. Sounds to me like you need more time to come up with something reasonable.”
Her face fell. “That’s what you think? You think I’m like that?”
His eyes cleared slightly and he looked a little less certain as he noted the hurt in her tone. “I…okay, maybe that was harsh. I’m sorry Anna but put yourself in my shoes. I leave with Nate and he comes back alone and after a half hour of searching you find me in the beer tent with Gina who is petting me while I just sit there with this infatuated expression…and then I tell you that I was in there because I needed a break from the crowd and she just so happened to show up and when you ask why I took off alone I say I have my reasons but I can’t tell you right now…what the hell would you think?”
She flushed, “I know how it looks-”
“Okay,” he interrupted, “why don’t we go back to the camp and you can tell me your reason and we can put this behind us.”
Her face paled, “Now?” Oh God, I’m not ready for this conversation she thought wildly, it will make it all real!
“Why not? It’s because we’re surrounded by people that this isn’t the place for it right? So let’s un-surround ourselves-”
“No! I mean yes in a way but I want to wait until we’re home."
“Home?” he asked incredulously, “You want me to wait days to find out why you would let Giovanni maul you?"
“It’s not about Leo! It has nothing to do with him, why are you so freaking hung up on him?” She cried in frustration.
“I’m hung up on him? Ha, that’s funny because from where I stand it’s the other way around!”
Her mouth opened and shut several times but nothing came out, she wasn’t sure whether to laugh, cry, or scream.
“That’s what I thought,” he spat. “Fuck!” He spun around and practically knocked people over in his haste to get away from her and all she could do was watch him go in a state of shock.
Buy Your copy of The Allies of Old: Reborn HERE-
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