Hell Flower

||10||

"Mon-fucking-tana?" Veronica stormed out of the back of the bus, throwing her hands over her head as she paced the aisle. The dozens of rainbow beaded bracelets around her wrists jingled as she raked her hands through her violet hair. "Reggie! You know I hate Montana!"

"Why Montana?" I asked for the hundredth time. "What's in Montana?"

"There's just a place there that might be able to help us," Liz replied.

I rolled my eyes. She'd been avoiding my questions and giving half answers for the past five minutes, and I was at the end of my rope. What was in Montana that was so important? Why wouldn't anyone give me any more information?

"Stupid Montana," Veronica whined. She glared at Reggie. "You promised we wouldn't have to go back there for another twelve years."

"Babe, I know." Reggie pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the top of her head. "I'm sorry. I promise we won't be there long."

"Better not be," she said. "There's no cell service up there, and no one's fixed the Wi-Fi on the bus! It's been broke for like, a year now!"

"If it really bothers you, you could try to fix it yourself," Liz muttered under her breath.

Veronica rolled her eyes.

Even though Liz said there was a place in Montana that would help me, the fact that no one would give me more details and the sudden change of plans were unsettling. The idea of being trapped on this bus with a pack of werewolves I wasn't sure I could trust and having no way of contacting anyone freaked me out.

I glanced at my phone, hoping we hadn't already dropped off the grid. Three little bars lit up in the top corner of the screen. I breathed a sigh of relief. We still had service.

The notification of two missed calls from Derek and another three and a voicemail from a number I didn't recognize caught my attention. I furrowed my brow. Who could have been calling?

Mindlessly, my fingers unlocked the phone, but instead of dialing back the unknown number or listening to the voicemail, I opened the text messages I'd exchanged with Derek. My heart froze up when I read the most recent ones—mostly him asking me if I was okay. Asking where I was when I missed band practice or didn't respond to messages.

To most of them, I'd replied with the bare minimum: "I'm fine," or, "sorry, reschedule?" And then worse—lies I'd told for no reason: "Just misplaced my phone. Didn't mean to ignore you."

When had I become so cold and distant? Had I always been this way? I scrolled back further. A few weeks ago. A few months.

A smile tugged at my lips when I saw the cute dog pictures Derek had sent when I had the flu. I read through the messages where I'd teased him about some pirate themed board game he'd forced me and Sam to play. I'd never admit I enjoyed it.

Then, I reached the messages from when we'd first been invited on this tour. Derek and I raved to each other about how excited we were and how we were absolutely going to kill it.

My thumb hovered over the call button next to his name. Hearing his voice was all I wanted right now. I knew I'd risk giving away information, but I couldn't help myself.

I glanced around the bus. Jake and Alex were still up in the front, and Reggie and Veronica had gone to the back room together. Liz sat on the bench on the far side of the bus reading a book.

Without giving myself time to second guess, I placed the call. The quiet sound of ringing filled the bus as I put the phone up to my ear.

Immediately, Liz's eyes shot up to meet mine. "What are you doing?"