Vroom. Vroom.
“What?” That was an engine rev, but from where?
Vrooooooom!
Suddenly, a motorcycle jumped from the trees and cut me off in a deadly maneuver. “Ahhh!” I slammed the breaks, tires screeching, neck hurting in a whiplash.
It took me a second to recognize the bike. It was Laius’s, and he was dismounting it, eyes blazing at me. I stuck the gear in reverse and hit the gas only to stop to a halt as another bike was behind me. Ty’s.
My door swung open, and Laius’s strong arms were yanking at mine. “What the fuck you think you doing? Get out.”
“No,” I jerked him off of me and headbutted him. My skull vibrated like a half-boiled egg. “Ooooouuu. Jesus.”
He gaped at me for a second, as if he couldn’t believe what I’d just done and had no words to say to it. He stopped grabbing me out and checked my forehead. Then he sighed. “God help me.”
My hand flew to my forehead, feeling for a bump. “Did I just fracture my skull?”
“Won’t rule it out.” He just carried me out of the car. I let him. I even clasped my hands behind his neck and surrendered into his arms as he carried me home.
It was funny how I called a place I’d been in for two days only, most of which when I wasn’t sober, a place I hadn’t even seen all of yet, home. Perhaps homes weren’t places. Perhaps they were people, and Laius felt like home. Even when we were fighting. Even when we were nothing but a mistake. Even when I knew my days with him were numbered.
He climbed up to his—our—room, while Hook, Texas and some girls in nothing but flimsy undergarments followed us with their eyes only. He laid me on the bed, and instantly his hands were all over me, checking for any injuries.
I took off my sunglasses. “I’m fine. It’s just my head and a little on the neck. Do I have a bump? Do I look hideous now?”
“Hideous? Never. Even with a fucking bump the size of a soccer ball.”
I touched my forehead reflexively. “Oh my God. Can I get a mirror? At least, tell me I hurt you a little.”
“Not just a little. My head is buzzing like you fucking hit me with a crowbar.”
I chuckled. “Good.”
“Not good, baby. Not good at all. What were you thinking running off like that…and then headbutting a man double your size? You could have hurt yourself bad.”
“Badly.”
“Jesus Christ, woman. I don’t care about your stupid grammar right now.”
“First, grammar isn’t stupid,” I said seriously. “Second, what do you care about right now? Keeping me housebound?”
“Keeping you safe. All I’ve been doing since I met you is keep you safe, Jo. It’s like it’s all I’m living for now, and I love every second of it because, God forbid, if something ever happens to you…” His voice cracked. Then he grimaced, pointing at the window that I could see now had a view on the open yard. “What the fuck were you thinking? You could have killed yourself, baby. All this for what? Because I called Delilah?”
I wasn’t thinking. I was devastated and needed to get away from Laius and Tirone as far as possible. I just couldn’t bear it. But I couldn’t tell him any of it. “No, of course not. I mean…not just that. It’s a lot of things.” Things too obscene and depraved to be uttered in words. I opted for the things that I could speak of. “You can’t hold me prisoner. You can’t decide things for me. And you certainly can’t hold my phone hostage. Where is it, Laius?”
His face changed so rapidly as if a demon had just possessed him. Suddenly, his fist was around my throat, and his breath was loud and searing against my face. “If I had the fucking phone, I’d call the precious number-s myself to know who the fuck was so important you can’t afford to lose? Is it him? Is that who you’re desperate to fucking call?”
“Who’s…him?” I choked.
“Mark fucking Chadwick,” he growled.
What? Why would I call mark Chadwick? How did he even know that name? Mark was a student of mine and Ty’s…friend. Shit. My nostrils flared with anger yet desperate for breath. Laius must have asked Tirone about the student affair to get the name he yearned to have. Tirone must have lied to Laius about it and gave him his gay friend’s name.
“You thought you could hide him from me forever?” he huffed.
My eyes bulged with the pressure as he squeezed. “You’re wrong…Laius. He…lied.” Tirone had talked to me about this plan. If there were ever rumors about us, which I now believed there might have been if the Lanzas were so sure about it, he’d leak a story about me and a gay student who hadn’t come out yet. Then when the school discovered the student was gay, I’d be cleared. It was a genius plan. Evil but genius.
Tirone never used it at school, but he used it now with his father. I never thought his own friend who had confided in him and entrusted him with his secret would be the main character of that story. Like I said. Evil.
