ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏʏs (Book 1)

viii. soft as silk

Taylor smoothed her hands over her hair. With a steady breath, she calmly made her way downstairs. Everyone was properly wasted. She tried looking for Sutton, but couldn't find her. When she started to get worried, she found Madison playing beer pong in the dining room.

Madison tossed a small ping-pong ball into a stand-alone solo cup, the group around them cheered and she threw her hands up in victory. Just before she could rub it in her opponents face, her arm was grabbed and she was pulled aside.

"Hey!" Madison cried out with a pout. When her eyes fell on Taylor, she glared. "Oh, you again. Now you wanna hang out with me?"

Taylor frowned. "What?"

"First you leave me, then Sami leaves me, and now the mute left me!" Madison suddenly cried. Taylor swallowed. (Sami Larsson was Madison's best friend who had disappeared the summer before. Another runway case everyone chopped it up to be given Sami's erratic behavior and past history of "running away.")

Taylor's frown deepened. "Maddie, where's Sutton?" she asked.

"I don't know! She just left me." When a girl passed by with colorful jello shots, Madison reached out and took two—a sour blue and crimson red. "Want one?"

"No—Maddie, this is really important," Taylor gripped Madison's shoulders with a grave look in her eyes and carefully emphasized her words. "Did you see where she went?"

"I dunno know . . . I think she went out back?" Suddenly her expression turned bitter. "I think she ditched me for Spencer Kingsley." She could faintly remember seeing Spencer follow her out the back door so casually.

Taylor froze.

"What do you mean?"

Madison stumbled and quickly re-balanced herself. She opened her mouth to say something when suddenly, someone cried out, "COPS!"

Spencer briefly slanted a glance through the rearview mirror. 

The road ahead was long and empty. Not a single car in sight. Tall evergreen trees towered on both sides of the road for as far as the eye could see. Their dark silhouettes towering and eerie. 

Spencer gripped the steering wheel. The soft music from the quiet radio filled the car. He glanced at Sutton. She was sat, curled in the passenger seat, coming in and out of consciousness.

There was a low rumble in the distance, and soon light rain began to pour outside. Steady droplets ran down the windows. When Sutton slowly blinked, she frowned at the morphed moon in the wet reflection. She reached a weary finger and traced the raindrops. A brief moment of déjà vu consuming her in a chill.

She could faintly remember when she was a little girl, she used to love watching rain run down her window. She could remember one night, in particular, she was sitting by her window seal, quietly watching the storm brewing in the dark night sky. Dressed in her nightgown with her long hair brushed and cascading down her back, stood and walked to her doorway. Across the hall, she could see Jaime lying, pale and covered in cold sweats, in her bed with a wet towel folded on her forehead.