Bad Nymph

Bad Nymph

Bad Moon Book Three

Jackie Sexton

All Rights Reserved ©2013 Jackie
Sexton. First Printing: 2013.

Author’s Note: all characters in
this story that engage in adult situations are 18+ years of age.

All rights reserved. No part of
this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or
by any means without the prior written permission of the author, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other
noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Bad Nymph

Bad Moon Book Three

Jackie Sexton

Chapter One

When we were in seventh
grade Trent and I swore on our graves, our parents’ graves, and whatever other
graves you’re suppose to swear on that if we ever got into a fight that lasted
more than a few days, one of us would have to make silly noises at the other
until they relented. It was our thirteen-year-old friendship insurance.

Stupid, I know, but I
couldn’t help but think about it as we sat in the hotel room in an awkward
silence, both of us staring at the television screen without seeing anything. I
had this overwhelming urge to turn to him and blow a raspberry. But I had
another overwhelming urge to go dig a hole and die in it.

Both of those urges managed
to cancel each other out so that I just stared at the football match on the
screen and tried to force it to compute in my brain as entertainment.

“Touch down!” Martin yelled,
jumping up off the creaky bed with his fists pumped up in the air. On one hand,
I was grateful that Brandon knew what it took to cheer Martin up—or at
least distract him from his anger. But on the other hand, I wasn’t sure how
much longer I could pretend that this was a veritable distraction for me.
Everyone knew I hardly understood the difference between a football and a
basketball. I could tell by the glances I caught Brandon giving me in the
corner of my eye that he knew what I was thinking about.

Because he had walked in on
us, after all.

‘
God, how embarrassing
,’ I thought, my face turning red at just the
memory of it. I wasn’t the kind of girl that went around giving out blowjobs in
the back of dingy, beat-up vans. Or at least, that’s what I had thought. But
considering I never knew that it was an option for me before, how could I have
really known?

I dropped my eyes down to
the cash still clenched between my fingers. Two-hundred dollars. It all seemed
so surreal.

“You’re a very good singer,
Bailey,” Brandon said, cutting through the loud, incomprehensible noise of the
TV. I met his gaze, a tender smile on his face. Well, at least he wasn’t
mocking me.

“Thanks,” I muttered. I
leaned over and put the money on the nightstand next to my phone, embarrassed
that I had held onto it for so long. My cell buzzed against the chipboard, and
I picked it up to look at it, seeing my second missed text from
Aamir
.

“Everything OK? U guys still
coming?”

I shut down my phone, a lump
stuck in my throat as I thought about
Aamir’s
sweet
face, and how easily he had played me for a fool.

“Who’s that?” Brandon asked.

“Uh…just Sierra. She said
she’s excited to see everyone tomorrow.”

Nick shifted in his bed,
looking up from the book he was reading. “She’s meeting us in Atlanta?”

“Where have you been?”
Brandon laughed, leaning over from our bed to tug at one of Nick’s dark dreads.

“I
dunno
,”
he mumbled, dropping his gaze back down to the book. “No one do anything rash.
I don’t feel like explaining this to another innocent.”

“Is that what you call us?”
I couldn’t help but let out a small giggle. Nick just grunted but Brandon
nodded vigorously with a wide toothy grin.

“I know, it’s totally
ridiculous.”

I had an urge to ask who
made up these weird terms, but I bit my lip and stopped myself. Martin was
finally in a good mood, and I didn’t need to create any more tension between
myself and Trent. I settled into the pillow on the bed, and, taking a note from
Nick, picked my book out of the backpack I had settled on the floor by my feet.
Still, I could hardly get into it. The leading lady just got hit by a car.
Great. I was a ten feet away from a demon and I just slept with my best friend
who just so happens to be a werewolf.

Really, hard to one up that.

I heard the door slam and I
looked around to see that Trent was missing from his place beside Nick.

“Where did he—”

“He…had to go take care of
something,” Nick said quietly, his eyes trained on his book.

“Oh,” I said lamely, knowing
better than to push any further. A sadness rose in my heart. Was Trent so
disturbed by our hook-up that he couldn’t help but turn into a raging beast? I
pulled the covers over my body and shuddered, tears welling up in my eyes at
the thought that it was my fault. I dropped the book onto the floor, unable to
kid myself any further.

I had to face the music. For
whatever selfish reason I had compromised my friendship. I had decided to take
Sierra’s advice and take what was in front of me. As the night moved on and the
TV shut off, and Brandon’s gentle snoring rose in the air beside me, I watched
the sliver of moonlight that filtered in between the gap in the curtains,
dancing as the wind in the trees moved leaves and created shadows.

There were so many things
about Trent’s life that I didn’t understand right then, and that I realized
with a sinking heart, I had never understood. Because I had never really known
him. Not really. I brought a hand over my eyes and tried to block out the
light, but just its presence kept me awake, wired with hot guilt. Even when
Trent came back in at God knows what hour, I was awake, listening to his body
as it dropped down onto the bed, his hands as they fumbled with his shoes, his
irregular breathing as it turned into a steady streams of inhales and exhales.

For the first time since the
trip started, I felt inexplicably alone.

The next morning we went to
a local auto repair center, Al’s Car Repairs, to get our brakes fixed. I had
called around when I woke up, and at about three-hundred and fifty dollars they
were our best bet. Trent and Martin snoozed in the corner of the waiting room
and Nick continued reading. I had enlisted Brandon to help me check up on all
our social media and write up the next set list. I was doing everything I could
to avoid thinking about the day before, with all of its mind-blowing insanity.
I needed to hold it together or else everything would unravel around me.

As I bit into my granola bar
and washed it down with some complimentary coffee, I knew that I couldn’t let
that happen. It just wasn’t an option.

“Looks like we got some more
facebook
fans from Orlando,” Brandon said, waggling
his brows at me.

“Yeah, and we had a huge
surge in hits to the website. Awesome. I’m going to write a new blog post right
now. Anything you think I should include?”

“Yeah, how about we post the
lyrics to that new song Trent sang?” I turned my head slowly, grimacing at Brandon’s
sly half-smile.

“I don’t happen to have
those,” I said.

“Oh, I do. I’ll send them to
you.”

“Brandon,” I warned,
shooting a glance over towards the corner to make sure Trent was still asleep.
He had drool coming out of the side of his mouth and everything. I rolled my
eyes, wondering what I saw in him for a minute. But I thought back to the
lyrics of that song, and a thrill shot through my body. ‘
I have been trapped in your chains, wrapped in a love I no longer can
feign…
’

“What?” he said, bating his
eyes innocently as he leaned over my arm rest and invaded my personal space. “I
think they hold some significance right about now…”

“Whatever. Send them to me,
I’ll post them,” I said in a huff, turning my eyes back to my phone. I could
tell it brought Brandon so much joy to tease me, and it was certainly better
than his tight-lipped moodiness the day before.

“Wait, what?” I heard Nick
say. I was shocked to hear him taking an interest in my personal and very
fucked up affairs, but when I looked over to him I realized he wasn’t
responding to me. He was standing up from his chair, moving across the room to
raise the volume on the TV set that was suspended from the wall.

“…This would be the second
reporting of a wolf sighting this week,” a woman’s voice said over a montage of
familiar footage. A tall dorm tower, a cement fountain in front of a brick
building…

It was my school. Or, well,
my alma mater. Florida University. My jaw dropped to the floor.

“The recent reports of wolf
sightings have biologists puzzled. But what is even more puzzling, experts say,
is their presence in residential areas…”

I took in a deep breath. I
could see the muscles in Nick’s jaw tense. Whatever this was, it wasn’t good. I
wondered for a moment how many werewolves there were out in the world. And if
this new sighting had anything to do with Bad Moon…

“If these wolves aren’t
showing a fear of humans,” a woman with glasses and sandy hair pulled back in a
bun said, “then we need to be concerned with public safety. It’s an unfortunate
situation because we don’t want to have to put these animals down.”

I heard someone take a sharp
inhale next to me. It was Brandon. His fingers were white and gripping into the
arms of the cheap plastic chair. I reached for my foam coffee cup, trying to
steady my hand and avoid spilling the milky brown liquid.

“Well, you guys are all good
to go. If one of you would just be kind enough to follow me to the register,” a
bald, ruddy man appeared at the door of the waiting room, smiling out at us.

“Sure,” I said, rising to my
feet. I pulled the strap of my purse over my shoulder and carried my coffee
with me, the liquid precariously quivering against the white walls of the cup.
I could already tell things weren’t going to get any easier.

I
 
volunteered to drive us to Atlanta,
desperate for something to distract me from my bubbling nerves. Brandon
chattered on mindlessly for nearly the whole five hours, constantly hitting his
knee caps against the dashboard. I knew it was his way of dealing with the
stress, so I didn’t stop him. Nobody else seemed interested in saying anything
anyway. I was mostly just glad I didn’t have to see Trent’s face as he
staunchly ignored me.

We pulled up into the
parking lot of a popular hostel on the outskirts of Atlanta that thankfully looked
very much like the pictures I had seen online—it was a bright, white
double-gallery house with an iron fence around it and a large yard. I was kind
of nervous about being there (Sierra had recently made me watch the horror
movie, Hostel), but I knew the fear was irrational. Plus, it was a great way to
meet new people who could potentially be fans, and it was cheap.

Not that I really cared
about either of those things in that moment. But I could try.

Sierra was waiting for us in
the repurposed living room of the hostel, sitting in an over-stuffed chair with
a white, fluffy cat in her lap. I could see Brandon tense—he’s allergic
to cats.

“Bailey!” Sierra shrieked,
disturbing some guy who was reading a newspaper on the couch adjacent to hers.
The cat hissed as she jumped up into the air.
“Hey!” I smiled, wrapping
my arms around her back in a tight hug. Some of my nerves dissipated as I took
in the comforting embrace I had needed for so long. This was the Sierra I knew,
not the distant, disembodied voice I had interacted with the day before.

“Oh my God, I’ve missed you
so much!” she said, pulling back to take me in, a gleam in her hazel eyes.
“It’s not the same without you home.”

I laughed. “Sierra, it’s
been like two days.”

‘
So much has happened in two days
,’ I thought, realizing how much
longer each day had seemed.

“I know, but it feels like
its been longer. I’m so psyched to see the guys perform tonight!” she gushed.

“
Yoohoo
,
right here,” Brandon teased, popping up behind my shoulder. Sierra laughed and
gave Brandon a hug, and he sneezed, shooting daggers at the cat on the floor,
licking its paw.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to
ignore you. Where’s Trenton?” she said, a wicked smile coming over her face as
she said his full name. She knew he hated it.

Trent grunted and she pulled
him into a hug. She was used to him being moody, so she probably didn’t think
anything of the half-hearted hug he gave back.

“So this place is
hella
awesome,” Sierra said as she made her way down the
hug train, pausing awkwardly before Nick. Sierra was pretty comfortable hugging
everyone, so I was surprised by her hesitance. She gave him a quick hug and
then blabbered on.

“They have a pool and a
backyard and everything. And the people here can be pretty cool. Well, most of
them anyway,” she said, darting her eyes over at the guy reading on the couch.
He looked pretty irritated, and I laughed.

“Well, let me check us in
first, and then you can give us the grand tour,” I said. She nodded and
continued babbling on to Brandon about the latest gossip from back home. I
checked us in, and the woman at the front desk gave me a key for each one of us
(four for the boys’ dorm and one for the girls’). Sierra whisked us around the
premises, reliving the bored-looking girl at the desk from her duty.

The place was as cool as she
promised, with colorful murals painted on the walls of the building and a chill
vibe among the young patrons. But I couldn’t help but be distracted by Trent’s
proximity to me as we inspected the pool deck. I tried to test the waters by
looking over at him, but he didn’t spare me a glance. His jaw tightened and his
body tensed, and I knew he was completely aware of my gaze. A hard lump formed
in my throat.

‘
Well, what do you expect?
’ I told myself. But I knew somewhere deep
inside, I expected, or at least really hoped, that he would drop Lola and be
mine forever. It was stupid, but it was there, a dim hope like a dying ember
buried deep inside of me.

When we had a chance to
settle down and put down our stuff, I finally had my first moment alone with
Sierra since the trip started. Well, sort of alone. There was a girl hanging
out in a bunk listening to something on her headphones and another girl
reading, but they didn’t pay us much mind beside an obligatory, “hey.”

“So, what’s been going on?”
she gushed.

“Well,” I took a deep
breath, tossing my suitcase and backpack on top of the bunk beneath Sierra’s,
and then sat down on hers. “I took your advice.”

“My advice?” she sat down
next to me, and I could tell from the look on her face that she didn’t know
what I was talking about.

“From the phone call?
Remember?”

“Oh…” her face screwed up as
the memory came back to her. “Oh…oh my God…you didn’t…”

“ I did,” I said, taking a
deep breath in and exhaling slowly. “We hooked up.”

“No,” she said, her eyes
wide with shock. “Holy shit.”

“How can you be surprised?
You were the one who told me to go for it!” I felt my heart pound with a wild
frenzy as I realized how obviously stupid my decision had been.

“I didn’t think you’d
actually do it…I’m sorry, you called me and I wasn’t in a good place, I kind of
just said whatever I was thinking, which was stupid of me…”

“Well, it was a totally
dumb, impulsive thing I did anyway,” I moaned, throwing myself down on the bed
and burying my face into the pillow.

“Well, that doesn’t mean it
was a bad thing! I mean, I’m really excited, how was it?” she gushed, pushing
my shoulder to see my face.

“It doesn’t matter,” I
sighed. “He doesn’t even want to look at me now.”

I saw her face drop. “Well,
maybe he’s just freaked out. It’s kind of a big deal, you have, you know, not
hooked up for like, eleven years.”

“Twelve,” I said, bringing a
hand to my temple. It felt like my brain was about to burst out of my skull.

“Exactly. Since forever. Can
you really blame him for freaking out? You’re totally freaking out
yourself.”
“Yeah, true…” I started. “But he has a fianc
é
e,” I murmured. ‘
And a number of other problems…
’ I thought.

“Yeah, but she sucks.
Everyone knows that.”
“She’s hot,” I pointed out.

“You’re hot! Besides, didn’t
you tell me he kissed you first?”
“Yeah,” I said, a shiver shooting down
my spine as I recalled the incredible kiss in the rain. “But he’s such a
lady-killer. It was only a matter of time before he messed things up with Lola,
and I was the girl that he was going to see everyday of the tour so…I
dunno
, I just feel like he got confused.”

“Okay, no,” Sierra said,
pulling my arms up and forcing me to sit up. “You need to stop being you for
like, five seconds and realize that you guys are perfect for each other. You’re
meant to be. It’s just not going to be easy.” I looked into her eyes, filled
with compassion and understanding. I threw my arms around her, burying my head
into her soft shoulder. I sighed into her, grateful for the comfort. She was
always so supportive, even when I decided to cut my own bangs in sixth grade.

“Just don’t give up,” she
murmured.

“Why are you like, our
biggest
fangirl
?” I laughed.

“I think I’m your only
fangirl
,” she giggled back, affectionately ruffling my
hair.

“I don’t know what’s going
to happen, but at least I know I have you.”

She bit her lip, and I saw
something strange flit across her face. “Aw. Bailey, there’s something I’ve
been meaning to talk to you about—”

There was a loud knock at
the door. “Come on manager! We need to get to
soundcheck
!”
It was Brandon’s voice, muffled behind the wood door. I gave Sierra an
apologetic look.

“Can we
raincheck
the talk?”

“Sure,” She nodded, taking
my hand as we stood up together.

“Bailey!” Brandon
hollered.
“I’m coming, hold on!” I shouted back, picking up my purse and
making sure all of my valuables were in it before we left the room. 
We
arrived at the venue on time for once, which was relief. It was a smaller
venue, so not quite the size of the one in Orlando, but still sizable. The
headliner wasn’t huge, but they were big enough to fill up the place.

Backstage Sierra was super
helpful with moving equipment while I went around introducing myself to the
owner of the venue, the stage manager, and the manager of the headlining band,
Time Warp. Everything was set to go, except that Nick and Trent both looked
like they had swallowed lemons.

“Okay,” I said once I
finally corralled the guys into a private little corner backstage. “I know that
stuff has been weird for everyone. But we have to put that aside and remember
why we’re here,” I said, pulling out four copies of the set list from my
color-coded binder. “Brandon put these together. Now can I get you guys to
smile?”

Nick looked at me in a
strange way. It was almost like there was pity in his chocolate eyes.

“What is it?” I said, trying
to act like I was unaffected by the look even though my stomach was filling
with dread. “If there’s something I need to know, spit it out.” I tried to
catch Trent’s eye but he just looked away.

Brandon took my hand, giving
it a gentle squeeze. “This might be our last show.”

“What?” I said, staring at
him blankly.

“This might be—”

“I heard you,” I snapped,
fear wrapping around me in invisible coils. “Why? What the hell is going on?”

“With everything that’s
happened,” Nick said slowly, giving me a knowing look. “You know, back home and
all, we just can’t continue. I had to make an executive decision.”

“When was anyone going to
tell me?” Martin snapped. “Whatever. You guys weren’t who I thought you were
anyway. Later,” he said before turning on his heel and storming out the exit.

“Martin, wait!” Brandon
called after him, following him out the door.

“You understand, don’t you?”
Nick said softly.

I knew with Sierra only a
dozen feet behind us, dragging a cable over to the stage, Nick could only say
so much. I nodded, trying to stop the tears that brimmed my eyelids.

“It was only a matter of
time anyway,” I said in a near whisper. “But you guys...will be safe, right?” I
said, thinking back to the blonde woman on the TV. What if someone shot Trent
or Brandon? I couldn’t bear to think about it.

“I’ll take care of them,”
Nick said, reading my mind. “Everyone’s safer if we call the tour off, anyway.”

Here was everything I ever
worked for slipping away from me. I blinked back the tears, knowing that I had
to do whatever was best for the group, not me, not Bad Moon. But for our lives.

“Okay,” I nodded. “But we
can do this last show, right?”

“Of course, and it’s going
to rock,” Nick gave me a small smile. His kindness warmed me from the inside.
  

“This doesn’t mean Bad
Moon’s over,” Trent said, still avoiding eye contact with me. I wanted to
scream at him, grip his shoulders and shake him, tell him to look at me dammit
because I have feelings. I stood still. “Things are just going to be a little
weird for now,” he said, finally moving his steely gray eyes to my face.

There was promise there,
something soft but unyielding. Damn Trent. How was any girl supposed to stand a
chance?

“Hey guys, are you ready?
Some techie keeps bugging me,” Sierra said with an oblivious laugh as she came
up behind Nick and Trent.

“Oh shit,” I murmured. “Can
you guys sound check Martin’s guitar and Brandon’s bass?”

“I think we can manage,”
Nick said, sighing as he looked passed me at the red exit sign. The two of them
made their way to the stage and I pressed my back against the cool cement wall,
taking in deep, steady breaths.

“What’s wrong?” Sierra
asked.

“This tour is over,” I said,
closing my eyes for a moment and trying to take it all in.

“But why?!” she exclaimed.
“Because you guys hooked up?!”

My eyes snapped open and I
gave her an incredulous look. “Jesus, no, and don’t scream things like that. I
kinda
want to keep that on the DL. The band...” I started,
realizing for the umpteenth time I had to come up with a another lie this week.
“Well, there are just a lot of tensions and everyone wants to call it quits,” I
finished lamely, my eyes drifting to the floor.

“Okay, I know that you’re
just bullshitting me,” she said, placing her hands on her hips and narrowing
her eyes at me.

“Okay, I know,” I sighed,
pushing myself off the wall. “But it’s the kind of thing I can’t tell you
because it’s not my business to tell. It’s weird, personal stuff that I barely
understand.”

She searched my eyes and
nodded. “I believe you. Well damn, that sucks big time. Is it over after this
show?”