Page 157

Story: Electricity

“No!” I looked at them. “We’re the right ones. They’re the crazy ones. We can’t let them win!”

Lacey stood and walked over to my side. “Give them here,” she said.

A slow smile crinkled Danny’s face. The same greasy smile I bet he got every time things went his way.

Then he watched Lacey reach in through her shirt collar and stick the photos in her bra. “Take it from me.”

He leaned in. “Fine.”

Mason finally found words. “Danny, they were going to tell them about the cheating ring and fail me.”

“Get outside,” he said, pushing Mason through the door.

“You’ve already taken enough,” Lacey said, stepping forward, as Danny stepped back onto the cabin’s porch. “So no. You don’t get these.”

“I mean it.”

“What’re you gonna do about it?” Lacey said, taking another step. I was a foot behind her, just in case. “We’re all here. We all see you. We all know what you did.”

Headlights turned on behind Danny, casting him in sudden light. “And I already called the cops,” Darius announced, getting out of his car.

Danny flung an arm up, covering his eyes. All of us were on the porch now, and Danny’s friends were hard to see in the darkness. “Yeah? Fuck the cops!” he said, running down and swinging his bat and taking out the Corolla’s right headlight.

“Hey man!” Darius dove away from the shattered glass.

“What?” Danny asked, pointing his bat at Darius as if to aim. “The cops aren’t here yet—a lot can happen between now and then.” He stalked over to the other side of Darius’s car. “You think they’re gonna take the word of a drug dealer over me? Or a bunch of whores?” With another swing, he aimed for the second light. “Why the fuck would they listen to you? Any of you? Do you know who I am, compared to you? I am Danny fucking Mayweather and I am fucking famous!”

“Not as famous as Colton.” Liam appeared out of the darkness, and Danny whirled.

“Shut up, Liam.”

“Is that why you used his room?”

“Colton gave me the key!”

“So it’s true,” Liam said. And I realized up until that very moment he’d been looking for reasons to doubt me.

Danny swung the bat his way. “You’re the only member of the Lewis family who’s a pussy.”

A cloud rolled in, thick and fast, completely obscuring the stars. The only light was from the lanterns in the cabin, which gave everything a jack-o-lantern glow.

“Time’s ticking, Danny.” Lacey patted her chest where the USB was. “I think you need to just give up.”

Danny looked behind him and saw Darius, to the left and saw Liam. His friends—Bruce and Nathan, I could see now that my eyes had adjusted, and Mason were out there, but everyone’d taken steps back when he’d gotten bat-happy. And all of us on the porch were staring at him. He stood in the clearing, completely alone.

“Danny, we have to get out of here,” Bruce said.

“No—this isn’t happening. This is not how I go down.”

“Just give us the bat, Danny,” Liam said, walking up.

He swung it out at Liam in warning—and Darius tackled him from behind.

They both fell to the ground with a grunt and started wrestling just as rain began to fall.

“Don’t hurt him!” I screamed. It was so dark now the storm overhead was suddenly intense, in that way only midwestern storms could be. I couldn’t see all of what was happening because of it, just hear the violence when they hit, and the sound of their feet and knees scraping in the mud. Then I heard Darius groan. Distant lightning flashed, and I saw Danny’s arm wrapped around Darius’s neck with its light.

“No!” I shouted, running out.