Next to Me Read Online Free PDF

bathroom window. Getting out of the tub, she tried to stretch her body, feeling a headache starting to come on from the large amount of vodka. No matter how much she drank she was never able to beat a hangover, unless she kept drinking, but she was out of liquor and money.
    Slowly, she got ready for the day after a shower where she fell asleep standing up. There were bruises on her legs that she didn’t remember getting, but she was sure it was from stumbling into the bathtub thinking a bubble bath was a great idea.
    Walter had said he would be there to see her before her shift started and they would do something together after work. She took this as a good sign that he wanted to see her again. It was nice to have someone in her life who gave her butterflies again. She might actually be at work on time for once, which would be a nice change. Maybe getting some prep work done first would make the girls back off the shit talking for a little while. Smiling at that possibility, she grabbed her keys and headed out the door, but not before using them for a wake up bump to get her going. Something had to, she rationalized.
    When she got to work, the girl was waiting for her in the parking lot. She’d completely forgotten about Jason’s angry girlfriend. She’d brought friends with her, and the three of them stood in front of her car, daring her to get out.
    She didn’t really have a choice. Getting out of the car, she waited for the inevitable. The three approached her and she did her best not to look scared, standing as straight as she could.
    “This the whore?” one of the girls with Sex Kitten asked.
    “Yep, this is the one. Jason said she was shit in bed.”
    “All right then,” the other girl said and the two henchwomen moved forward and took Whitney’s arms. The first punch hurt and she felt her lip split while the two girls holding her back laughed loudly in her ears.
    The second one landed on her eye and it hurt a lot worse.
    “Hey, bitches,” someone yelled at them. Whitney’s vision blurred and the pain spread from her eye to her cheek. She felt the warm trickle of blood down her face. Hannah was running toward them with the phone. “Leave! I’ve called the police. You better get the hell off her.”
    “You’re lucky,” Sex Kitten groaned and hit her one more time in the stomach for good measure. Hannah helped her up and into the restaurant, taking her to her office and sitting her down. She came back with a rag full of ice and a first aid kit.
    “Thanks,” Whitney croaked as the pain spread into her head and made the whole thing throb.
    “What did you do to that girl?” Hannah asked, clearly knowing some of the blame was on her.
    “I slept with her boyfriend. The guy didn’t say he had a girlfriend.” She pressed the ice pack to her eye and winced.
    “They never do,” Hannah said. “You can’t work like this. If you insist on working tonight, you’ll have to go in the kitchen. You can plate salads for the girls.”
    Whitney nodded. She just kept giving the waitress bitches ammo to use against her. She could have defended herself if the two wenches hadn’t held her back. Zane was going to absolutely flip out when he saw her.

    “Whitney, Whitney, let me in.” Zane was at his best friend’s window in the middle of the night again. She’d started to sleep harder since her parents put her on some kind of medicine. They said she was too hyper or something. He hoped she would wake up.
    “What is it?” A barely awake Whitney opened the window for him and let him in her room, crawling back into bed.
    “I had that dream again, the one with the monsters and Dad.”
    “It’s just a dream, Zane, your dad is going to be fine.”
    “We thought Mom was going to be fine too, Whitney, and you see how that worked out.”
    “Come here and lie with me. I can’t keep my eyes open.”
    “No, I’ll stay in the chair.” Zane’s dad told him since they were twelve now they shouldn’t sleep in the