Chantel thanked me for killing Hersch’s
brother. It turns out he had been bothering her for a while. She also accepted
Graycen with open arms and Ella took a shine to him. If Ella liked him, then he
couldn’t be a bad person. Ella liked me but I had done some things I wasn’t
proud of. If she knew what I had done, would she still love me? I didn’t want
to even think about that. Ella’s love was as necessary as sunlight and rain. It
was as beautiful and powerful as a thunderstorm. Power and danger went hand-in-hand.
My father was going to come for me. I had to protect Ella at all costs. For
now, Graycen was our acting bodyguard. He had inserted himself into our lives
as if he had always been there. I didn’t realize how much I missed my friend. Both
of us had changed over the years. We changed in ways that made sense to each
other. We were becoming the people we were meant to be.
“It was Ella’s birthday, wasn’t it? What did
you get her?” Graycen asked.
“A taser,” I said.
“Of course,” Graycen laughed.
“She has me to protect her but just in case,” I
said.
“I got a gun for my thirteenth birthday. Dad
taught me how to shoot.”
“No guns for Ella,” I warned.
“You got her a taser.”
“A standard non-lethal taser. My own
tasers are tricked out to be lethal,” I said.
Graycen shrugged. “A gun with rubber bullets
then.”
I laughed. I forgot how funny Graycen was.
“How’s your dad?”
“He’s good.”
“Do you think one day your dad will kill mine?”
The simplistic question hung in the air. It was
child-like in its innocence yet the answer was dysfunctionally toxic. My best
friend inhaled and his answer curled out of his mouth like cigarette smoke.
“I hope so.”
“Me too.” I hoped someone else would take care
of the problem because I was too much of a coward to do it myself.
“How’s your mom? I haven’t seen Yara in a long
time,” Graycen said.
“She’s alive and healthy. I haven’t seen her. I
talk to her on the phone sometimes and even then our conversations are short.”
“You should cherish her,” Graycen said.
Graycen and my mom got along fabulously. He was
more of a son to her than I was. Graycen didn’t have a mom. She died during
labor. It made sense that Graycen attached himself to my mom, but it made the
void inside me grow.
“At least she’s not knocking on my door,” I
said.
Graycen hummed in response. I didn’t know what
I would do if both my parents showed up on my doorstep. Right now, I had to
deal with dad. I lit a cigarette. Graycen shook his head in mild disapproval.
“Still no alcohol or cigs?” I asked.
“Nope.”
“Don’t be such a purist.”
Graycen laughed and took a puff of mine. He
inhaled like a thirteen-year-old and coughed like an eighty-year-old. He handed
it back to me. “Yup. Still tastes like shit.”
“You’re a little shit,” I laughed.
“Don’t talk shit, you piece of shit,” Graycen
grinned.
Thunder cracked the sky. A cop car pulled up
the house. It took me a second to recognize him. Graycen’s dad had aged a bit
but the same fierce spark was in his eyes. Earl bounded up the steps in his blue
uniform. His mouth was set in a grim line.
“Dad, what are you doing here?” Graycen asked.
“Hello Daniel, I wanted to inform you that your
dad just broke Hersch Waters out of prison,” Earl said.
We looked at each other.
“Shit.”