Page 78

With Rebel, Fang, and Vaughn all out of the house, I got on with my usual tasks. The lawn needed mowing. The pool needed autumn leaves scooped out. Garden beds needed tending to, readying the plants to survive the winter. With a property this size, there was always plenty to do.
It hadn’t been my dream to follow in my father’s footsteps and spend my life waiting on rich folks. But not everybody got what they wanted in life. Some of us needed to work in order to keep food in our mouths and a roof over our heads.
Basic survival outweighed hopes and dreams every time.
At least this place was familiar to me. I knew every nook and cranny like the back of my hand after living here for as long as I could remember. We’d moved in here when my mom had died, and my father couldn’t afford the rent on the little three-bedroom house we’d had in Saint View. I’d been eight and in awe of the massive house my father worked in.
The day we’d moved in was the day I’d met Vaughn.
We were the same age. Young enough to not see our differences, and we’d become fast friends.
Oh, how that had changed.
I slammed my shovel down into the ground, put my weight on the edge to get it right down deep, then turned it over. The ground was getting hard. I’d really left this a few weeks later than I should have, but if I’d known Bart and Miranda were going to die, I might have done a lot of things differently.
Rebel’s car flew in the driveway at pace, bouncing over the curb with a squeaking protest from her suspension.
I jumped away from the erratic vehicle, choosing life over being flattened like a pancake, and stared at her as she got out.
She was grinning like the Joker.
It was entirely disturbing.
I put the shovel down and wiped my hands on the back of my pants. “Why do you look like you were just in a real-life episode of Grand Theft Auto? You’re supposed to slow down for driveways, you know.” I toed at the driveway with the toe of my work boot. “I think that’s part of your undercarriage marking the pavers.”
Rebel just laughed. “You know when I said we were going for a drive? Yeah, well, that happened. But it was just a drive with cops chasing us!”
I widened my eyes at her. “What the fuck, Rebel?” I glanced down the road, like a swarm of police cars might descend upon our quiet suburban neighborhood at any moment.
Fang slowly got out of the car, his face a little green. He leaned heavily on the doorframe. “She’s exaggerating. There were no cops chasing us. Though she certainly drove like there were. If you have an anti-nausea tablet, I could use one.”
I didn’t even think he was joking, but Rebel scoffed, her eyes bright with delight.
“Okay fine, maybe there weren’t actual cops chasing us, but there could have been! You don’t know that sedan behind us wasn’t an undercover car.”
“It was driven by an eighty-year-old lady with blue hair, Pix. I think we could have taken her if it had come down to that.”
Rebel punched her fist into the air and gave a victory crow. “Hell, yeah, we could have! Old bluey would have gone down! Pow, pow!”
I shot Fang an alarmed look. “Is she always like this?”
He shrugged. “Pretty much.” He walked by me and slapped me on the shoulder. “Get used to it if you’re going to live with her. She’ll keep you on your toes.”
“I can see that.” I watched Rebel dance around like a fighter, taking swats at her imaginary opponent. “What really happened?”
“Saw one of the fuckwits who hurt her. Tried to kill him. Ended up hiding in a closet for a bit while the cops searched the hospital, but they didn’t have the manpower for anything too thorough. We got out unseen. Not that I could convince Rebel of that. She drives like a chipmunk hopped up on cocaine.”
“I heard that!” Rebel complained, shoving her hands on her hips to glare at him.
He just gave her an indulgent smile, then dropped his voice and spoke to me, “You around for a bit? I need to crash. I think I really do have a concussion. I can barely keep my eyes open, and this hand is throbbing like a motherfucker. I don’t want to leave her alone though. Seeing him again…”
I understood, and the guy really did seem like he needed to be horizontal. “Go. I’ve got her. She’ll be okay.”
He went inside, the door closing behind him.
I slid my attention to the wannabe car racer. “So. You had an adventure, huh, Little Demon?”
She winked at me. “Story of my life. There’s always something.”