Page 9 of Enraged

Let’s take a page out of Lena’s book.

I held the wheel with one hand and held down the button on the side of my phone with the other.

There you go, Cass. Now, you can explain to my voicemail why you deemed it necessary to fuck my best friend.

Traffic continued to thin out as I came up on the exit I needed to take to get to Belleview. Only five more miles and I’d be at the mountain house, drowning every memory of this day in a bottle of whiskey.

I’m definitely gonna need to stop at the liquor store before I get there because it’s going to take more than a bottle to cure the pain in my knuckles and more persistently, my fuckin’ chest.

Jolene

Thank goodness for the forever stocked liquor bar.

I made a mental note to thank Big Jake the next time I saw him.

I stomped from the bar to the sliding glass back door, the train of my dress snagging on every piece of furniture in between. Twisting off the top of the bottle and tossing it across the room, I tilted the room temperature bottle of Jack Daniels to my lips and chugged.

It burned all the way down my throat, settling into a fiery puddle in the pit of my stomach. The pain was no match to what I was already feeling so I took another swig. The burn was equally persistent but welcomed.

I need to text Mama and Daddy before I get shitfaced and let them know I’m alive.

My iPhone sang me a tune as it roared to life, missed call after missed call popping up in my notifications. Along with the intentionally missed calls, dozens of text alerts screamed at me. Cassie, Jace, Mama, Daddy, my cousin, Laura, my uncle, some work friends, some of my regular customers from my side hustle in candle making, my neighbor, one of the firefighter’s wives.

Everyone dies famous in a fuckin’ small town.

Ignoring every existing text, I created a group chat with my Mama and Daddy.

I’m alive and safe. I’m at Belleview with a bottle of Jack Daniels. Staying here, at least for tonight, and will not be driving. Or getting in the hot tub, Daddy, so don’t worry I won’t drown. Turning my phone off but if you need me, you have the cabin’s house phone number. Love y’all.

Without bothering to see what anyone else had to say in my messages, and ignoring the incoming call from Jace, I squeezed the volume and home button on my phone until the screen went black.

Fuck you, fuck her, and fuck all this.

I took another gulp of whiskey, the deliciousness extinguishing the fire it had originally started. I felt my face heat up, a sure sign that the drink was doing its job correctly.

Eventually it won’t hurt, or I’ll pass out and do this again tomorrow.

I wanted to go out on the back patio and scream until my lungs forced me to stop, but my clumsiness combined with the whiskey stopped me.

Last thing I need is my parents finding my body down the side of the mountain, in this dumbass wedding dress, no less.

The reminder that I was still wearing the strapless Vera Wang forced me to look down – and take another swallow.

The dress that was once the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life suddenly looked like a rag on my pale skin. The beautiful satin that had felt so luxurious against my skin only hours before now felt like it was squeezing the life from my body, but I couldn’t be bothered to take it off. There was too much whiskey to be drunk.

You probably can’t get this bitch off anyways. There’s like a hundred fuckin’ buttons down the back of this damn thing.

Instead of worrying about the satin straitjacket I’d paid out the ass for, I plopped down on the couch and wailed.

Wailed for the loss of my best friend, wailed for the loss of my future husband, and wailed for everything I had planned for my future.

Through my screams, I heard the front door slam.

Jace found me.

Dakota

What the fuck is that noise?

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