Page 23 of Between Now and Forever

I choke as soon as a bitter, metallic tasting liquid hits my tongue. It shoots out of my mouth in a spray of showers on the front of my dress in pin-prick-sized splatters.

I cough, as some slides down my throat.

I hack and spit, desperate to get the terrible taste out of my mouth.

My eyes burn, my nose runs, and I drop the bottle to the ground. It lands with a thud, and the rest of the noxious liquid seeps out and into the dirt, pooling under my sandals. I jump back, and it splashes on my legs.

I look up at them in horror.

“Whatis that?” I gasp and sputter still trying to get it out of my mouth.

“Oops, wrong bottle,” Etta says, her eyes wide with apology, but her voice drips with glee.

Everyone else watches me as if in frozen animation. And then Etta claps her hands together and lets out a huge howl like a wolf, and she and the rest of her friends burst into loud, raucous laughter.

They double over, holding their knees, and I stand there with the foul liquid drying on my lips and my stomach churning as I place the smell.

“It smells like burned hair,” I gasp so quietly I’m sure no one’s heard me. There’s a fire in my gut, and I remember Dina telling me that some drug tasted like burned hair. I remember then saying I had no idea what burnt hair tastes like. But clearly I was wrong because the taste is distinctive and calls to mind how my hair dryer used to overheat when I had long hair.

“Did you give me drugs?”

Etta shrieks in laughter.

“Drugs!” She doubles over laughing with two of the other women beside her. As abruptly as it started, her laughter stops. In a voice loud enough to carry over the crowd, she says, “such a princess.”

Dread makes my head swim. I remember how out of it I was that night with Duke. I can’t afford to lose my wits again like that out here. Not with these people.

“What does it do?”

“You’ll thank me later. Hopefully, it will help remove that stick you’ve got up your ass.”

I ignore her and turn back to Duke.

“I want to go home.”

His face is aimed at the ground, but the tips of his ears are tinged red.

I don’t know where to look, my gaze won’t settle…maybe because I can’t find a single familiar thing to land on.

“Why did you bring me here?” I ask no one in particular. My humiliation is on full display. I brush a hand over my face, angrily wiping away the traitorous tears that are falling. I wrap my arms around myself.

“Why? What’s wrong withhere?”she asks, her eyes hard again.

“Nothing,” I say and start digging for my phone again.

“What? Wasn’t our welcome nice enough for you? You want us to lick your feet because you’re a Wolfe?” She sneers.

A few seconds of rifling jogs my memory.

With no thought for my dignity, and desperate to get out of here, I drop to my knees and start running my hand over the patches of grass where we’re standing trying to find my phone.

“What the hell are you doing?” Duke asks.

“Looking for my phone. I dropped it!” I snap without looking at him.

“Oh, you mean this?” I look up and find Etta waving it in my face. I stand and reach for it, and she tosses it behind her. One of her friends catches it, and I march toward her.

She tosses it and it sails over my head. I whip around to see a big, brutish-looking redheaded guy holding it. I march over to him.

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