“So, another shot then?” Maze asks.
“Hell yes!” I laugh as I look over them. “Hell yes.”
After a few shots, I’m dizzy as hell.
“Any chance there’s chips or something in here?”
“Some healthy shit of Ranger’s in the fridge under the bar,” Axel says, pouring another shot. “Help yourself.”
Bending down, I look in the tiny fridge. Apples, oranges, hard boiled eggs. Nothing sounds good. Then I spot candy. I pull the baggy out, open it, reach inside, and then pop a few in my mouth.
“You can’t hide sugar from an emotional eater.”
Axel, Ranger, Maze, and Grimm all look at me.
“I found your candy.”
Ranger swallows hard. “You eat any yet?”
“I’m gonna eat the whole damn bag.” I laugh, reaching inside.
Maze jumps forward and snatches the bag.
“Damn, Maze, I haven’t seen you move that fast this whole time.”
“You eat a lot of them?” Axel asks, his face now as white as Grimm’s normally is.
“A few. Why?”
Ranger scowls. “How many’s a few?”
I swallow the last of the chewed-up gummies. “How the hell would I know? And why are you all acting so weird?”
Axel sighs. “Dump and count, man.”
Maze dumps the bag on the table and begins counting. Then he starts counting again.
Freaking out, I grab the bag that he tossed on the floor and look at it.
Blazed Goods.
“Blazed …?” I pause when I remember seeing the name on the side of a food truck. Then I remember when I thought it was donuts, and Tags told me, “It might be, but I’m guessing it’s the special ingredient that gives it the name.” When it didn’t click, he laughed at me. “Edibles, sweets.”
I look up, and they’re all looking at me.
“How fucked up am I going to be?”
“Pretty fucked up. You ate three.” Grimm actually laughs.
I try to stay calm, but then I remember one hit off a pipe in undergrad to mark off one of Dad’s Ds, I was fucked up pretty good. “Am I going to get sick? Die? What the fuck is going to happen to me?”
Maze smirks. “Pretty good chance it’ll start with paranoia.”
“Maze, you’re the one I trust most; please do not make a joke about this right now.”
“No joke, Little Bell; you’re gonna be so fucked up.”
I look at the bag. “ ‘Recommended usage: no more than two in a four-hour period. No more than four a day. Keep refrigerated and—’ ”
“Gimme that.” Grimm snatches the bag then swipes the gummies on the table and into the bag.
“Seriously, guys, have any of you taken three of these at a time, like ever?” I look around and shake my head.
Grimm reaches into the bag and pulls some out. He opens his hand, revealing three, then pops them into his mouth and swallows them without even chewing. “I have.”
This is bad. This is so fucking bad.
“Dude, what the fuck?” Axel snatches the bag.
“I’m not gonna be a bitch and let her do it alone.”
I slap my palm against my forehead. “Grimm, I wish you had.”
“Your date tonight?” Maze whispers, but we all hear him.
“Fuck.” Grimm runs his hand through his hair. “Well, I got a few hours. Let’s see how it goes.”
I hear the door open as I watch Axel move to the fridge, toss them in, and kick the door shut. When I look back, Blade and Breaker are walking in, and behind them, Tags is carrying an armful of pizza.
This is going to be so fucking bad.
“We’re here to celebrate.”
Ranger sighs. “Shit.”
Nineteen
Blazing
Tags
“This is a joke, right?” I ask for the second time since the idiots told me that Isabella was about to take flight.
“Nope.” Grimm grins. It’s fucking creepy seeing him acting more human than corpse. Add that smile, and it’s not just creepy; it’s downright disturbing.
I hurry to the bathroom and pound on the door.
“We’re in here right now. Please hold.”
Taking a chance that it’s not locked; I turn the knob and open the door.
“Who’s we?”
“Me and her.” She throws her thumb over her shoulder at the mirror.
“That’s your reflection, Bella.”
“Call me, Little Bell.” She grins, and not creepily like Grimm, but not the normal, I’m-a-badass-little-seductress-and-I’m-gonna-fuck-a-hole-in-your-heart-with-my-spirit-dick Isabella either. She pouts out her bottom lip. “Okay, but they call me it, and everyone else does, too. Well, not here, but home. My daddy calls me Little Bella, and Cyrus, and Zandor, and Xavier, and Momma Joe, and Momma Carly, and Aunt Tara, and Aunt—”
“Okay, Dorothy, just a heads-up, you’re gonna feel like you’re not in Kansas anymore, but you’re gonna be fine in a few hours. Best thing for you to do is chill the fuck out and—”
She pushes past me. “Let’s watch The Wizard of Oz, guys!”
Running my hand over my face, I try to figure out what the fuck I’m going to do next.
“We were going to show them the tape we’ve been working on; how about that instead?”
Great idea, Stanley.
“But then can we watch The Wizard of Oz? It’s my favorite movie of all time. And it has to be the original. The original is the best. I can show you all sorts of things you never even noticed in the film, because I used to watch it every day. It’s the best movie ever.”
“Ever?” Blade asks, fucking with her.
I walk into the room and lean against the wall, watching Bella walk in a circle and smile at everyone.
“Oh yes, it is. The absolute best.” She turns and looks at Maze. “Maze, I think you’ll love it most of all.”
“I’ve seen it.”
She lunges at him and hugs him. “Isn’t it the best movie in the …?” She stops midsentence, lifts her nose in the air, and sniffs. “Pizza!”
She looks at Axel. “Pizza’s the best food on the planet. Pizza in Italy is so different than in Jersey.” She scratches her head. “Actually, different than pizza in New York, too. And they call themselves Italians.” She slaps her knee and snorts. “Folle.”
“What?” Ranger chuckles.
She spins in a circle and grins when her eyes land on him. “Folle. It means crazy in Italian.”
“You speak Italian?”
“No, Momma Joe does. She’s from there. Her mother is Isabella, and that’s who I was named after, which makes no sense because Momma Joe left there at seventeen and married my grandpa Jonathon. He died. I never got to meet him. It makes me sad, Ranger.” She grabs his hand. “Really, really sad because he was alive, and my mom’s parents had custody, and they never let me see them. I didn’t meet my father until I was seven.” She lifts her nose in the air, drops his hand, and sniffs again. “Pizza. God, I’m hungry. Shit, it’s because of the cannabis bears, right? Or did I not eat today? Oh fuck.” She turns toward Axel. “It’s short-term memory loss, right? That’s what happens, and it’s already happening, and I really don’t want it to happen. I have some amazing memories from the past month, and I don’t want to forget them. Fuck.” She walks over and sits on the bed. “Next thing you know, I’ll be buying Sweet Leaf jewelry and screaming, fuck the police!” Which she literally screams. “God, I want to learn Italian. How do you think you’d say fuck the police and Sweet Leaf in Italian? God, I want to learn Italian.”