Wreckless Read Online Free Page B

girls off and see Enzo, things would’ve been different. And for that mistake, Fate demanded she serve a life sentence for one moment of foolishness.
    Mired in the darkest moments of her past, Lexi staggered out into the early evening air. A small eddy of dust blew past and brought her back to the present. She stopped on the sidewalk, blinked back her tears, and clenched her hands to stop their trembling. The wind whipped her hair over her face, and she caught the smell - the dreaded hospital scent - in her nostrils.
    Jump-started by the stench, she tore through her handbag, frantic in her hunt for her keys. Grabbing them, she ran to her car, yanked open the door and threw her bag on the passenger seat.
    She’d just twisted the key in the ignition when a hand rapped on the window.
    Startled, she glanced up and found Cara next to her car, hatred still simmering in her green eyes. With apprehension, Lexi lowered her window.
    “I came to remind you of your other promise. Just in case you’ve forgotten it like you forgot what day it was today.”
    Almost immediately, guilt churned in Lexi’s stomach. Guilt and resentment for what Cara had made her promise six months ago when she’d arrived in LA.
    A promise she’d had no business demanding of her. And one Lexi shouldn’t have sworn to keep.
    Her shoulders slumped with the weight of her disappointment.
    She’d hoped Cara had come after her for something else. Like a willingness to listen to Lexi’s part in what had happened. But no. She’d come to twist the knife further.
    “I haven’t forgotten Cara. Believe me, I haven’t forgotten anything,” she replied. Then drove away.
     
    Lexi let herself into her sixth floor condo in downtown Santa Monica, grateful for its cool serenity. Her bag landed on the polished hardwood floor. She lobbed her keys onto the nearby coffee table, and headed straight for her bedroom, removing her wraparound dress as she went. She needed a shower like she needed her next breath. Three-inch heels came off next to the case she’d packed for her trip to Vegas in the morning. Lexi paused long enough to slip out of her panties and bra.
    The scalding shower was a welcome, cleansing relief, turned on full blast in the hopes of scouring away the turmoil within. She lathered more shampoo than was necessary into her hair, scrubbed vigorously until her scalp tingled, then repeated the process twice, before finally turning the water to tepid and then cool. After switching it off, she wrapped herself in a large, fluffy towel.
    Tying another smaller towel around her head, she re-entered her bedroom and paused when her gaze landed on the cards on her dresser.
    The big 3-0 had arrived last month and, save a couple of well-wishing cards and calls from one or two friends in London and her grandmother in Edinburgh, she’d passed the day alone in her condo, by herself, with Chinese take-out and a can of soda. She’d refused the free bottle of wine from the delivery guy, who announced cheerfully that it came compliments of the house, seeing as it had been her twentieth order.
    He’d been taken aback by her refusal. After all, who refused a freebie, even if it was cheap plonk?
    How was he to know she didn’t drink anymore? That not a single drop of alcohol had passed her lips in almost a year? How could he tell that the woman who ordered Kung Pow chicken and shredded beef noodles every Wednesday night without fail now lived her life by a series of vows? The very first being that, for Fiona’s sake, for Cara's, but most of all for Sally's precious memory, she’d vowed to spend the rest of her life sober, seeing everything in crystal clarity, lest another stupid alcohol-fuelled decision wrecked another life.
    Sally. Oh God, Sally! Hot tears filled her eyes and she sank onto her bed. Saying goodbye to her childhood friend had been one of the hardest things Lexi had ever done. A double blow, considering she’d been banned from Sally’s funeral by her