“Fuck off, asshole.”
“Ouch. Who lit the fuse on your tampon?” More laughter. “Seriously though, don’t they teach locator spells in witch academy? I figured you would have trapped a husband by now.”
She glared at him, too drunk to think of a decent comeback.
“No, but really, I have a question for you, Erin. Does the broom fly well in blizzards? Because you might be onto something.”
“God, come up with new material already.”
“Hey, if it ain’t broke…”
“Speaking of broke, what happened? New York send you back?”
His smile twitched and she sensed she hit a nerve. He glanced around the stage. “It’s nice up here. Feels good to be back home, good to be back in front of friends and family. You can always tell when someone has no friends. They blend into the shadows.”
He paced for a moment and took a long sip of water. “I’ll tell you what, Erin, for the sake of old friendships, how about I set you up with someone?”
She stood so stiffly, her body could have been made of steel.
“Seriously, I think I know the perfect guy for you. He’s a psychiatrist.”
Riotous laughter exploded from the audience. An arrogant smirk curled across his face. Her body shook and she couldn’t breathe. She hated all of them. She hated this town!
Shoving her glass on a nearby ledge, she slithered through the shadows and shoved out the door. She should have never gone in there. What had she been thinking? Why would she ever think she’d fit in at a place like that?
A tremor of rage rattled through her, and she realized she was standing in half a foot of snow. She rushed to her car. Her eyes watered from the wind, but also from the ache in her chest.
She started the car and cranked the heat, putting the wipers on high. As the blades scraped off the fluffy snow, she screamed and beat the shit out of her steering wheel.
Where the hell was she going to go?
Waiting for the car to warm, she dug through her purse for her phone. Her father’s pills rolled out onto the passenger seat and she stared at the bottle. A dull temptation formed in her belly as she pictured herself swallowing a handful.
Time stilled.
No…
Do it…
Wait…
Make it stop…
Please…
Stop it…
She was losing her mind and she probably shouldn’t be alone. Glancing at the cell phone in her hand, desperate for a lifeline, she tried to think of someone she could call. Harrison? No, he wouldn’t answer. She should call someone, but who. She didn’t have Finn’s number and—what the hell was wrong with her?
Finn. Had. A. Wife.
She was not his job! And if he cared at all about her, he would have been here tonight. Instead, he convinced her to walk right into the lion’s den alone. Well, they sure made a meal out of her.
She shoved the pills into her purse and cursed. She shouldn’t be driving. A spike of guilt stabbed through her, but as she stared through the sweeping wipers at the empty road, she debated if anyone else was even out there on a night like tonight. She couldn’t bear this town one more minute and needed to get away.
As she backed out of the lot, her car slipped over the snow. As she suspected, no one was on the road, so she kept going, some deep seated need pushing her to get as far away from Jasper Falls as possible.
Tonight was the night. She was finally escaping. She didn’t care that she might be putting herself in danger. She only cared about getting away. She could leave and never look back.
If she just disappeared, would anyone notice? Would anyone care? Would her dad?
An empty ache ruptured in her chest as tears streamed down her face. Careless of her makeup, she wiped her eyes with the heel of her palm and focused on the white stretch of road. The falling snow narrowed her view to only what her headlights could see. Drunk and seeing in tunnel vision, she watched the white path turn over for a mile as if she were driving into space and on some untraveled path.
She sobbed and blubbered, falling into complete hysterics as she sped down the road. Once out of town, she hoped to suffer a modicum of relief, but the pain in her heart only grew. She raced onto the highway, not bothering to yield at the top of the jug handle, and sped onto a sheet of ice.
“Fuck!” Her foot slammed on the brake and the car went spinning. Light flashed and her body flung out of the seat when the car flipped up on two wheels and slammed down.
Her heart pounded like a stampede running through her chest. She braced for the roll, but the car collided with branches and slid down a steep ditch, throwing her body into the passenger door.