“Your family is signing,” Manda yells. “If you talk, you’ll be the one in prison for breaking a court order. Your stupid parents will have to pay back every dime! So…” Manda points at me as I turn to walk away. “Hahaha! They’ll be poor as fuck, and you’ll be getting ass-raped for breakfast over your cunt of a sister!”
I keep walking. I don’t care what she says. She’s garbage. And I don’t care what my family does, because I’m not signing anything. I’m not part of that deal, and no judge can force me to live by an agreement I wasn’t part of.
Manda. What a miserable human being, I think. I don’t know if I really have the impossible ability to make people drop dead, but I realize I don’t care. I don’t want to be like her. No regard for anyone else’s life. Besides, even if I could kill people instantly, that wouldn’t be a fitting punishment for Manda. It would be a release.
Going forward, I know I’ll step up and defend the people I love—even if that means killing someone. But defending out of love isn’t the same as killing out of hate.
The pain in my chest melts away. My heart is beating like I’ve never felt it before. Steady. Strong. Filled with conviction.
I know who I am now.
Whether it’s this body or the old one. Doesn’t matter. I can face whatever life throws at me.
I’m almost back to the front of the restaurant when the scent of strawberries fills the air. I stop in my tracks. Joy? I know it’s got to be my imagination, but I swear I can smell her, like she’s right here next to me.
A strange sense of peace washes over me, and I somehow know everything’s going to be all right. My life was meant to lead here.
I call for a ride home, and twenty minutes later I’m pulling up the driveway of our light blue, two-story ranch with the giant willow in the front yard. I’ve only been gone for one week, but everything feels different. Smaller. I know it’s because I have changed.
The door opens, and Mom’s wide blue eyes greet me. “Huff?” She covers her mouth in shock.
“Hi, Mom. We need to talk.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“So what happened?” River asks when I call her Saturday morning, eager to hear her voice and talk. Yes, I’m referring to talking about that—the thing I was thinking about last night. Stop it. Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not actually going to do it.
That thing needs to wait until River and I are face-to-face, which is why I settle for hearing her sweet voice.
“Which part?” I ask. “The one where I confronted Manda at the resort, the one where I told my brother he’s an epic asshole for even considering settling out of court, or the part where my dad fainted when he saw me?”
“Jesus! It’s a hot-mess buffet, and I want to sample every dish. Okay, I choose Manda. What did you say, and how is she not dead right now?”
I hear a crash on River’s end of the phone. “What was that?”
“The storm. The lightning is nasty, but all the big heavy rain is supposed to hit down the coast. Now stop wasting time and tell me what happened.”
I give River the short version of what happened, leaving out the part about Pen. I don’t need River laughing at me for showing my abs to some stranger.
“So Manda’s really sick?”
I lean against my headboard, stretching my long legs on the bed, feeling like it’s old times (aka last week). Me in my nerdy room, talking to River on the phone and missing her. I just wish I’d had the balls to leave home sooner and be with her two years ago as freshmen.
But who knows? Maybe I wouldn’t have been dumped in a pool of MJP and discovered that my body actually does make testosterone. Lots of it.
“She looked extremely unhealthy,” I say.
“Did you try to give her the whammy?”
“Whammy?”
“You know, that thing you did to Blake?”
“Riv, I know what I said the night he died, but let’s be real. It was a total coincidence.”
“Okay, but you’re not answering my question. Did you try?”
I stall. I feel a little stupid for admitting that I lost my shit over someone as pathetic and unworthy as Manda. “I guess? A little?”
“Explain.”
“She spit in my face and called Joy a white-trash cunt. So yeah, I wished her dead.”
“Gasp! She didn’t.”
“Gasp,” I say flatly. “She did. And then she tripped and started vomiting on her hands and knees.”
“Whoa. Do you think you had anyth—”
“Doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t want to kill people, so the weapon is irrelevant.”
“You say that now, but there’s a whole confidence factor. Right? Knowing you can make people’s hearts explode would make you a real-life badass.”
“Or a villain.”
“Huffy, for the record, I’m with you. I think there’s a logical explanation for why you look like a mini-Terminator—”
“Mini?”
“Arnold was larger than life in that movie, so don’t even try to go there. But I know there’s a reason for what’s happened to you. We may never find out what that reason is, but the cause doesn’t change the outcome. You have a responsibility to understand how the new equipment works. People change in your presence.”
I promised myself not to bring this up until we were face-to-face, but I can’t help it now. She opened the door. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you change, or is the attraction real?” I ask.
“Huff, seriously? You’re not actually asking if I’m into you. Right?”
The disdain in her voice tells me everything I need to know. Me and her together has never entered her mind, so why ruin a perfectly good friendship?
“Well, you keep looking at me,” I say with a heaping helping of snark. “Wanted to let you down easy, ya know? I got my eye on someone else. But I could pencil you in my calendar for a threesome if you ask nicely.”
She chuckles. “You keep that elephant-sized dick away from my lady parts. I need them for having kids someday. Can’t have you all up in there, punching holes in my baby barn.”
I can’t help laughing, even if I’m feeling more than disappointed. I was getting used to the idea that maybe she and I could be more, which, I won’t lie, felt right. “Sorry, Riv, but you have to pay extra for the barn-busting special. It’s on an exclusive menu I only show to serious lovers.”
River cracks up, laughing hysterically. The sound kinda lights me up. Not good. The last thing I need is a forbidden-fruit complex. “Hey, I gotta go. I need to—”
“Wait. You didn’t tell me how the rest of the drama-buffet tastes!”
“I’ll tell you tomorrow. Gotta go.” I rush my words.
“But we need to talk about Keni. I think she’s—”
“Let you know when I’m at the airport. Bye, Riv.” I end the call. If River needs to tell me something important, I know she’ll text me. Otherwise, it can wait.
“Huff!” my mom’s voice calls from somewhere in the house. “Breakfast is ready. And your father and I want to speak with you.”