Angered Seasons: The Worst Birthday Ever (Volume One) Read Online Free PDF Page A

check on the nachos. Lane set out the pot holders and watched as
I set them down. By the time I’d gotten some sweats and a tank top
on, they were cool enough to eat. I noticed Lane had changed into a
green t-shirt and the same old black sweat shorts he always wore to
bed. He caught my glance and shrugged.
    “I told her if she couldn’t handle my best
friend being a girl that I couldn’t date her.”
    “But at the bar…”
    “I’m sorry. I was… frustrated. Can I
stay?”
    I tried to hide my grin as I raised an
eyebrow at him. “You realize your name’s on the mortgage too,
right? I can’t really kick you out if you don’t feel like
going.”
    “I’m just saying, what I said to you was out
of line. It’s always been me and you and if others can’t get it,
then it’s their loss. I’m not willing to give you up because some
twenty-two year old can’t handle the sight of another woman walking
around my house. I’m sorry, Gabby.”
    I got up and hugged him tightly. “I’m sorry,
too.”
    “For what?”
    “Punching your girlfriend.” I gazed up into
his dark blue eyes and my mind flew back to the scene in the bar.
Michelle screaming at me that he talked about me in his sleep, the
terrified look on his face when I’d questioned him. My heart
started to beat faster in my chest. What would he do if I stretched
up and kissed him? And then what? Did I love him? Of course. He’d
been a constant in my life for ages. Would taking things past the
friend level ruin the great thing we had? “Lane?”
    He frowned at my whisper.
    “What she said in the bar…”
    The deep blue irises slid behind a curtain of
dark lashes and he took a deep breath.
    A muffled scream made its way through the
walls of the house and interrupted our moment. Both of us went to
the window and looked out. Nothing. Lane turned on the TV while I
closed the blinds.
    “… again, we repeat. Authorities are urging
people to stay indoors and to keep their doors locked. What was
thought to be gang related assaults are now believed to be
something else entirely.”
    The picture cut to a scene in some city’s
downtown area. Two men were being beaten and killed on a street
corner. The reporter, a tall, blond fellow stood in view, his
horror plain. The five men and two women who had been beating the
other two turned towards him as one. The reporter said something
that wasn’t picked up by the mike he’d dropped on the ground.
Whoever was in charge of the camera dropped it and the reporter’s
feet could be seen scrambling again. The yellow eyed gang advanced
with amazing speed and a blood curdling scream ripped through the
TV’s speakers.
    The screen cut back to the reporter at the
station who was staring, dazed, back at us, his face devoid of
blood.
    “Thomas? Tom? Can you hear us?” He stared
past the camera. “Phone 911 and get someone over there! What the
fuck is happening?”
    I shivered as the newsman had a breakdown in
front of millions of viewers. “What station is this?”
    Lane hit the info button. “FOX.”
    “So it’s not just here?” My heart was
starting to pound its way out of my chest.
    The reporter was being led off of the set and
was replaced by a slightly calmer woman. She looked at her notes,
took a deep breath, and looked at the camera.
    “Though government and medical officials are
denying any involvement, suggestions have been made this could be
some sort of pandemic infection…”
    I tuned out. “Pandemic? As in worldwide?”
    “This is like one of those real shitty zombie
movies you like to watch.”
    I rubbed my hands over my face. “They’re not
shitty. And besides, they didn’t say we were getting taken over by
zombies.” I got up. “I’m getting dressed. I feel weird wearing my
pajamas after watching that.”
    After checking to make sure the bandaids were
all still holding on, I put on a pair of blue jeans and a dark
green tank top then tied my hair up in a ponytail. Lane was already
in jeans and one