Page 82 of Hex You

“Me, too,” said Colleen, and the rest of the pom girls echoed her. “Yeah, seriously. We stick together.”

Kirk’s grin was victorious. “Good choice.” He turned to Derek Burke, his best friend and the center of the Mustang’s football team—a team Kirk was determined to rejoin, no matter what that out-of-touch coach said. “Ready, Burke?”

“You better believe it!” Derek’s face was bright pink from beer and standing too close to the bonfire.

“Awesome! You drive. I’ll meet you at your truck as soon as I grab some stuff from the Jeep.”

“Yaaasss!” Derek tossed his empty cup into the fire. Six other guys, including Jarod Frazier and Dillon Sanders, did the same. Whooping and shouting, the football players and the less enthusiastic pom squad tossed aside their cups and headed to Burke’s big black Dodge Ram.

Kirk jogged to his Jeep, popped the glove box, and took out the switchblade he liked to keep there for emergencies. He tucked that into his pocket. He started to turn away, thought better of it, and went back to the glove box. He took the bottle of oxycodone, opened it, and shoved a couple pills in his mouth, swallowing them dry, like a real man. Then he jogged to Derek’s truck.

The bed was full of the pom squad smushed between footballplayers. Kirk nodded and winked at his men before climbing into the cab with Derek. “To the park!” he commanded Burke, and gravel flew as they sped from the lake’s parking lot.

As Derek pulled into Goode Park he sent Kirk a sideways, questioning look. “Hey, dude, this isn’t a gathering. It’s a bunch of church mommies making signs.” He jerked his chin toward the bed of the truck. “Those pom girls will definitelynotbe impressed by church mommies.”

Burke parked the truck beside a gray minivan that proclaimed GOODEVILLE UNITED BAPTIST CHURCH on its side with a giant cross. Kirk turned in his seat and snorted. “These church moms are gonna take care of our twin bitch witch problem.”

Burke’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “But I thought you did that last night when you threw that brick through their window.”

“Dude! Be quiet! The poms don’t need to know about that and neither do those mommies. All I did was warn the twins.” He pointed at the group of middle-aged women who had cardboard signs and craft supplies spread out over several picnic benches. “They’re gonnaactuallyrun them out of town.”

Burke blinked slowly and then he smiled. “Seriously? That will be fun to watch.”

“Seriously,” Kirk said. “Let’s go make nice with the mommies so we can have a front-row seat when shit starts to really go down.”

Kirk bounded out of the truck, jogged around back, and opened the tailgate. He reached out his hand and grinned at Kitty. “Need help down? For some of us, chivalry isn’t dead.”

Kitty made a little scoffing noise, but she took his hand—as did the rest of the pom girls. Then she turned to peer at the cluster of women and signs. “What is that?”

“A lot more than it looks like,” said Kirk mysteriously.

“Kirk! Over here!” Mrs. Ashley waved her arms over her head, flabby arm flesh wobbling like a turkey neck.

“What does Mrs. Ashley want?” Colleen asked.

“Don’t know,” said Kirk. “But it’d be real rude not to go over there.” He strode toward the group of women, resisting the urge to look back—and then breathing a long sigh of relief when he heard the group following him.

“Kirk, it is so lovely to see you again.” Mrs. Ashley pulled him into a mom hug before releasing him to point at the almost completed signs. “What do you think?”

Kirk studied the signs. They all said versions of BEGONESATAN,CHOOSE TOREPENT,JESUSSAVES,and, his personal favorite, JESUSISTRUELOVE. That one almost made him laugh. He let his amusement beam from the smile he turned on Mrs. Ashley. “I think these are great!”

“Um, hi, Mrs. Ashley,” Kitty said as she stared at the signs. “These are nice and all, but what are they for?”

Jana dabbed at the salty sweat that beaded her face and her brows lifted. “Why, Katherine, they are for Jesus and against Satan. If that isn’t clear, perhaps we should see you in church more often.”

Kitty frowned. “I didn’t mean that. I meant what are you going to do with them?”

Beside Jana, Mrs. Ritter spoke up. “We are going to march down Main Street straight to that nest of sin that is the Goode house and demand those two girls reject Satan once and for all!”

“Seriously?” Kitty said. Then she fanned herself with her hands. “Well, you better hurry because it definitely feels like it’s gonna let loose with some rain pretty soon.”

“Yes, the weather has certainly been strange.” Mrs. Ashley lifted one of the smaller cardboard signs that said JESUSSAVESand fanned herself. “It was lovely and cool, and then that suddenly changed. No matter. That just means we need to work faster. Come on, Katherine.” Mrs. Ashley’s eyes skewed the other pom girls and football players. “And the rest of you. We need your help to get this done before the rain starts.” When no one moved, she made little shooingmotions with her hands and narrowed her eyes at them, her voice taking on a mean edge. “I said we need your help. I didnotask.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the kids muttered and shuffled to the tables filled with fat Magic Markers and cardboard.

Kirk wiped a hand across his moist brow and joined them.Stay close. Remind them of the sins of the Goode sisters…Like waves crashing on the shore, Kirk’s wise inner voice whispered to him over and over and over…

THIRTY-FOUR