Did you ever have that feeling that you weren’t whole? That something or someone was missing from your life. No matter who you were with, you always felt alone. I feel like that every day of my life. I have my friends and even a boyfriend, if you can call him that, but they just aren’t filling the void that seems to surround me all the time. It’s like the other half of me is someplace else, and I’m just this casing of a body that’s walking around trying to pretend that happiness is all around me. My mom even wanted me to go to counseling at one point in my life, during my tenth-grade year of high school, she was worried about me not being socially receptive. Whatever the fuck that is, right? So, I started going out more with Ashlyn, mainly to parties that her ‘social’ friends held. I even accepted Vance’s proposal that we date exclusively, meaning I only go out with him while he fucks the rest of the female populat

“Oh. My. God. You are going to totally rock the night.” Ashlyn slipped her arm through mine. She’d come over early so we could get ready for the big Tori party together. We did the two-hour shopping trip last weekend to get all the things that we would need to make our appearance known. The thigh-high stockings, high-heeled ankle boots, and of course, the tight little black dresses that clung to our bodies like a second skin.“Yeah, but this is like the most uncomfortable outfit I have ever worn.” I twisted and pulled the skirt part of the dress down so that maybe it would cover another half-inch of my skin. I don’t know why I allowed Ashlyn to talk me into getting matching outfits, but she always seemed to have that effect on me. I say no and she gives me some reason my answer is wrong, and why I should listen to her. Her rationale was that if I dressed like this, there would be no reason for Vance to have wandering eyes.“It&

Vance looked shocked to see me standing there. His face was flushed, which could be because of his recent activity of the fact that I caught him red-handed cheating on me.The girl, or should I say, woman, grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around herself. “Renko—I, u-uh…” Obviously, she had no words for what was going on.“Sorry, uh, Linda, uh, Mrs. Greene, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” I looked over at Vance, who had his head laying on the pillow. “It’s over…like really over this time.” I couldn’t keep the tears from falling. I knew he cheated on me before, but to have him say he would never do it again, then to catch him with Tori’s mom blew my mind.I had to get out of there and far away from this party. I slammed the door shut on the way out. I raced down the hall and ran down the steps. I heard Vance yelling my name from the second floor and knew he was going to try and find me.

 MAXI heard and smelled some of the pack as I made my way home with Renko. Thankfully, most were on patrol and didn’t have time to see why I was out and about. My father met me at the door but never asked why I was naked and who the girl was I carried in my arms. I knew as soon as I laid Renko down and got dressed, I would be bombarded with questions.“Care to explain?” My mother confronted me as soon as I entered the kitchen.I grabbed bottled water out of the fridge and sat down at the table. “About?” I knew what she meant but might as well prolong the agony.Mom sat down across from me. Her expression already said she wasn’t happy with this scenario even before she said any words. “Max don’t play stupid. Your father told me what he saw tonight. Who’s the girl? Why were you carrying her here?”“Long story short, I was out running, a car came up the back road behind ou