Chapter Seven
Moth
My bike wheel caught as I sped onto the next street, but I didn’t slow, instead using the pounding of my heart to push faster.
“Fucking hell.”
When Alia had kissed me, the darkness had drawn me in. The memory of the heat between us still left me with a hard on that strained against my jeans. She was always a risky bitch, but coming on to me in the darkness, when I could’ve been her stalker… her senses had clearly been as mucky as they were when we were teens.
My fingers tightened around the handlebars as I pushed away the memories. I had a death wish, but my vow, which I’d mostly written off, was now at the forefront of my mind. The image of Wasp’s face came into my mind and his voice, pleading for me to leave him…
Shaking my head, I gritted my teeth and pushed on. I was already in a shit headspace when I’d bumped into Alia on the bridge. If I went down the rabbit hole of revenge, I could regret it.
Before I’d even blinked, I was slowing the bike down to an idle and pulling into the field just outside of the town. The abandoned house was highlighted by the rising sun, the blown out windows and the missing roof lit up, just like it had been that night… with fire.
Turning off the engine, I sat back and lifted my helmet off. The cold air brushed against my cheek, despite the heat that fired my insides. I hadn’t been back to the place where my life had changed in over ten years.
My phone started to ring, jolting me from the pain that gripped my chest. I grabbed it out of my pocket and checked the name. Fly.
Clearing my throat, I answered the call. “I’ll be late.”
“Where are you?” His snapped question wasn’t a surprise.
I was supposed to be going to a work meeting with him, even though I’d warned him that stupid o clock was not my most happy time.
“I’m at the house.” My quiet reply was met with silence.
“ The house?” His voice was shushed too.
Grunting, I climbed off the bike and took a few steps forward. What had happened, all those years ago, when we were just boys, had changed the whole course of our lives.
“Fucking hell, Moth,” Fly said, “What drove you to go there? You swore to never lay eyes on where Wasp–”
“Don’t say it,” I interrupted him, dropping my gaze to the lush green grass under my boots.
Coughing, Fly paused before he spoke again. My shoulders tensed, ready to hear his lecture. Except, it didn’t come.
“It’s Alia,” he said, “isn’t it?”
My fingers clenched the phone and it slipped, almost dropping from my ear. Holding it tightly, I growled as I lifted my gaze again. My feet moved of their own accord, taking me towards the house where we’d hidden from our enemies. We’d believed we were safe. Until she’d ruined it.
“You know what I promised.” I stepped up into the open doorway, my gaze slipping straight to the beam that sat across the hallway, blocking me from access.
The pain shot through my chest and I crouched, touching the stained ash floor with my free hand.
“We thought you’d moved on from that,” Fly said, bringing me back from the edge of the memory. “Has it reignited? Because if it has, we stand with you, man.”
Sighing, I stood and stepped over the beam, coming to stand right beside where he’d been trapped. Wasp. His leg had got caught when the wood had fallen, pinning him to the ground. The wood was already ablaze, and even using all my might, I hadn’t been able to free him.
My eyes closed and I inhaled, remembering the stench of smoke as it slipped up my nose. His screaming face was contorted as he pushed my arm, urging me to leave.
“I vowed to him…” Kneeling, I stared at the spot where he’d been. “…that I’d kill the person responsible for ratting us out.”
Fly’s breathing hitched as he held his breath. “And…?”
“When I found out that she’d also set the fire… vengeance was sealed.” I closed my eyes, ignoring the single tear that trailed down my cheek. “After our years in that place, I promised I’d let go of all this shit. There’s enough to concentrate on.”
“Yeah,” Fly said, “and you’ve come a long way since we were kids. You’re different.”
Scoffing, I opened my eyes. “And yet, I was about to throw myself off the bridge a few days ago. This demon has got to be slain.”
Fly was silent for so long, I wondered if he’d heard me. Standing, I surveyed the wreckage of where Wasp spent his final moments. When he’d made me run for freedom, I’d gone, leaving him to his fate. However, I hadn’t been free, not since that moment.
“Like I said earlier,” Fly interrupted my thoughts, “we’re with you whatever you decide. We promised that we would support one another, no matter what. You made that vow… and we’re here to help you enact it, however that’ll look.”
Stepping back over the beam, I moved to the door, the memory of that night playing in my mind. In the distance, to the right, I saw the image of a pink dress billowing as Alia fled, her blonde hair tarred with black soot. And to the left, several policemen, running straight towards me. I tried to outrun them, to escape the inevitable, but I was only thirteen, I didn’t have a chance. In fact, I still had a Taser scar where they’d caught me on the neck.
“She’s an enemy I’d tried to forget,” I muttered, stepping out into the sunlight, “but she’s burst back into my life, like a ray of fucking sunshine.”
Fly chuckled. “Okay, Mr Poetic.”
“And everyone knows I prefer the dark. I need the sunshine gone.”