Toxic Part Two (Celestra Series Book 7.5) Read Online Free Page A

shelters Beau’s tiny head with the palm of her hand. “You are not going anywhere.”
    “Oh, I’m going—and if you were smart, you’d hightail it out of here yourself.” I pivot and head for the stairs.
    “Will you still take us to the mall?” Mia pleads. Her face is upturned and I can see a patina of hurt in her eyes. How can I leave my sisters with this brood of vipers?
    “Be ready in fifteen.” I have no clue where I’m going to stay, but wherever it is, I’m sure Mom and Tad will drag me back before I can properly appreciate the metric distance that I’m about to put between us. I’ll have to look at it as a temporary vacay from the hotbed of insanity my mother has leashed us to.
    In the meantime, I’ll have to come up with a solid plan for the future, one that includes ditching Landon manner once I get that hot little diploma in my hands next spring.
    My future plans used to involve Gage, his body, a hotel room and an entire tribe of gorgeous children. I’m pretty sure that pipe dream, much like my mother’s marriage, is over for good. 
     
     

Chapter 59
    Playing House
        
    The rain gives one sultry cry of aggression, falling slantways from the angry sky before stopping just long enough for me to toss three garbage bags full of my randomly collected belongings into the trunk of the Mustang.
    The girls run down the porch with their ear-buds secured in position, ready to trek over to the Mecca of shopping nirvana.
    Just as I’m about to sink into the driver’s seat, my mother appears with an overstuffed diaper bag, along with a bloated backpack, and she’s schlepping the baby in his bulky carrier down the rain-slicked stairs. Maybe she wants me to take Beau as a punishment for running away?
    I rush over and help before she twists an ankle and cracks someone’s skull open, namely Beau’s. God forbid I have to do a Celestra-based infusion right here on the front lawn for all the Counts in question to witness. If Tad knew how valuable my blood was, I’m sure he’d add another beverage to the moronic business venture he’s climbing into with the crazy Kraggers. 
    “What’s going on?” I pant as my mother makes her way over to the minivan.
    “I’m going on a little vacation. I just need to get my head settled, that’s all,” she confesses while strapping Drake’s bundle of boy-joy into the van in a five-way harness. 
    “A vacation?”
    “I’ll be staying at a friend’s,” she’s quick to accommodate.
    “Does said friend happen to live in an overgrown house that eats small shanties like this one for breakfast?” Literally.
    “Skyla…” She sighs. “Yes, I’ll be staying with Demetri. I’ll be back before the weekend and I suggest you come with me.”
    Right.
    “No thanks. I’ll be staying at a friend’s myself.”
    “Brielle’s?” She ticks her head with a hint of concern.
    “Not that one.” And only because I don’t want to deal with the baby drama, or the fact I might be pressed to leer out the window all night, wondering if Gage is making his nightly appearance in the butterfly room to entertain someone other than me.
    “The Oliver’s.” She gives a knowing blink. “You are not allowed to share a room with Gage—with any boy for that matter. I’ll call Emma later and see if this is OK. If it’s not, I expect to see you at the estate by nine. I’m not playing games, Skyla. My life is a big enough mess as it is. I don’t need you adding to the clutter.”
    “Right,” I say, artfully avoiding the fact the friend I have in mind is Marshall.
    “Skyla…” She leans in. “I promise you, I’ll fix this chaos by summer’s end. There’s no way I’m going to let anything ruin your senior year.”
    Chloe catches my eye. She’s texting someone from the front porch, most likely her accomplice in prophylactic crime—Gage.
    “You won’t ruin my senior year,” I say. 
    Chloe beat you to it.     
     
    ***
     
    Rain pimples the windshield as I