Dissolve Read Online Free

the silent reassurance I needed. All Dad did, when I visited him for the weekends, was ask about my grades, my plans for the future. He never cared. Only Mom did. He never even saw the inner pain I was struggling with, too wrapped up in his hunting supply store and new, buxom wife to give me the time of day.
    Sex is the only thing men care about, I remind myself as I brush my teeth.
    After Trist calms down, she insists she’s well enough to go to work at the coffee shop - that it would soothe her nerves to do something familiar. She’d gotten ready with all the speed of a hummingbird, cheerily saying goodbye as she ran out the door. She’s so strong. One day I want to be as strong as she is.
     
     

THREE
     
    I’ve got class in thirty minutes, so I pack my bag and head for the bus. Mom’s alimony wasn’t the sort that allowed her to get me a car on my sixteenth birthday, and Dad didn’t trust me enough to take care of my grades, let alone a car. But he did teach me over one summer, and helped me get my license. For that and only that, I’m thankful to him.
    The bus is fine, but I’m always wary of weird guys. I sit towards the front, preferably by a woman, and put my headphones in. I don’t play any music, because I don’t want to lose one of my senses while I’m navigating streets and bus stops. It’s not smart. So I just pretend to listen to music, that way no one will bother me if they think I can’t hear them.
    I was listening to music, that night. That’s what let him get me.
    I shake my head and focus on the gray world of Old Haven outside the bus window. Seagulls settle in December-naked trees, icy puddles of slush gathering in gutters and on rooftops. The town of Old Haven isn’t big, but it has a mall and a few good restaurants and a decent club scene. Although after last night, I’m not excited to go clubbing anytime soon.
    The bus stops at a red light. I stare at the window at the cars stopped parallel to us. A sleek black motorcycle is right next to us, a girl in a helmet clinging to the driver - a guy with a black helmet and leather jacket. He puts his feet out to stabilize the motorcycle and raises his visor. He looks back at the girl and says something, and she laughs. He catches my eye through the bus window - Kai. Of course it is. Why is he everywhere all of a sudden? I’d seen him other mornings just like this, with a new girl each time, but now I have a name to put to the face. Kai Jackson - the guy who can’t keep his hands off women. The guy who saved my roommate last night.
    He shoots me a smirk - that lazy, self-assured smirk that sends heat under every inch of my skin. Thankfully the light changes, and the bus rumbles away as he revs up. He passes us in a reckless blur, the girl’s joyful screaming piercing through the bus windows easily, her long, luxurious black hair whipping behind her like a banner of midnight. The old woman next to me chuckles and shakes her head.
    “What a little show-off.”
    I smile. She has no idea how right she is. Kai’s motives still haunt me - why did he save Trist? Guys don’t just do something for nothing - they always want something in return, usually sex. And with Kai, I’d say especially sex. Maybe he just wanted to be seen as a good guy, to pump up his ego? That’s also possible. Maybe he just wanted to beat someone up. Maybe he’s violent and bloodthirsty. I have no idea - I don’t know him. He’s a complete mystery to me and only me, it seems.
    The bus stops in front of Montcrest University, and I get off. We aren’t a big campus, nor a public one - Montcrest is a private college, very old, and very respectable. The lawns are yellow and covered in slushy snow, the sidewalks iced over. Icicles hang from the eaves of ancient gothic-architecture-style buildings. It doesn’t have the stellar funding and programs of Stanford or Yale, nor does it have the stringent acceptance ratio, either. It’s a mediocre school that prides itself on