Free When You Come to Me by Jade Alyse Page A

wake you?”
    “That’s not important right now,” she told him. “What’s wrong with him?”
    “He told me to call you,” Scotty said. “He told me that he wanted to see you…”
    Natalie huffed. “And it couldn’t wait till morning?”
    “He said it was important…”
    “Scotty…”
    She heard Scotty clear his throat, and in a very low voice, told her, “He’s been drinking, Nat…”
    “And you can’t drive?”
    “No,” he told her. “But if I could, I would drop him off by the dorms. Natalie, he’s really messed up, and he won’t shut up, and he won’t leave the bar until he sees you…”
    “Good, Lord,” Natalie sighed. “Alright, alright…tell him that I’m on my way…”

    She was allowed to bring her car to school that year if she promised to take care of it. It was her sister Sidney’s old car; a small, black, Toyota Camry. It donned a cracked headlight and the engine had a tendency to overheat in hot temperatures, and did absolutely nothing year-round but sit in their driveway at home, taking up space. Her younger sister Maya, barely a high school senior, who’d only been driving their mother’s tan minivan for over a year, wanted it for herself, but her mama had given it to Natalie, because she was older, far more responsible and needed it the most.
    She barely drove it, wanted to conserve as much gas as possible, kept the tank full at all times, and tried to keep the car looking as pristine as possible. The only times that she did drive it were when she got hungry and had forgotten to go to the grocery store, or when she was driving into downtown to buy a book from Greg’s Book Shoppe on Foundry Street.
    She’d parked in an illegal spot on Washington Street. She walked the length of the sidewalk in nothing more than a pair of slouchy jeans and a pullover, her hair pulled back into a loose chignon, stopping before the doors of Boars Head, hearing rock music and the smell of stale beer, filter out into the streets.
    She attempted to call Brandon from her dying cell phone, but only got his voicemail. Then, she tried Scotty. No answer. She tried them both again, feeling her frustration climb, watching people walk in and out of the bar. When she received no answer, she walked into the bar, shoved past the people, saw neither Scott Kelly, nor Brandon Greene. Her frustration turned into anger.
    She would ring that Brandon Greene’s neck when she saw him! She’d had enough of him! Enough of the games, dear, Lord! When she saw him, she would give him a piece of her mind.
    Her cellular phone vibrated in her hand. She huffed, pulled it into view, and looked at the screen.
    Brandon G. calling…
    “Where on God’s green earth…?”
    “Natalie, it’s Scotty…”
    “I’m here, and where are you?”
    “We’re around back…the line was too long in the bathroom…Brandon started throwing up…”

    “We had a fight, Nat,” Brandon slurred to her on the way back to the house on Trent road. “Sophia and me, we had a huge fight.”
    “That doesn’t surprise me…”
    “It’s almost over, Natalie,” he continued, with a victorious laugh. “I can feel it, damn it! Goddamnit, it’s almost over, Natalie Chandler…”
    “Brandon, if your language doesn’t change, I’m pulling over and letting you out, and you can walk back…”
    “Don’t threaten me, girl,” he said. “You—you—you wouldn’t do that…”
    “Lord, can you get it out? Your language is perfect right now, I swear…”
    He looked at her, heavy-lidded and wide-grinned. “You’re better than her…”
    “I didn’t know that there was a need to compare…”
    “She’s perfect,” he said. “But you’re better…”
    “She’s your girlfriend,” she sighed. “No one should be better than your girlfriend…”
    “She’s a bitch…” Though frustrated, Natalie couldn’t help but chuckle quietly at the emphasis he put on the word bitch.
    “Brandon Greene, I swear…”
    “She doesn’t think