Chapter 56
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Introducing Raven to Mom went well. And by well, I mean Raven and Axel sat so tense it felt like they had cactuses up their asses, and all the while, Rich threw snide comments at Axel. I’m the only one with a weapon on my costume, but everyone else feels much more lethal.
Axel gets drunk, rip-roaring drunk, while Mom tries to talk with Raven, and Rich makes tone-deaf comments.
I’m about to rip my hair out.
I interrupt before things can get worse. “Mom, where’s Mason?” There were supposed to be other friends and family at this party, and it’s well past start time. I’m painfully aware of how Raven keeps shifting in her seat and looking at the door.
She’s probably thinking about running, and I kinda want to run with her. Why the hell did I think introducing her to Mom this way would go well?
“I think he decided to go to the carnival instead,” Mom says.
I frown as Axel heaves off the couch. He makes a shuffle step, almost trips on my sword, then stumbles to the bathroom; Raven tells me she’s going to grab a drink and asks if I want one.
Yes. I want anything that keeps me close to her.
I bump into something on the way to the kitchen, tripping over it and cursing a little. Fucking glasses. I’m acting just as drunk as Axel.
When the fluorescent light of the kitchen lightens my vision, warm hands pull me to the side. “Careful, table.”
Fuck. Why would Mom move the table? It was probably Rich. He likes to keep us off balance.
“I think Axel’s puking.” Raven keeps her voice low.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. “Let him. Are you okay?” I want to reach out and grab her face. Feel if there’s a crease between her eyebrows. See how tense she’s holding her lips.
But I hold myself back.
“Fine.” Her answer is clipped.
Then, the sound of violent hurling comes from the bathroom. Axel was always a loud puker.
“Oh god, is he okay?” Mom’s voice comes from the living room.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Rich reassures.
The sound comes again, and it grates on my nerves. Axel’s been a royal pain in the dick, and even now, he’s still getting all the attention.
“I’ll check on him, but you good?” I ask Raven.
“Fine,” she says again, but this time there’s less venom. “Kick his ass for me, yeah?”
More than okay with that.
I stalk down the hall to the bathroom, where the door is open and the light is off. I flick it on and off a few times. “Wakey, wakey.”
Axel groans.
“You did this to yourself, you know.”
There’s a pause, then Axel moans. “Come to gloat?”
“Yep.” I lean on the doorframe.
I hear Axel shift, and then he screams into the toilet again. When he’s done, I hear him thump back down. “That checks out. You were always the good one.”
I snort.
“Goody-two-shoes.” Axel’s voice is sing-songy. “Run to tell Mom anytime Axel looked at him wrong.”
I cross my arms.
“That’s why it wasn’t you, you know.” There’s a hollow thump, and I think Axel has dropped his head against the bathtub.
I shake my head. He’s so drunk that the puking hasn’t even sobered him up. We’re definitely going to have to leave him here tonight. Oh no. I roll my eyes.
“It’s why Rich didn’t pick you.”
“What?” I wonder if I can take away the key Axel has to my house.
“Why Rich didn’t pick you. Because you’d tell Mom.”
“What are you talking about?”
“About the…” Axel’s voice lowers like he’s telling a secret. “You know. Hiding the pickle. Gloving the popsicle.” He giggles like he’s telling a joke.
Oh my god, he’s drunk as fuck. He’s definitely going to choke on his vomit tonight. “Let’s get you to bed.” I lean down, trying to get my arm around his. “Don’t puke on me.”
“You know what, I’m glad it wasn’t you, though.”
I try to pull Axel up, but he’s a dead weight.
“I’m glad because you were always the good one.” Axel’s voice tightens. “You wouldn’t have been good if it happened. You would have been like me.”
No. No, no, no.
The reality of what Axel’s saying slams into me like a brick wall. And for a moment, all I can do is hang there, not breathing.
No. This can’t be true. Because I don’t want it to be true.
“You know, I thought about killing him for what he did.” Axel hiccups, then giggles. “I know he touched her. He’s just like Rich.”
I can’t say anything. I can’t even breathe.
“I don’t know if Max likes kids like Rich, but I know he touched her.”
The words rip through me like a blast of cold air.
Axel laughs. “Something about them… you jussst know.”
Breathe. I have to breathe. I force a ragged breath in, then another and another. I feel like I can’t exhale… like I’m the one who’s going to get sick.
Axel settles himself against me, and I stagger to keep him upright. Even as the anger fills me, the things Axel says are rushing through my head.
Axel is just drunk, right? He’s just talking nonsense like all drunk people?
Like I’m being controlled by a remote, I walk Axel to his room.
Mom kept them for us if we ever wanted to visit.
Axel follows without a fight. When I drop him to his bed, I pull the glasses from his face so he doesn’t crush them.
He doesn’t even argue when I switch them out.
I grab a trash can and make sure the pillows are piled up behind him so he isn’t lying on his back.
“Do you think it’s true?”
“What?” I can barely breathe enough to get the word out.
“That it doesn’t mean anything.”
I stare at my brother. He has a dopey smile on his face. “Sex. That it doesn’t mean anything?”
I can’t answer. It’s like all words are stuck in my throat.
Axel just smiles wistfully. “It doesn’t, you know. It’s just… fucking.” He blinks once. “But I kinda wish it did.”
I hate the vulnerability in my brother’s voice. It scares me more than anything.
“But then, if it means something, it’s the scariest thing in the world.” Axel closes his eyes, and his breathing gets heavy. Then, he passes out.