On the Edge Read Online Free Page A

from flooding over.  Why is it that my mom cries with every birthday Michael or I celebrate?  She had to have known that, with our birth, we would age and, eventually, become adults.  Sometimes she makes me embarrassed to be seen with her, but she is my mother and I love her.
    My dad looks exhausted.  He landed another case at four o’clock this morning and has been working since then and is only taking enough time off to celebrate my birthday.  He made detective two years ago, but it looks like he’s aged ten years since then.  I really wish he’d slow down on work, but I know that he can’t do that.  He has my college to pay for and he is still helping Michael out with expenses, even though he has a full scholarship for college.  Maybe I will take a year off from school so my dad can relax and work a little less for a change?
    My thoughts are interrupted when members of the waitressing staff come over with a birthday brownie a la mode and begin singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me.  This is the time of the celebration when I sink lower in the booth.  It’s so embarrassing to have strangers singing to me in a full restaurant.  I look toward Michael to see that big, shit-eating, grin on his face.  Why must he do this to me every year?  He always makes sure the staff knows it’s my birthday so they do this.  He finds far too much humor in humiliating me.
    I finally get back home at five o’clock.  I check my text messages and find that I have one from Tommy.
    Happy birthday, my beautiful Angel!  Hope you’re having a great day and I can’t wait to see you tonight.  Miss you.
    I smile so big that I am sure I have the same stupid grin that Katherine had when the quarterback asked her to prom, but I don’t care.  I am falling in love and I’m entitled to have this “stupid” grin on my face! 
    I make my way to my closet to pick out an outfit for tonight.  I want to look good but be comfortable at the same time, so I grab a pair of skinny jeans, a low cut, red V-neck shirt, and a pair of black Ugg boots that my parents bought me for Christmas last year.  I look at my hair and decide to run a brush through it and leave it down.  I touch up my makeup and I am ready for my date.
    Tommy arrives a little before six and, as I answer the door, I notice that he is as stunning as ever.  Tonight, he is wearing a pair of relaxed fit, denim jeans and a blue and white plaid button up shirt, left unbuttoned, with a white t-shirt under.  No matter what this man wears, he is always sexy as hell.
    “Happy Birthday, angel!”
    “Thank you, Tommy.  You look amazing.”  Oh God, why couldn’t I have just said thank you?   I think I am lacking a brain-to-mouth filter myself.  My parents have created defective children in that aspect.
    “Thank you, Abigail.  And you, you are as gorgeous as ever.  Are you ready for your birthday date?”
    Me?  Gorgeous?  Oh, now I seriously think that he needs glasses.  No way am I gorgeous.  “Yes, Tommy, I am,” I respond as I grab my purse and my coat and take his arm as we head out to his car.  Mom extended my curfew from midnight to two in the morning.  I guess being an adult has its perks.  I get my Tommy for a full eight hours tonight.
    I am surprised when we pull up to an apartment complex on the other side of town.  This is one of the unsafe sides of town, but it’s not the most dangerous place to live in Placid City.  The complex is old and painted tan with dark brown trim.  It’s not a large complex but not a small one either.  Tommy walks me to apartment 4D and unlocks the door before holding it open for me.  It’s a cozy apartment.  When I walk in, I’m standing in the foyer.  Straight ahead is the living room and to my left is a very small kitchen.  I don’t see a dining room and the kitchen is far too small to eat in.  There is a nook off of the kitchen with barstools.  He walks over to the nook and lights two long candle s. I notice two