Authors: Marylynn Bast
“H
o
n, you okay?”
Amber could almost picture her smacking
the
gum
she always chewed
and popping bubbles like the wom
a
n did in the old television show, what was her name…
Flo, t
hat’s it
!
She s
hook h
er head at the strange thoughts
rambling through her mind. Why would
she be
remembering a show
her mother had watched? She was really losing it!
Staring
at the black high heel shoes
showing
under
the wooden stall door
,
her vision
continued to alternate. It would become blurry, then sharpen and go back to blurry again.
It
did this over and over until she thought she was going to be sick.
Groaning
,
she put the
heel of her palms
and
pressed at her eyes, trying to make it stop.
“Huh
u
h,” was all she
could
utter
in response
to Catherine’s question
before
her stomach
lurched, forcing
her
to jump up
fast and
turn around
in time to
lose her dinner in
to
the toilet.
Through it all Catherine kept asking if she was ok
ay
. If there was anything she could do to help. The irritating occasional tapping of her
nails
on the wooden door was driving her nuts.
With her innards
rolling
an
d cramping, Amber wanted
to
jerk the door open,
rip
the woman’s
head off
,
or at least
to tell her to go away and stop
repeatedly
asking her
if she was ok
ay
.
No, I’m not okay!
Amber
screamed in her mind while her entire body tensed and trembled, she
fought the urge
to
yell
at Catherine
.
Suddenly t
he palm of her hand struck the door, causing Catherine to shuffle backwards.
She hadn’t meant to strike out, but i
t was affective in getting her to stop
her insistent nagging and
tapping on the door.
Taking deep breaths, Amber knew she
had to get control of the
raging emotions bouncing through her head. She could not afford to lose it and go psycho in the small bathroom. She had the urge to yell and scream, but that wasn
’t her
way of handling things.
Amber tried to rationalize in her
mind and knew deep down she
really shouldn’t be angry with
Catherine
. After all, she was only trying to help in her own obnoxious way
.
After a few minutes
,
she was able
to
stand up straight
without the muscles in her stomach clenching.
She r
eluctantly
opened
the stall door
,
not
ready to face anyone
.
Catherine
had not gone away like she had hoped
.
Amber saw th
e look of concern on the older woman’s
face
. She had to look like death wa
rmed over, it was how she felt.
Amber frowned and gestured for her to move back from blocking her exit from the stall. Realizing what she wanted, Catherin
e
slid backwards,
but didn’t go out the door and back to work
like Amber
w
ished she would.
“Do you need to go to the hospital
or something
? You don’t look so hot.”
Her bubbly voice caused Amber to cringe,
though she did sound concerned.
“
Thank you Captain O
bvious
.” Her voice dripping
with sarcasm appeared to be lost on Catherine.
Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand
, Amber
all but glared
down
at her
, rolled her eyes
and shook her head no.
She knew there
was nothing that would help her
at this point
but to shift and
allow her wolf to
kill something.
Snorting a laugh
to herself, she wondered if saying this to Catherine would w
ipe the
stupid
expression
off her face.
With sluggish steps, she walked
to the sink
. With each step her muscles burned like they were o
n fire and she ached all over.
Amber bent over and stuck her hands under the running water.
She hated feel
ing this way and summed it up to
just
being
cranky, almost like she had a major case of PMS. She was usually even tempered and
normally
dealt with people’s idiocies without snapping, but this was really getting to her and she had to get it under control.
Allowing the
warm
wa
ter to run over her
slightly trembling
hands, she
didn’t bother looking at herself in the
mirror
.
She was seeing regularly now, so her eyes were back to their normal dark brown color. She felt weak and knew that she looked pale from the glimpse she had caught when bending over the sink.
Turning
the hot tap
off, she splashed
co
ld water on her face
and heard Catherine murmuring about how lucky she was to not have to wear make-up. Ignoring the comments, Amber
wanted to brush her teeth,
u
nfortunately there was no tooth brush or paste so she cupped
some
water
in her hands
and brought it to her lips. Swishing the liquid around, she
rinsed
the taste of vomit from her mouth and spit it into the basin.
Repeating thi
s a couple times until
her breath didn’t smell
so much
like barf. She twisted t
he cold
-tap off,
stood
up straight and turned a
round to face the other woman
.
Catherine was quite a few years older than she was, but s
till had a smoking hot body and
apparently
was
n’t
afraid to show off.
Wearing her
highlighted
and dyed
brunette hair hanging loosely around her shoulders
, she pinned the sides back with a sparkling clip. Tucking strands away from her face and behind her ear affectively
showed off the
diamond earrings
that dangled
and
reflected
brightly with each movement of her head. The matching necklace hung arou
nd her slender throat, with a
larger
teardrop diamond resting above the swell of her breast. The little black dress she wore
was a little much for the backwoods bar, but it
showed off the boob job her
boyfriend, Hunter Michaels,
had
recently paid for.
The tight dress accented her tiny waist and full hips
. Amber was certain, if Catherine
was not careful,
it
would probably slip easily
up
to reveal the lower half of her torso
,
especially
if she bent over just a bit too far.
Thinking snidely, her short dress probably gave Hunter easier access to her goods.
Ambe
r couldn’t help but
glance
down, comparing her own clothing to Catherine’s
. She frowned slightly at the worn pair of jeans and
snug fitting t-shirt
she had thrown on
after
rolling out of bed.
At least
they were not wrinkled and she had run a brush through her hair in an attempt to tame the wildness. Pulling the hair out of her eyes and pinning it back with a clip allowed it to cascade down
around her shoulders
in long soft waves.
Giving herself a mental shrug
,
s
he was happy with
her appearance
. At least her full breast
s
w
ere
her own
.
Her body was naturally fit because of her werewolf genetics.
A
pparently
Ryan
,
along with m
ost of the other men in the places
she had
bar
tended
and waited
tables
appeared
to like how she looked
.
Besides, s
he wasn’t out to impress anyone and was
happy
she could go with what nature had given her.
Without the fuss of applying make-up and always having to fix her hair, she could easily shower and just go, which worked perfectly
for a life
on the run.