Page 24 of Malice and Surrender
“That’s what gave me my asthma. At least that’s what the doctor says.”
I pulled the little match across the flint, and the flame rushed to life. I did what I’d seen a thousand times and sucked back hard on the smoke as I lit the end. Immediately, I began to cough and gag at the terrible taste and burning sensation sticking to the back of my throat. I had asthma as a kid, but I’d grown out of it and wanted to see why everyone liked these things. So far, I was not impressed.
“You okay?” Raine asked and got up on her knees to rub my back.
I winced away from her touch as my dick stirred in my pants. See, this was exactly why I couldn’t be around her anymore, and I definitely didn’t need her trying to make me feel better. That was not how this situation was supposed to work. She crossed her arms in a huff.
“Fine, choke to death, see if I care,” she grumbled. “I don’t even know why I bother hanging out with you anymore. It’s obvious you don’t want me around. I don’t know what I did to piss you off, but if you don’t want to be my friend, just say so.” Her eyes filled with tears, but I didn’t know what to say.
She didn’t piss me off. Of course, I wanted her around. I wanted her around too much. I wanted to hold her hand and kiss her and all the shit you would do if you were dating someone, but she was my foster sister and two years, two weeks, and two days younger.
Raine stood, and I grabbed her hand and tugged, though I wasn’t sure why. “Don’t go.” She had the prettiest eyes I’d ever seen, and how she looked at me now with her very Raine attitude made me smile. “Please?”
I added in a little pout for good measure, and she laughed. “Fine.”
“I still want to be your friend. I’ve just got a lot going on, and I’ve been off. Nothing to do with you,” I lied. It had a lot to do with her, but none of it I could share.
She sat back down beside me, and it felt good to have her nearby. She laid her head on my shoulder, and for a few minutes, everything felt right.
Raine had already been here when I arrived, and she was the same now as that day. Sassy, a straight shooter who preferred her jeans and hoodies over anything else. She thought she was awkward, while I thought she was adorable. Of course, now that I was a few weeks from eighteen and she was only fifteen, I felt like I was a creep.
“You gonna keep doing those fights?” she asked, and I lifted her much smaller hand into mine, staring at it. Hers looked so sweet and innocent next to my much larger, newly tattooed one.
“Yeah, the money is good. I need to pay for college somehow.” I shrugged. “They’re not bad. The key is knowing who you should fight and who to stay away from.”
“I guess so,” she said, and I knew she wanted to complain more. She already had, and I told her more than once that she had to stop worrying so much.
“You know what you want for your birthday yet?” I asked, and she shrugged. “That’s not an answer.”
“What I want is impossible.” She looked back at the house and then at me. “Ever just want to run away and go somewhere else?”
“Not really. Where would I go?” I linked our fingers together. This was dangerous territory. I should tell her I was too old to be her best friend while I walked away. Yet I couldn’t make myself do it.
“I don’t know. Just somewhere different. Somewhere that has snow at Christmas and mountains to hike, someplace that doesn’t have so many mean people, and no one would bother us,” she said, and I raised an eyebrow at that.
“Us?”
“Yeah, you’re my best friend. Of course, I want you to come with me. I mean, only if you wanted to,” she quickly added.
Hooking the long hair behind her ear, all I could think about was kissing her. “We better go in before they realize we’re missing. Don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.”
“Yeah, that would be terrible,” she said and let go of my hand.
The way she said it bothered me. It was like she wanted more too, or maybe I was projecting. I’d learned in school that was a thing. Mind you, they weren’t talking about what I had going on, but was pretty sure it didn’t matter the emotions.
As she turned to walk away, I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. I wrapped her up in my arms and held onto her, not saying a word. I expected her to protest or at the very least ask what I was doing, but instead her arms slowly wrapped around my waist. I never wanted to let her go, she was the first and only good thing in my life.
Tossing the finished butt on the ground, I leaned back on the bike and watched for my prey. There was a lot of shit in this life that I could get over and move on from, but not this, never this. Her reprieve was over. Fate had stood up and pointed me in the direction I needed to go. Raine Eastman was going to pay for what she did. If it was the last thing I did, she would know the mistake she made the day she named me as the man who assaulted her.
Raine
What the hell was I doing? Leaving the bar for someone else to clean was not helping my trepidation about the situation. I was practically shaking as I walked out with Avro. It must have shown on my face, because Avro spoke up as we reached his car.
“Raine, look at me,” Avro said, leaning on the passenger door. “It’s me. Tell me honestly, do you really think I would hurt you or let anything bad happen?”
I didn’t, but then again, I hadn’t with Kai either, and I still couldn’t think about that night.
“No, I don’t,” I said.
