Pretty Instinct Read Online Free Page A

a right to privacy!”
    You live on a tour bus with four men, sleep nude, and have an expectation of privacy? Anyone else think that train of thought is asinine? Not my job to show her the light, though, that epic fail is all on the fools who raised her “cry wolf when convenient” exhibitionist ass. Helluva job . But more importantly, I haven’t the time or energy to waste on the about to be ex -member; I have to take care of my brother, the innocent, precious soul she name-called and scared to death.
    Rising slowly to stand nose to nose with her, I concentrate on my breathing as a source of center, reminding myself the last thing Conner needs to see is violence. How badly he reacts to it, over-exaggerated even for him, is one of the biggest reasons I suspect foul play that summer I went to camp. If I dust this bitch right now, I’ll make things worse for an already petrified Bubs.
    It’s this concern alone that saves her life. Otherwise, I’d have already mopped the floor with her and made her like it. “Cami, what’s wrong with you? He didn’t mean a thing by it.”
    “I’m sick of it! I’ve bit my tongue long enough. ‘Nobody upset the retard’ gets old,” she air quotes snottily, testing everything in me not to lower those hands for her. “He’s always spying on me. I almost think he’s faking it just to get a peep show!”
    Yes, that is exactly it, diva. He’s been faking it for seven long years in hopes of one day getting a glimpse of your uneven mosquito bites. Way to go, Cami the Case Cracker!
    I literally have to take a minute and simply stare at her for my brain to compute such venomous hatred coming out of nowhere. Cami’s lived on this bus with Conner for months. I’ve even seen her help him with his puzzles a time or two, so the level of animosity pouring from her now is shocking and completely unexpected.
    “He was looking for Rhett, you delusional, heartless bitch. He wanted to show off the new fish he got and mixed up the bunks.” My voice cracks and I gulp down the threatening sob, a cumbersome bubble in the middle of my throat. “But luckily, Conner isn’t doomed. He’ll be fine in a few minutes, still an angel. You ,” I take a step in, crunching her toes under my own and making sure to curl my lip and bare my teeth, “however, are screwed for life. There’s no hope for the kind of evil inside you and I’m only sorry I didn’t see it sooner. Ugly and mean to the core is no way to go through life, Cami. I’d pick the way Conner does it over yours any day of the week. Now pack your shit, next stop is yours.”
    “You can’t be serious! You’re kicking me out of the band, whose only chance in hell is me, because I don’t want some freak staring at my tits?”
    “Jarrett?” I plead, flexing my fists in and out, praying for willpower I don’t usually possess.
    “On it.” He inches himself between us. “Get your shit together, Cami, you’re out. And shut the fuck up while you do it. I don’t hit women, but you call him another name and I’ll damn sure smack a bitch.”
    “You can’t just dump me, I don’t have a car! Unbelievable,” she scoffs.
    “And your tits aren’t .” Jarrett scores one for the whole team. “But we’ll take you where you need to go. We have some decorum.”
    While he stands guard over her, I move to the front of the bus where Rhett’s corralled Conner. Squatting down in front of him, I pry his hands away from over his face. “Hey, look at me.”
    “S-sorry, Sister,” he chokes out in a trembling voice.
    “What are you sorry for, huh? Being amazing, kind, and good lookin’? Being a winner? Cause that’s what you are!” He doesn’t answer me, burying his face behind Rhett’s shoulder. “What’s the rule, Conner?” I jostle his leg. “Huh? Tell me the rule.”
    Still shaken and ashamed, he doesn’t answer, so I do it for him. “You win and every other motherfucker loses, right?”
    “Right,” he grunts from his hiding spot,