Cherry Bomb (Brighton #1) by Carmel Rhodes

Author:Carmel Rhodes [Rhodes, Carmel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carmel Rhodes
Published: 2019-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

Cash

I can’t do this anymore.

I TURN UP THE SPEED on the treadmill, the Post-it stuck to the display. My feet slam against the mat, blind rage fueling me. I’ve been too mad to call her again, not that I think she’d answer anyway. I’m not sure what happened between last night and this morning, but the fact that she didn’t even give me the courtesy of breaking up face-to-face makes my blood boil.

I can excuse a certain level of immaturity because of our age difference, but not communicating is a deal breaker for me. I missed out on being a part of my daughter’s childhood because her bitch mother kept her pregnancy a secret. I will not begin or end another relationship like that. I get being scared. I am a collection of imperfect parts, we all are. I understand that our situation isn’t great and that sneaking around isn’t ideal. Keeping secrets takes a toll, but behaving like a two-year-old is unacceptable.

My lungs scream. Sweat drips down my brow, blurring my vision, but I keep running. I keep pushing myself, pushing my body, hoping to tire my limbs enough to calm my brain down. The aggressive metal playing in my ears dies as my phone rings. I look down at the screen to see Arden’s face.

My whole body tenses. Arden’s never called me before, so for her to be doing so now sets off warning bells in my brain. “Hey, is everything okay?” I ask, sucking in a lungful of air. I smash the stop button on the treadmill.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice sounds panicked.

I jog down the hall to my bedroom, tossing the towel in the dirty hamper and grabbing my wallet from the dresser. “Arden, tell me what’s wrong.”

“I don’t… I’m not sure why I called. I just…I didn’t know what to do. I can’t talk to my parents, and I don’t want to worry Randy,” she rambles. “You’re all the way in Brighton. I just…needed an adult opinion, I guess? I’m sorry.”

“Are you in trouble?” I pant. My mind works a million miles a minute. After Cherry’s vague call earlier, I’d wanted to hop in my car and go get her. I’d even went as far as putting her father’s address into the GPS app on my phone. Then I remembered Arden was with her so I opted for the treadmill instead. Now both my girls have called me, and I’ll be damned if I sit here and wait.

“No, not me, Cherry.” Panic is evident in her tone. I can hear voices in the background. Some douche is hitting on her.

I grab my keys and push out the door. “Where are you?”

“I.” She pauses. “Her dad is sick. She didn’t know, and when he told her, she freaked out and took off. I followed her, and now we’re at this party and I got high, and Cherry got really really high, and she doesn’t want to leave. Cherry has this self-destructive streak and I know her. She’ll do something stupid, and when she’s sober, she’ll hate herself for it.

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