Cursed Read Online Free PDF Page B

car. I had her sit inside—with the package of Oreos—while I put the groceries in the back. She gabbed on about what she’d learned at school, something to do with words rhyming. It was dark and desolate in our corner of the lot by the time I shut the hatch and wheeled the shopping cart back to a nearby return.
    I checked my cell, groaning when I saw the time. Olivia would need to go straight to bed when we got home, and I doubted Adam would still want to come over this late, especially when I had math homework.
    As I shoved my phone back into my pocket, a tall, thick shadow stepped out from behind a large truck parked beside my Jeep.
    I halted, my heart leaping into my throat.
    Dustin stood between me and my car, the leg of his pants still soaked. For a second, I didn’t know what to do, but I decided to walk around him and ignore him.
    “You think you’re funny, don’t you?” he called out, his voice hard.
    I kept walking, my stomach filling with knots. Just a few more steps—that’s all.
    “Hey! I’m talking to you, freak!”
    I whipped around. “My name is not ‘freak.’ It’s Ember. You know that.”
    Dustin laughed. “You’re whatever I call you. Freak? Bitch? Whore? Whatever.”
    “I’m frigid and a whore?” I rolled my eyes, turning away. “So very clever, Dustin.”
    A second later, Dustin grabbed my arm and spun me around. “I must’ve been on something when I thought you were worth my time, you know that?”
    I yanked my arm free. “Is that supposed to insult me? Seriously?” “You think you got one over on me in the store? You’re going to be sorry. I’m going to make every day hell for you.” He laughed. “You can trust that.”
    “Whatever.” I let my gaze drop. “Did you pee yourself?”
    His arm struck out so fast I hadn’t even seen him move. My back slammed into the passenger door of the truck. Shock knocked the air out of my lungs.
    “Emmie?” I heard Olivia’s soft cry from inside the Jeep.
    Dustin got right in my face, a vein throbbing at his temple. “You’re nothing more than a scarred-up freak. Yeah, Sally told me how you’re all cut up.” He sneered. “You’re disgusting.”
    It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did. Tears burned my eyes as I pushed off the truck and started around him again. I would not let him see me cry. Absolutely—
    He grabbed my arm again as he dug into his pocket. “How scarred up are you? Sally said your whole stomach was covered.” Pulling out his cell phone, he laughed. “How about we do a little show and I tell the school? Better yet, how about I take some pictures?”
    Over the blood rushing in my ears, I could hear Olivia crying out for me. “Don’t!” I wrenched back, but his grip tightened.
    It was too late. Dustin grabbed the hem of my shirt, shoving his hand under it. Part of me wondered, in that brief second before his flesh touched mine, when Dustin had become such a bastard. He hadn’t always been this bad.
    But then his hand was against my stomach, against my scars. The first time another human being had touched me in two years, and I wanted to puke.
    His eyes popped open. The phone fell from his limp fingers, cracking when it hit the pavement.
    Everything slowed down. A shiver slithered down my spine and coiled in my stomach. The sick sense of dread seeped into my veins like venom, familiar yet unwelcome. It reared, poised to strike, and then its sharp fangs bit deep. It was the same sensation I’d had right before I’d died.
    Time seemed to stop.
    Dustin’s eyes flared as the first wave of pain crashed into him. He went down on one knee, veins bulging in his forehead as his mouth worked in a silent scream. His hand was still against my stomach, as if he couldn’t let go.
    I grabbed for his arm, but he started jerking like he was having a seizure. His normally tan skin turned sallow, and his hands spasmed.
    When his eyes rolled back into their sockets, he fell backward like a puppet whose strings had been