“No, we are not.” I say as I slowly take her keys and help her out of the car. She thinks for a second, sizing the car, me, and herself.
“You are right, you are driving; I am too drunk to drive.” She gives me her keys, and at this point, I swear I need to find a new friend. This one is clearly going to be locked up in a psychiatric facility soon.
“How about we talk about it first?” I try to argue, but she pushes me in the damn car and closes the fucking door as if I am a kid, and she just secured me in my booster seat, but I am not akid, and I am not secured in the back seat like a good boy. I am a half-drunk grown man in the driver’s seat. I hate driving, and even though I am a decent driver, I doubt I can drive half-drunk.
I am forced to obey at her will, and I start the car, even though I disagree with everything that is happening right now. I take out my phone and try to type a message to warn Leo, but I fail because Rachel, in her attempt to show me something in hers, pushes my phone, and it slips from my grip.Fuck.
She mumbles something about the fact that the woman in Kai’s photo is clearly not a friend or a customer, and even though I argue with her about it, I don’t seem to convince her. So I don’t say anything else; instead, I drive until we are in front of the bar. I haven’t even managed to park the car when she opens the door and hops out, like a deranged bunny.
I leave it as is and exit as well, running after her. “Rachel. Don’t make a fucking scene.” I yell as I try to take control of the situation. Clearly failing. This is far from taking control. In fact, I am pretty sure I am making the conversation worse just by breathing right now. “Let’s talk about it. Wait.” I shout, but Rachel is not listening.
My phone rings, and I am glad I grabbed it as I exited the car, because it’s Leo who’s calling. “What the hell is happening? Why is Rachel outside of the bar?” Leo’s voice comes out frantically through the speaker, and I just try not to make her anger spike while also giving warning to Leo. “Yes. We are outside, and if I were you, I would take the blonde out the back and hide all sharp objects.” Probably Kai too, but I don’t say this because that’s a damn guarantee of an anger spike from Rachel, and I am not a fool or suicidal. I am not going to die for Kai. I barely know the guy. Now, if she tries to kill Leo, I might try to help him. The word “might” here is the key word, because if they both die, we can go back to our little routine with no boys or romance, except for fictional, and I am kind of tempted to let her kill them just forthat. The moment those two idiots entered our lives, everything went straight to hell. It’s like we stepped into an alternative reality where everything goes wrong.
Rachel shows me the middle finger before she bursts into the bar, and everyone turns to look at her. “What the hell, Kai? Who the fuck do you think you are, ghosting me like this?”
Kai holds both hands in the air, trying to calm her down, but he isn’t taking this seriously enough. “Calm down, little criminal.” He tells her with that sweet voice of his that won’t get him out of this situation, even though he seems to believe it will.
Leo leads the girl out of the bar, making a joke about Kai’s girlfriend murdering her, and I want to warn him that maybe he shouldn’t make murder jokes, but right now it’s kind of fitting. Once she is secured in what I assume is either the back room or the back entrance, Leo approaches me and motions me to exit the bar and leave the not so happy couple at their fight.
“We need to talk.” He whispers once we are outside.
“Yes, we do.” I admit.
“No, you don’t understand. Logan said that he was questioned by the cops; he took the blame completely, and they couldn’t find anything else, so he was simply let loose. His lawyer is fucking beast.” He explains, and for fuck’s sake, can’t we catch a damn break? I want to ask why we even believe this, because he wouldn’t get away with murder that easily since he already has a criminal record, but I choose not to, because right now, playing with Leo’s anxiety is not a good idea. I am sure that if we were in trouble, we would have been in a holding cell by now, and we aren’t, so it’s safe to assume we’ll be fine.
“Okay, what now?” I ask instead.
“He said that we shouldn’t meet for a few days and return to our normal routines.” Even Logan is against me. Sure, let’s not meet for a few days. Why don’t we break up while we are at it?
“Did you tell him about the...” I point at my ring finger, which is empty because Rachel only had one skull ring.
“No, I didn’t know if it would help. Besides, it’s only helpful if we’re questioned about it. No one actually needs to know, right?” I guess he has a point; we only got married as a protective measure. It’s not like he would want to be actually married to me. I am not an idiot. I know this much.
I don’t manage to say anything else before Rachel rushes out of the bar, grabs the car keys from my hand, and heads for the driver’s door. “Oh shit. I have to go. I’ll call you.” I say in a rush as I get into the passenger seat.
Leo goes back inside without bothering to even say goodbye, but right now I am more concerned about my best friend having a fucking mental breakdown mid-road to even bother with his attitude.
How the hell did we get into this mess?
Chapter 16
Noah
Hours have passed. Rachel is clearly more herself, and I allow myself to relax, sipping more wine while we finish our third bottle. It’s almost peaceful enough that it reminds me of our usual nights, and for once in this whole week since we met the demons of chaos, better known as Kai and Leo, I can finally read.
That’s at least until a sound from the side of Rachel’s house breaks both our attention, and we rush to the window. Hiding behind the curtains, we check the driveway at the same time.
“Is that your boyfriend?” I ask.
“Yours too.” she announces with a smirk and grabs her landline phone.
“He is not my boyfriend.” I argue, but then I register what she is doing and wave a hand at the two men, hoping they see me from where they are standing. They are too focused on their task, though, and by task I mean breaking into the house. Kai is on Leo’s shoulders, and both idiots are trying to reach the vine that climbs the wall all the way to Rachel’s bedroom. They are clearly drunk, and even though he is indeed not my boyfriend, more like my fake husband, I still find this drunk idiot fucking adorable.
“Hello, I would like to report a crime. Someone is trying to break into my house.” Rachel sniffles, pretending she is crying. “Come fast, I am terrified they will get inside. Help me.” She tells them her address and ends the call before the dispatcher can askanything else, as if the line had dropped, making sure that the police will come fast. Her distressed call is now their priority.
I panic inside because this house is still a crime scene, and the murderer is currently trying to commit another crime.
“Did you just report your boyfriend to the police?” I focus on Kai to avoid her catching up to the fact that I am worrying about Leo.
