Didi #2
I don’t know what love is…I’ve never experienced it, even from Mama.
But this is similar to love. The warm ache inside, the pain, the longing.
The serenity. The gut punch in my core when Tommy failed math today, as if his feelings were tied to my own.
Day by day, bit by bit, Tommy is becoming my safe space. Like he’s all I have.
After school, I went to see the teacher to grab my extra assignments. He asked me questions about my plans for college and offered to help me apply for scholarships. I was polite and smiled, but secretly, my stomach’s been fluttering since lunch with Tommy, and I can’t stop thinking about him.
At 5:00PM, the halls are bare. Tommy is at track practice with Bax and Remy, which should end soon. I consider waiting to see if Tommy can drive me home but think better of it. Something as silly as getting myself home shouldn’t be Tommy’s burden.
I’m still smiling, picturing him as I round the corner and come face to face with Cindy and her two friends. Her eyes turn dark when she sees me, as if something evil lurks inside. The girls flank me from the side, and the three of them corner me.
Cindy crosses her arms and taps her foot, the strands of her auburn hair flipping at the end. “Didn’t I tell you to get out of town?”
I roll my eyes. “Let me go. I need to get home.”
“Absolutely not,” she growls, shaking her head. “Not this time.” She sharply nods at her friends. “Get her.”
They hesitate. “Are you sure, Cindy? We could get in an awful lot of trouble.”
“Now, stupid.”
I try to lurch forward, but they grab me from behind, looping my arms behind my back.
I don’t fight as the two of them hold me.
Cindy stalks up to me, and I stare at her.
She’s at least a quarter inch taller and far leaner, likely because of her daily access to food and workout regime from cheerleading.
“I told you to stay away from Tommy,” she says. “He doesn’t need you ruining his life.”
“I haven’t done anything to Tommy,” I snap at her, but instantly regret it.
Her pupils darken like inkpots. “Not yet, you haven’t. I have a bad feeling about you… You’re up to no good.”
“The feeling is mutual,” I quip.
She sweeps her leg, and I fall to the ground.
Helpless, I lie there as the three of them tower over me.
“Do you know how we deal with evil ‘round here?” she says calmly, walking over to the water fountain a few feet away.
She pulls out her bottle and fills it, walking back to me with a vicious grin.
She shoves me back to the floor, my bruised knees are already used to the position. “We pray for each other, and we take care of our own. We banish evil out of this town like fire. We raise our hands to the flame.”
Jesus Christ. She sounds like Mama.
She recites the Bible. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Psalm 23. I’m deeply familiar with it.
I brace myself, eyes closed, fully aware that this psalm serves to banish evil. “Do you know what else my daddy taught me to do?” she asks me, her eyes crazed.
She grabs my hair and yanks my head back, grabbing my jaw and forcing my mouth open. The force is so strong I can’t respond. “We use holy water to expel demons out of the body.”
I choke as she pours the water down my throat, and for a few seconds, I can’t breathe. My lungs cease and my stomach fills with fluid, and I try not to panic or inhale as I suck in liquid.
She growls beside my face and whispers, “Leave. We’ve had enough death here. I’ve already dealt with someone like you, and I’ll do it again.”
“Get off her,” a dark voice growls from down the hall. She releases me, and I keel over, coughing and spitting up the water I just inhaled.
I can’t see anything, just stars and darkness as I desperately try to catch my breath.
“She’s fine. I wasn’t gonna kill her, Remy,” I hear her say. “But she needs to go.”
Remy?
Their voices sound far away as I fight to remain conscious, and my legs nearly give out on me. I can’t stop coughing.
“Get out of here, Cindy,” he growls.
“That’s rich coming from you,” she spits. She kicks me one more time. “We are not done here, demon.” Footfalls patter away along with cackling that echoes throughout the empty halls.
I keep my eyes closed as I’m finally able to cough out some water and suck in a breath. I lay on the tile floor, focusing on expelling the rest of the water from my lungs and stomach.
It’s not long before his hands are on me, and he’s rubbing gentle circles on my back. “Let it all out, Didi.”
His hands are soft, comforting, and my body relaxes enough to cough out more water.
Finally, I throw up everything, heaving and shaking, and not once does his hand leave my back.
Once I’m finished, I rest my head on the filthy floor, completely mortified.
He shuffles around me, swearing to himself, and I hesitantly open my eyes, only to see his large black boot right in front of my face.
“Are you all done?” he asks.
I manage to choke out, “Yeah.” The school is empty, which I am grateful for, but this is utterly humiliating.
He reaches down and picks me up like a feather and helps me to my feet, then grabs my hand to steady me. “Can you walk?”
I yank my hand away. “Yes, I can walk.”
He keeps a steadying hand on me anyway, and all the emotion I have bundled up comes pouring out. My knees grow weak, and I stumble, nearly collapsing again, and before I know it, I’m in his arms.
“Let’s get you out of here,” he says.
He carries me through the hallway, and I notice how Remy stomps when he walks.
Unlike Tommy, who seems to glide on water.
Their differences are so stark, it’s hard to imagine them as friends.
I focus on the smell of his musty leathers and how close I was to death.
One more second and she would have waterboarded me straight to hell. She wasn’t stopping until I was dead.
Once outside, he finds a spot on the grass and sits me down. I lay my head on his lap as I gather my senses. “Why would she do this to me?” I finally ask him.
His hand finds my forehead. “Everyone in this town is narrow-minded. The Jesus freaks are the worst. She’s jealous and angry.
Tommy and I both screwed her a few weeks ago.
He had her first, then I had her right after, which is probably why she hates you.
The holier they are, the wetter they get when they do something naughty. ”
I want to puke at his cruel, disgusting words. Still, heat spreads between my thighs because I understand exactly what he means, and I hate myself for it.
“Why would you do that if you hate her?”
His lips twist. “I have my reasons.” He nudges my shoulder. “You think you can ride?”
I blink up at him, at his dark silhouette against the pale sky. I have no energy to say no.
He helps me up and wraps his arm around me, and I don’t fight it. After what I just went through, his hands are nice—safe.
We reach his bike, and he sits in front, and I crawl behind him, leaning my head on his back, his leather cool against my cheek. “Thank you for taking me home.”
He responds by twisting the key, kicking the stand, and roaring the bike to life. “I’m not taking you home. You need someone to watch over you in case you run a fever. What Cindy did to you could still kill you.”
Where the hell is he taking me, then?
He reaches around and grabs my hands, forcing them around his midsection. I squeeze my knees and dig in as close to him as possible as he takes off and opens up on the winding road.
Now this, the power beneath me, reminds me of Tommy… I don’t know which one I like better, having experienced both twice now.
He heads in the opposite direction of my house.
On this side of town, the houses are bigger, and shiny vehicles are lined up beside well-manicured lawns.
He drives me through the town, and eventually the houses thin out.
He continues to ride deep into the dark woods, and I lose myself in him, closing my eyes.
Eventually, he parks the bike and helps me off. He grabs my hand, steadying me as he leads me up the tree-lined path to the nicest house I’ve ever seen.
“This is one of three properties my family owns in town,” he tells me. “This is where I live, but my sister, Talia, owns it now.”
Talia…so much about this Talia.
We walk toward the property, passing a veranda and immaculate lawn. I got the sense Remy was rich, but this is obscene.
He leads me into the house, and at first, everything is a blur of red. As my eyes adjust to the dim light, things start to come into focus. The entrance has red walls, a spiral staircase, and a large portrait of an elderly man.
He leads me upstairs to a large room with a four-poster bed and a large bookshelf on the dark walls. My head is pounding, my voice is still scratchy, and right now, I can barely see anything.
I’m completely at Remy’s mercy.
If he is Shadowface like everyone thinks he is, then he could easily kill me, and I don’t think anyone would care.
He walks me to the bed and lays me on it. I immediately sink into his pillow and soft mattress. Then I realize how late it is as a grandfather clock somewhere in the house strikes six. I lick my parched lips and jolt up. “I need to go. I can’t stay here long.”
He hovers over me, and all I can focus on are his dark eyes. “You need to rest.”
“I don’t…” I lose my train of thought as I notice the gold flecks in them, and how undeniably sexy his facial hair is.
Wait… Remy is mean and cold; Tommy’s the sexy one. I shouldn’t have these thoughts.
“You don’t what?” he asks, smirking.
“I don’t like you,” I manage to say weakly, too drained to be sassy. “I’m not safe with you.” Lies. Being tucked into this bed is probably the safest I’ve been since arriving in town.
“Keep telling yourself that, little lamb. Your body went through trauma. Now lie down, and I’ll get you some water.”
I give him a flat stare, though I don’t move.