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“Well, he texted while you were asleep, and…”
“And I told him where to go fuck himself,” Slade grunted, going back to eating. Clearly, he didn’t care about the privacy violation, feeling justified in his actions.
“How?” I managed to get out between my clenched teeth.
“You’re really hot when you get all angry, Peach. You got some Scarlet Witch vibes going on there. You’re not going to melt my brain or anything though, are you?”
His comment had me blinking as I tried to process. “What the what?” Slade smirked, taking a bite of his toast. My eyes grew as I tried to figure out what the h-e-double hockey sticks just occurred. Shaking my head, I returned my gaze back to Simon. He was the most likely to tell me without malfunctioning my brain in the process.
“Explain, please.”
“Scarlett Witch is a character from Marvel, and she—“
“No, not that part! I’ve seen Wanda Vision, thank you very much. I’m talking about telling psycho Thane to, you know, eff himself.” It didn’t escape Slade’s attention that I mumbled the last part, still not wanting to say the word out loud unless it called for it.
“Fuckhimself?” he offered, tempting me with his raised eyebrow. “Just say fuck, Peach.”
“Quit redirecting the conversation away from whatyoudid.”
“He uh, texted him on your phone,” Zane offered, receiving a scowl from Slade. “What? She asked and deserves to know.I’mbeing open here.”
Slade dropped his head, rolling it around dramatically before he looked at me. “Fine.Zane’sright.” He chuckled, apparently finding it amusing that I changed his brother’s name. “Your phone vibrated when I was carrying you. It was a text from him asking why you hadn’t called him back yet. So, I kindly told the psycho murder stalker to take his slimy fake self back to whatever hole he crawled out of and leavemy girlfriendalone.”
“Argh,” I moaned, rubbing my temples. “So, you basically told the person who we think has been interfering with our lives for years you were on to him and then proceeded to insult him?”
When I opened my eyes, I found Slade looking contrite. “Well, when you put it like that…yes?”
“Awesome, so no plan other than to taunt psycho Thane. This is why I don’t sleep, becauseapparently, the world falls apart around me when I do.”
The guys all looked down, remorse heavy on their faces. My anger clouded the room, changing the mood and I didn’t like it. Taking a few breaths to gather myself, I calmed my panic. Nothing I could do about it now, and berating them for something wasn’t going to improve our relationships, either.
“I’m sorry, Lennox. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I never do when it comes to you. I just reacted. I didn’t mean to upset you, Peach. I just wanted him to leave you alone. But you’re right. There I said it too,” he sighed. “I probably only pissed him off more.”
The bravado had fallen away, and I saw the guy he’d been the night of the storm, the guy I knew him to be as Blaze. Mostly, I saw the man I was beginning to find again through his love letters. I nodded, accepting his apology, and the way his face changed had my heart skipping a beat.
“I’m sorry for erupting at y’all. It wasn’t helpful, either. I’m just furious I didn’t know. I’ve been around him formonths. I was the one to let him into my life. He even ate dinner with my family. Shit, I kissed him for crying out loud!”
My breathing came quickly, and I realized the problem. He’d taken away my sense of safety, perverting the things and people I loved with his deceit. The lines had been blurred between safety and danger. I didn’t know how to trust myself, and if I didn’t have that, what did I have? It was the problem I’d been having all along. Hands fell to my knees as my chair was spun around. They squeezed a rhythm, and I found myself looking into the eyes of the owner.
“When I wake up in the morning, and the alarm gives out a warning, I don’t think I’ll ever make it on time,” he sang, pulling a smile to my face.
“By the time I grab my books and I give myself a look, I’m at the corner just in time to see the bus fly by.”
“It’s alright ‘coz I’m saved by the bell,” we sang together.
“Thank you.”
“No problem, butternut squash.”
I screwed up my nose, shaking my head, but it had me laughing, and my panic receded.
“Not that I don’t love some 90’s Saturday morning nostalgia, but what the hell wasthat?” Slade moved his fork back and forth between us, utter confusion on his face.
“Don’t be so dense, babe,” Simon answered before I could. “It’s clearly their nerdy way of saying they like each other. You’re gonna have to get used to it.”
Slade glanced at him, a look of shock on his face. “But,no!” I bristled, expecting him to say Zane and I couldn’t like each other, but he surprised me when he grabbed Simon’s arm, speaking to him. “We’resupposed to be the cute nerdy pair!”
Simon chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. “There’s room enough for us all to be nerds. But I don’t think you’re gonna convince anyone with all your tattoos that you’re a nerd. Embrace your bad boy self, Slade. You got the whole resting asshole face down.”
