Chapter 1

FREYA

"Lovebug, I can't believe you are about to graduate and leave town. When did you grow up so fast?" Mom stares at me with big, soulful eyes as she helps me pack clothes in my dorm. "You're about done with all your college exams. Aren't you?"

I nod without looking up from my computer as I check the citations section of my paper before tweaking the last of them.

"Yeah. Almost." I lick my lip. "I have to turn in this history paper tonight, and then I'm done with everything, Mom. You don't need to look so frazzled. I'm moving to Colorado, not to the other side of the world." I laugh. "If anything, I'll still be close to you."

"Freya, you keep saying that, but do you mean it? I know you wanted to be independent and start your new life, and that's why I didn't stop you when you moved two hours away to study at this college, but this is a nine-hour trip from home."

My mom's small nose twitches as she stares at me, and then it wrinkles.

"Why do you hate your life here in Salt Lake? It's peaceful, and your family is here." She gazes into my eyes. "I know you like the mountains, and you can easily find them an hour from where we live. You've been skiing and hiking your entire life. Those are your favourite things to do in the whole world." Mom crosses her hands over her chest. "I can't wrap my head around why you want to move to Colorado. Is this something to do with a boyfriend?" My mom's eyes get watery. "Is there more about your life I don't know? How badly out of the loop am I?"

"It's all different to me but the same to you. Isn't it? And no, there's no boyfriend." Looking up to face her, I finally kill the screen and close my computer's top down. "Believe me, Mom. I don't want to be the woman who never left her small town. I don't want to live in the same town I was born into for the rest of my life. Some people do that, but I don't think I can be that person." I exhale. "Why do you want me to live in Utah my entire life? Is it because you did just that? No wonder we are very different since I can't bear living here anymore."

"But Colorado isn't that different?" Mom snorts. "Is it?"

"It so is. There are fewer mountainous areas compared to Utah. You're not living in a rat's hole in the countryside because that's what I've felt my whole life living here." Running a hand through my hair, I clear my throat. "And it's not even that. Denver has everything to offer that my life here in Salt Lake couldn't give me. It has a thriving nightlife and people from all walks of life with a predominantly liberal attitude." Shrugging my shoulders, I put my gaze on my mother's face. "Can't say the same about all the years I've spent here trying to fit in with other people who didn't get me." I shake my head, rising from my desk chair and move to the portable fridge in the corner of the room to pull out a beer. "Can we please stop talking about mountains now? You're annoying me."

"No." Mom walks towards me. "You are annoying me, sweetheart. I know how busy you are, and the new job will only take you farther away from us. You will never call me unless I call you, and you rarely text me." Mom offers me an annoying smirk. "That doesn't stop you from texting your dad no matter what you have going on, but you never call me."

Pulling out the beer can from the fridge, I run my fingers over the smooth condensation as dew brushes against my skin. "You nag me, Mom," I state. "You're always after what I'm doing, and Dad doesn't give me that treatment."

"Well, I birthed you into this world." She scoffs, crossing her arms over her chest again. "Your dad can't compete with me because if it were up to him, you would never see the light of day on this earth." She shrugs and paces back and forth to pack more things around my room. "There's no talking you out of it, is there?"

Taking a big swig out of the can, I shake my head multiple times to convince her of my decision.

"Fine," she says through gritted teeth. "Promise that you'll call me every day."

"Nuh-uh." I wipe the dew from my upper lip. "I can't make such promises."

"Fine," she reconsiders her words, "then text me every day."

Exhaling another harsh breath, I give in.

"All right." I throw my hands up in the air. "I'll call you over the weekends, and I might text you whenever I have free time. Does that work for you?"

"It doesn't." My mother swallows more of her words. "But I guess I understand where you are coming from."

I roll my eyes as I pivot on my feet.

"Thanks, Mom."

***

The phone rings somewhere, and I blink my eyes open as my hands try to reach for it inside the duvet.

Ugh, what time is it?

Finally grabbing the phone from under my back as I squirm in my sleeping position, my eyes fall on the timer on the screen.

It's 2 am.

It's my boyfriend who is calling me.

Colin.

Yawning, I swipe my thumb over the screen to receive the call.

"Were you sleeping, babe?" His voice is soft. "I just got done with my paper. I called you after I hit 'send' on it."

"Sounds nice."

"You are being awfully supportive, babe."

Yawning in the back of my hand, I wipe my face with the other one as I sit up against the bedhead.

"I was sleeping," I mumble under my breath. "I didn't mean to sound rude, but this isn't the best time to call me, babe."

"Well, okay. Now you're being touchy." He gives up on the banter. He knows that he cannot win when it comes to me. "I wanted to hear your voice before I hit the bed, but I guess it was wrong of me to wake up from your beauty sleep."

"Who is being touchy now?"

As the words fly out of my mouth, I hear a distant loud cry that rends the air. It's coming from somewhere towards the back of my yard. Those are loud moaning noises I haven't heard before, and I don't know what to compare them to. Getting out of bed and walking towards my bedside window, I peer at the lane under the moonlight while wondering if some wild coyotes have found themselves on our street in the middle of the night.

Just the thought is enough to make me shudder.

My eyes descend on the glowy light falling on the street next to the house. Then I look at the sky and realise it is a full-moon night.

"Hey, Frey, are you there? Hello?" Colin's voice is agitated. "Come back down to earth, Freya."

Swallowing, I answer.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Are you nervous about moving together to our new apartment in Colorado?"

Shaking my head, I chuckle.

"As much as you annoy me, I still manage to like you for who you are. I don't even know how." Then I laugh to smother the nervousness that seeps into the conversation. "Why would I be nervous? I'm looking forward to being railed by you every night without worrying about staying up late to finish college papers."

"I want to do a lot of railing." He laughs. "Believe me. I will be railing you here and there all over our apartment and then some every six hours."

"Ah, you need a break every now and then." I smile in the static. "I get it."

Just then, my phone pings and I check my phone screen.

My boyfriend has sent me a little digital drawing which illustrates him eating me out, and in his little sketch, I have my mouth open with my hands in his hair.

"Why do I have my mouth open in the drawing?" I chuckle. "Like, what is up with it? Why do you always draw me with my mouth open in everything?"

"You know why, babe." I can feel his radiant smirk shining through the static. "Because I intend to make you come and moan in every little thing we do as I have drawn those pictures of us doing it to each other. Perception precedes reality, sweetheart."

"You better keep your word."

He laughs boisterously.

"I'm planning to, babe."