Chapter 27

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I'm so sorry about the huuuge wait guys. I've been so so soooo busy. Enjoy!

Chapter 27

Corinna’s POV

Come with me.

A sweet smile played across my lips as the words drifted over me, my breath sighing out of my lungs as I snuggled deeper into my soft mattress, my hand reaching out across the sheets, searching.

The feeling of something wet made me recoil, my eyes flying open as I realized that this wasn’t my father’s house, that my mattress wasn’t soft at all but was lumpy and filled with so many uncomfortable springs that I woke up with bruises and there was no one beside me.

Oh, and the roof was leaking, creating a growing wet spot on my bed.

“Awesome,” I mumbled, sitting up and running a hand through my tangled hair, my dream drifting away in the light that streamed through the cracks in the plywood over my window.

Tears burned at the backs of my eyes, Flynn’s voice still in my head but getting fainter with every second that I was awake, every second reality was allowed to invade.

Firmly pushing away the regret that burned like acid through my heart, I planted my mask on my face, knowing that if I let myself wallow, let myself remember for too long, I’d start to think that things could be different.

There was nothing different for me, though.

And thinking about it was pointless.

I sat up, keeping my shoulders straight and my head held high, accepting that this room was a shithole without a blink. The window was boarded up and the hardwood floors were as lumpy and stained as the mattress I’d slept on. The hinges on the door were coming off, the wood rotting beneath the screws, mocking the deadbolt that had been installed. A small child could kick the thing in if they wanted to.

Lucky for me, no one had tried.

Mostly because I was Joey’s. Everyone who came through here knew it and no matter how drunk anyone got, they weren’t stupid enough to mess with me under his roof.

I got dressed quickly, ignoring the pang in my chest when I realized, just as I had for the past two, long morning, that I wouldn’t be hearing Jake’s small, socked feet sneaking towards my bed, his thin arms holding a pillow in front of him, ready to strike.

I made a sound of annoyance low in my throat, wiping the thought from my mind, telling myself to get over it, to forget about it because I was ice and ice didn’t give a shit about little brothers.

I slipped out of the room, not bothering to close it behind me even though there was a random guy sleeping on the threadbare couch and another one snoring on a loveseat nearby. They were your typical strung out addicts, their clothes dirty and disheveled, the type of person you’d cross the street to avoid.

But to me, they were roommates and if they decided to check out my room, search through my stuff, they wouldn’t find anything.

I didn’t have anything to find.

I walked past them, casting a bored look in their direction as I made my way into the kitchen, not even pausing when I saw Joey sitting on a stool at the island, reading the paper.

My lip curled as I moved towards a cupboard that was missing a door. What the hell was he reading the paper for? Searching for his friends in the Wanted section? Or maybe he was checking how his stocks were doing on the market.

I rolled my eyes at the box of Cheerios I pulled down from the cupboard and poured myself a bowl, keeping my face a blank mask as I moved to the fridge, looking for the milk.

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