**Highest Ranking : #1 in Chicklit**
[ A WATTPAD FEATURED STORY ]
Mabel Carter traveled half way across the country to attend college and get away from her dark past. After so many years she finally feels as though she's the one in control of her...
This bonus chapter takes place BEFORE the first one that was posted and the epilogue. These chapters will tend to bounce around a little but timing wise, but hopefully they still make sense. Anywho, here's the second bonus chapter!
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I fucking loathe airplanes.
I know they're safe to be on for traveling, they wouldn't be stuffing people inside like sardines if they weren't, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. That doesn't mean I feel safe in them. One wrong move and an airplane becomes a giant, metal, flying death trap.
Yeah, not my cup of tea.
And yet somehow I managed to be on a flight from Denver, Colorado to California. All it took was one pleading look from Mabel—during a Skype call no less—and I stuffed myself in a window seat and sat white knuckled the entire way.
It'll be the first time we've seen each other face to face in a little over a month. Mabel, Hazel, Tyler, and I have pooled our money together to rent a beach vacation house for the week. I'm the last to be arriving since I was busy helping my sister move into her new apartment in Denver, so I take a taxi from the airport once I've landed.
My mind is exhausted from the anxiety flying brought on, but as I sit in the back of the cab my body is buzzing with excitement. As soon as the driver pulls into the driveway I hand over a fistful of cash and slip out the door with my luggage, darting for the front door to the beach house.
It's nothing overly impressive. A simple bungalow with floor-to-ceiling windows to let in the natural light and enhance the view of the beach. It sits on a hill with half of the house lifted off the ground to keep it safe from high tide and erosion of the beach.
No one answers the door when I knock so I quietly let myself inside, finding an open, inviting living area and kitchen. I can see Tyler and Hazel out on the deck through the sliding glass door. He's cooking hotdogs on a grill, shirtless with nothing but swim trunks and sunglasses, while Hazel sunbathes in a lawn chair on the opposite side of the deck.
I head down a narrow hallway to where two bedrooms are positioned directly across from one another. One of them has the door open, and I assume it's the room Tyler and Hazel picked, so I gently knock on the other room's door.
Mabel answers the door in just a robe, her dark hair damp and clinging to her cheeks. Her skin has darkened already from the sun, and she's even acquired new freckles that pop against her sun-kissed face. Her pale green eyes seem extraordinarily bright in contrast to the new tan she's sporting. Seeing her is like a breath of fresh air. My muscles automatically relax as the nervousness I felt before leaves my body.
I pull her against me, dropping my bags on the floor, and hug her tightly. "I missed you."
She squeezes her arms around me tightly and pulls back to press a kiss to the underside of my jaw. "I missed you too."
