His face was getting redder and redder. He opened his mouth—I shut it, with a fist.
He toppled out of the truck, and for good measure, he got a boot to the ribs. Then a second.
He lay there, moaning, but my message wasn’t done.
“You don’t seem to know what you are.” I squatted down, my arms resting over my knee. “You’re a future snitch.”
He paled, his eyes then darting to the others.
“And what’s worse, you’re a junkie future snitch. Those types only die, so if you want to stay in town, you clean up. If you don’t, these guys will relocate you, six feet under. Got it?”
His eyes went to Kess.
I growled, shifting to block his view. “And you really want to stay away from her. You go near her, you get me to deal with. You don’t want to deal with me.”
He didn’t like it but he had no choice.
The guys hauled him out, given orders to drop him off in front of a hospital.
Kess went to wait by my bike, and I had another word with Sauce.
Then it was time to go back. I still had a few hours and I needed to make them memorable.
11
Kess
I was angry at Johnny, but I was more hurt.
It wasn’t just him. I was hurt by our entire crew, because we weren’t a crew. We’d just been pretending to be. And I was angry at myself for not figuring that out earlier than now. They all left, and they had gone quickly. I was hugging the back of Chris, and we were going back to his place. I didn’t know when or even if I’d see him again. And yet, all of that aside, I felt like he was more crew than Johnny ever had been.
I pressed my forehead to Chris’ back, tightening my arms.
He reached down, his hand running over my leg and then stayed there.
It felt nice. Right.
I would be sadder about when we’d have to say goodbye than my crew. That told me everything.
I was such a fool.
When we pulled back into his house, he led me by the hand, and we went back to his room.
We didn’t sleep the rest of the night.
It was early. The clock said it was six in the morning when we’d collapsed after our last round.
I was resting half on his chest, drawing a circle over his stomach.
Both of us were sweaty and had no desire to move, not another inch. My body had no bones. I was a melting mess, and it was wonderful.
But still. The clenching in the stomach. It was there because his uncle was supposed to call. He’d shared that part when I asked when he needed to go, though I’d been dreading even speaking the words.
“Those guys are going to kill Johnny.”
His body stiffened.
I lifted my head up. I wanted him to see that I knew. “I heard what you said to him, about doing drugs. You’re right.” Another thing I was kicking myself for not seeing. “I actually think I flushed his drugs today.”
He moved his arm from behind his head and took my hand in his. Sliding his fingers through mine, he cocked his head to the side. “Good.”
That note. I grinned, remembering it.
“What?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. There was a stupid note on the door. It was kinda funny.” But thinking on it, “Johnny couldn’t stash drugs in the girls’ bathroom. Someone else must’ve done that.”
Chris didn’t respond, not that my statement even warranted a reply. It was done.
I sighed, laying my cheek back down on his chest. His free hand went through my hair, smoothing it down my back and up again. It was soothing and caressing at the same time.
“So, your uncle is going to call you to join their group?”
He tensed again.
I learned he did that anytime the Red Demons were brought up.
His voice was low. “Yeah. More than likely.”
That meant I needed to deal with it, start getting over him.
Was it sad that I needed to get over a guy with whom I only had one night? Or maybe that was a beautiful thing?
I didn’t know. Beautiful things didn’t survive in my world.
I looked up.
That made sense too, because Chris was beautiful.
He looked down, his hand coming to cup the side of my face. “What’s in your head?” His thumb ran over my cheek, so soft and tender. It matched his tone.
I wasn’t going to tell him that, so I said something else, “Thank you for being here to protect me this year.” My heart skipped a beat. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s done for me.”
“Oh, baby.” He sat up, curling over me, and his mouth dropped to mine.
But there were no words that could be said.
He was going.
I was staying.
It was what it was.
We had the morning still.
Then his mouth was moving over mine, and before long, we’d shifted. I was straddling him, and his hands were on my hips.
The sun was spreading through the room, inch by inch, but I wasn’t seeing it.
I was just feeling, and in a way, I felt like I was feeling for the first time.
12
Christopher
My phone rang.
We’d both been waiting.
It was almost noon, so my uncle gave us half of another day. I wondered if that was part of his gift to me for handling the problem last night.
Taking my phone outside, I answered, “Hey.”
“I have good and bad news. Which do you want?”
I sighed.
“The bad first.”
Max chuckled low over the phone. “Pack up. I want your ass on your bike in thirty minutes. I’ll send you the coordinates where to go.”
I gripped my phone tight, hating this, hating everything about this.
“Okay.” I was forcing air out through my nose, trying to keep my teeth from grinding. “And the good news?”
“Got a guy in the admissions office. Turns out, we need a college boy for our club. Guess where you’re going to school?”
Wait.
“What?” I started to turn around.
Kess was sitting at the table, her knee pulled up. She was hugging her leg, and her head was cocked to the side. She was trying to figure out a puzzle in a magazine I had lying around. Jesus, she was stunning. A breeze was going through the room, and I was noticing every detail about how it was lifting some of her hair strands, making them wave in the air.
Goddamn romantic crap here.
My heartbeat was drumming thick in my ear.
There’s no way I’d heard him right.
He laughed, though. “You heard me. You’re coming here for three months, and then returning for your girl. Heckler told us where she’s going to college. I need a future college degree guy in the club.”
I swallowed. “What degree?”
“We’ll get into that later. Go and break the news to your girl, and then get down here. Heckler’s got something to say to you.”
I was sure he did.
My uncle said thirty minutes, but he was going to have to wait.
I went and told Kess the news, and I didn’t leave on my bike until later in the day.
Much, much later.
* * *
THE END