Forging Day (Crucible of Change Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

background. Oh my… I know the parents in the group made sure their kids didn’t get pieces from that particular section.
    I loved getting to the Sylvan Faire early like this. The night before the Faire officially started was always so mellow and friendly. We got to catch up with friends who we hadn’t seen for a while, and had time to relax while all the later arrivals were hurrying to set up their own camps in the dark. I wished I was in a better mood to appreciate it this year. Every time the bottle passed around, I took seconds. All the couples looked so cozy and happy. That was supposed to be me .
    The folks with kids called it an early night, and most everyone else headed back to their own camps around ten. It had gotten quite a bit chillier out, unless you were right by the campfire. I had blackberry mead to keep me warm—and the little toxic voice in my head that was more than happy to remind me of my really long list of personal shortcomings.
    Berto made sure the fire was out after the last of our guests had departed. He was smiling, and I could only imagine he was thinking about Mikah and their nice, warm tent. I waited until he was distracted, and snagged the last half-full bottle of mead for myself. I walked very carefully to my tent. The last thing I needed was for anyone to know how drunk I really was. No glass. I wouldn’t need one.
    I was four sheets to the wind and putting up another mast when footsteps came crunching through the gravel toward my tent. “Olivia?” It was Kat. “Can I come in?”
    I dashed away the tears. “Sure. What the hell. It’s not like anything is going on in here anyway.”
    A small candle burned on the low table in the main room, and shadows danced on the tent walls in the flickering light. Kat slipped into the tent, zipping it closed behind her. She was wearing one of her thick, fluffy robes. I couldn’t see the color in the dark, but I knew it was blue, to match her eyes.
    I passed her what was left of the bottle. “Wanna drink?”
    She licked the rim of the bottle, where I’d just been drinking, and then drank the little mead that remained. She knelt beside me on one of the large floor pillows, and put her warm arms around me. “I’m so sorry, Olivia. He may have been a jerk, but he was your jerk.”
    I laughed at that, but those stupid tears came back. “He wasn’t even my jerk. He was someone else’s jerk. I’m such a loser, Kat. Everyone knew he was a bastard but me. What’s wrong with me?”
    She hugged me again. “Please don’t be so hard on yourself. He was good looking, and he was charming when he wanted to be. He made you happy and he had a big dick. Sometimes that’s enough. Sometimes it isn’t.”
    “You’re so nice to me. How come you like me?” I grabbed her, kissing her aggressively. “You wanna fuck me too? Let’s fuck. I’m good at it. Just ask any of the boys from college.”
    She pulled back, but not before she kissed me deeply. “Olivia, you’re drunk. And drunk or sober, I’m not going to ‘fuck you’. If I’m with you, we’re going to make love.” She kissed me sweetly, gently, just tasting my lips with the tip of her tongue. “Oh sweetie, hasn’t anyone ever made love to you before?”
    “Oh god! I ruin everything. Never mind.”
    “You haven’t ruined anything. I love you Olivia. Stop letting those men use you. You’re not a bad person. You haven’t done anything to deserve it.”
    I scrubbed the tears away from my eyes. “You don’t want to know what I’ve done, or you’d never talk to me again. But, I’m cold, Miss Kitty. Will you stay with me tonight anyway?”
    “There’s nothing you could do to make me go away.”
    “Hah. I was the frat house party slut. ‘Go ask Olivia. She’ll do anything’. I was real popular.” I stood up, almost falling, pulled off my T-shirt and jeans, and finally my bra and underpants. It’s not like she hadn’t seen me naked before, but I’d never felt shy before now. I