Page 37 of Bad Wolf

“I think this needs a full-throttle attack. Be everywhere—all the places. Here, games, nights out. And I think you should stay at Scott’s.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. Are you sure this is the best way?” Coralie chimes in.

She seems as skeptical as I am. I don’t even know how long I’ll be in town.

A day, at this rate.

Jason nods, “It’s perfect. Scotty’s not there half the time, and it’s just around the corner from Jenna’s. You were friends with her, right?”

I nod, God, I loved Jenna. So many of my favorite memories include her.

Jason carries on, “Knox won’t be able to avoid you forever, and you’ll get your chance. Tell him what happened,” he says, “I get the feeling there’s a lot more to the story because Wren, if you did—”

“I promise.” I hold out my hands, “I promise I didn’t do anything wrong. I just really think he should be the first one to hear it from me. When your siblings came to visit me, they got the CliffsNotes version. Knox should be the one to hear the details of my piss poor attempt at setting him free.”

Jason’s forehead wrinkles and I lean over to smooth out the lines with my fingers.

“Don’t worry, Little Nerd, it was for a righteous cause.”

He sighs, shaking his head, “Give me your phone.”

“Huh?”

“Give me your phone. I’m setting up a group and adding you to it.”

He frowns when I pass him the little piece of shit and shakes his head.

“What the hell is this?” He stares at me for a long moment, until Casey hops up and rifles through a drawer under his counter.

He pulls a phone out, bringing the thing to life, and then holds it out to me.

“You can have this. It’s my old one.”

“Nuh-huh. No, I don’t want it, thank you.” I clasp my hands in my lap and shake my head.

“Wren, it just lives in that drawer. You might as well have it.”

“I don’t want—”

“Take it,” Jason urges and my eyes snap to him, “It’s not all that different from the one you had in high school. Just bigger and with way better tech. I’ll show you all the updated functions later. You’ll be able to send messages and make calls when you’re joined to WI-FI.”

My mind reels with how I’ll be able to afford to run it but that doesn’t stop me from reaching out and accepting it with shaky hands. It’s the brand I’ve secretly coveted since the day I had to pawn in my old one.

“Thank you so much, Casey.”

Scott points over my shoulder, “Follow these prompts and add in your email address. You’ll be able to use it that way for now.”

After some mansplaining from the guys, my screen lights up with a lone notification, while everyone else’s pings.

Operation: Unfucking Wren’s Fuck up

Reads the group name.

“Wow,” I deadpan, “You’re quite the wordsmith.”

“That’s what Mrs. Tilly always told me. I strive to make her proud,” he jokes about our high school AP English teacher, and I roll my eyes.

“You know you don’t need to kiss the teacher’s asses anymore.”

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