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It scared me even more than his anger did.
“Fine, then,” said Elijah calmly. With eyes full of malice, he looked pointedly at each of us before slowly plodding back to his side of the street. But not before calling something over his shoulder.
“I guess we’re taking things to the next level.”
Forty-Six
JAY
“He’s such an asshole,” I told Tyler again. “A greedy, lucky asshole.”
My friend looked confused. “Who, Elijah?”
“No! I’m talking about Luca!”
Tyler hadn’t been there for what happened — he’d been down at the expediter’s office, fighting tooth and nail to get his restaurant open. I’d been up on a snow-covered mountain, carefully peeling newbie snowboarders off the bunny trails.
Yet somehow, by some stroke of pure luck, Luca had been home. And he’d not only gotten to duck a punch from our piece of shit tormentor, he’d pounded him so hard in the ribs he’d actually felt bones crack.
All this was second-hand information of course. But I still felt the deep stab of jealousy that I hadn’t been able to get my own licks in.
“We’re damn lucky he was here at all,” responded Tyler. “He was supposed to come with me. He only hung back at the last minute, and was about to jump in the shower when he saw movement outside.”
The story Jenna told made us absolutely furious, and we were borderline ready to call the police. In the end though, he’d never touched her. He’d only claim he was jogging the neighborhood, in which he just so happened to live.
“If he hadn’t been here…” I swore. “I mean, if he’d laid just one finger on her—”
“We’d be digging a hole right now,” Tyler nodded, confirming exactly what I was thinking.
For a brief moment I let my mind wander down that morbidly happy avenue, savoring the satisfaction that might come with ending our feud for good. But I didn’t want Elijah dead, I wanted him gone. I wanted him defeated and humiliated. I wanted him to limp out of Northhold with his tail between his cowardly legs.
Besides, digging a hole in the ground wasn’t all that appealing right now. At least not during the frozen winter months.
“Where is she now?”
“Upstairs,” Tyler answered. “She wanted to shower. I gave her some of my clothes.”
I let out a low whistle. “She really ran clear across town?”
“Yes.”
“Damn.”
“I know.”
We exchanged a look, then rose at the same time. Tyler and I were good like that. We’d been friends for so long, sharing everything in our lives together, that we often knew exactly what the other was thinking.
Upstairs we found the bathroom empty, the steam from the shower already dissipated. Jenna was in Tyler’s room, sitting on the bed in an oversized T-shirt and a pair of his cutoff sweat-shorts that were so big they were falling down her waist. She’d tied them off to one side with a rubber band.
“Hey, honey.”
At the sound of our approach Jenna suddenly stiffened. She reached up quickly and dabbed at her eyes. But there was no hiding what was going on.
“Oh my God, are youcrying?”
We rushed to sit on the bed, sliding in on either side of her. Jenna’s cheeks were still wet from the tears she’d wiped away. She couldn’t hide her red eyes though.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” Tyler asked.
