Burn This! (A 300 Moons Book)(Bad Boy Alphas) by Tasha Black

she’ll probably have to work at something she doesn’t like for the rest of her life.
    “And when I’m so drunk I can’t see, and I’m fucking one guy or another,” she covered her mouth with her hand, and looked at Neve, “I’m so sorry!”
    “It’s quite alright,” Neve said, waving her on.
    “Anyway, when I’m screwing up my life with drink and pills and guys, I wonder… What would the other girl have done with this opportunity?” Jocelyn asked.
    “Do you really want an answer?” Clarence asked her. “Probably exactly the same as you. Kids your age should be allowed to be kids, no offense to you or your parents.”
    “Clarence, we’re not here to judge—” Neve began.
    “—None taken,” Jocelyn said, leaning toward Clarence and patting his leg awkwardly, causing Tacos to scramble down her back to stay away from him.
    “Oh, hell,” Ed said, scooting his chair away, though Johnny’s empty seat was still between them.
    Everyone began to giggle as the last rays of sunlight disappeared over the ridge.
    Neve smiled, they were a good group. They didn’t have a lot in common, but they were decent human beings, trying their best, like most. The shared sense of humor would do wonders for them all.
    She rubbed her upper arms, and then wondered why she was cold.
    The temperature in the room had dropped dramatically.
    It had been 80º all day, and maybe it was cooler by 10º as the sun set. There had been a refreshing breeze through the window all evening.
    But this was cold, true cold.
    Neve had grown up further north, close to Glacier City, where the winters were real. This was that kind of cold, the kind with a bite to it.
    A gust of frigid wind whipped into the room.
    She had just enough time to see the confusion on the patients’ faces, before everything went black.
    Something brushed past her in the darkness, something with fingers like icicles.
    She heard Johnny’s name. But that wasn’t right. She didn’t hear it, not with her ears - she felt it in her mind, like a whispered question.
    Johnny?
    Across from her, Jocelyn shrieked.
    Swallowing a scream of her own, Neve focused on her charges.
    “Everyone, it’s important to stay calm,” she said, being careful to speak slowly and pitch her voice down so as not to sound frightened. “It’s probably just a tripped breaker. I’ll get it straightened out.”
    She slipped her phone out of her pocket to call maintenance.
    She pushed the home button, once, twice. Nothing.
    Dead.
    That was weird. Maybe she’d forgotten to charge it last night.
    “What are we supposed to do now?” Tony asked in a frightened voice.
    “Phones are out,” Clarence announced from near the door. This was his fourth time through the program - he knew the procedures almost as well as Neve. He must have made his way to the landline on the wall. Would the power have knocked that out, too?
    A cry sounded in the distance, like an animal in pain. What the hell was going on?
    “My phone’s not working either,” Jocelyn chimed in.
    She wasn’t supposed to even have a phone while she was at Sanctuaries. They’d confiscated two when she checked in. But that was a conversation for another time.
    Right now, she had everyone on the edge of freaking out, and nothing to do to bring them back down. The power was out, and this session was supposed to end with a movie night to soothe the agitated feelings, something to help them unwind.
    And there was more going on here than a tripped breaker. This was getting weird.
    Someone began to cry softly in the darkness. Barb?
    And then Neve heard the music.

14
    J ohnny stood in the middle of his room, his body filled with adrenaline. His animal thinking fight, his man thinking flight.
    Clarence’s words were under his skin, big time. The guy could have been reading his mind.
    Now what?
    He could call someone, check himself out, and go into a fit the minute he was back under the eye of the press. Or commit an actual crime. Maybe they’d