Committed to You (12 page)

“Oh. Yikes.” He shrugged. “Yeah. I go to church every Sunday. Don’t we all? Sometimes I smell like a brewery and stink of … other things, but I make sure my behind is in church on every Sunday no matter where I am in the world. I have a blessed life. My other mom, Mrs. Elaine, said that if I don’t thank the lord every day, he’ll take it all away from me. I can’t let that happen.”

The front door opened. I knew because anytime I heard a sound close to anything being pushed open, I jumped up and rushed to the front to see if it was Evie and Cyn. They’d ignored all of our calls. Although the storm had come and left, stress kept my body jittery and alert. I knew the sound of the door opening, because I’d been rushing to the noise each time one of Cyn’s relatives came in.

The door slammed shut right as I marched down the lit hallway. Earlier, I’d changed the light bulbs so that Pipe could cease with freaking out about the darkness and whispering to me that he kept seeing glowing eyes in the shadows.

“There’s a lot of bad spirits in this house, Jay,” Pipe had said. “Over half of the people in the yard have dark auras.”

“Pipe, you can’t see auras.”

“Yes, I can. Your aura is telling me you’re upset and worried. This whole place is creeping me the hell out.” He hadn’t left my side until the liquor came out.

Whispering came from the living room. Once I entered, Cyn and Evie’s guilty faces greeted my eyes. They’d changed their clothes. Instead of the outfits from the plane, they both wore shirts that were inside out. Evie had on a jean skirt, Cyn some mismatched shorts. Both had their hair slicked back into pony tails.

“Where the hell have you two been?” I asked.

“We needed some space.” Evie untwisted her fingers from Cyn’s. I hadn’t even realized they’d been holding hands until that moment. It seemed odd.

What’s going on?

“Space for what?” I offered that to Cyn. If Evie figured I needed to know something, she would’ve already said it.

“Just space, Jay.” Cyn gave me a weird smile. “What did my mom say once I didn’t come back?”

“Nothing. She just kept looking for her water and then Pipe decided to play bartender.”

“Oh goodness.” She giggled. “Are they in the kitchen?”

“Yeah.” I watched her run off.

Evie stayed behind, got next to me, and dug her hands into her jean skirt’s pockets. “So Pipe has been entertaining the clan?”

“Yes.” Although I shouldn’t have tortured myself, I drank her sexy image in—the sensual outline of her neck, the two supple mounds of her breasts under the shirt, her sweet scent, and even the gentle sound of her breathing next to me. We stood next to each other, drinking our frames in and saying nothing more. When our eyes met, she got ready to walk away.

I seized her arm. “Can we talk?”

“About?”

What the hell did I want to say?

I rubbed my thumb against her silky skin. “We can talk about anything.”

“Are you hinting that you don’t want to go back to be around Cynthia’s family?”

“Maybe.”

“Okay.” She slyly got out of my grip, headed over to a red velvet couch, and sat down. “We’re only going to be here a few minutes more. Cynthia said she’ll go tell her mom that I’m sick and we’ll all rush to the hotel for a much needed rest.”

“Why did the two of you run off like that? Where did you go?” I sat down next to her as she took out her phone and checked her emails.

“Oh goodie. Professor Jenison just sent a message clearing me for this week’s absences. I told her that I was down here with Cynthia when we heard the news about her father dying. That’s the second professor that has okayed my not coming in to class.”

“It’s not like you’ve missed any classes during the semester anyway.”

“I didn’t have any emergencies,” she explained.

I laughed. “It’s perfectly fine to ditch class every now and then.”

“Naw. That’s not my style.” She slipped her phone back in her pocket.

“Where did you go?”

“To a park to talk.”

“About what?”

“Nothing at all. I ended up getting her drunk on vodka. We danced in the rain for probably two hours. Then jumped back in the car and made out. It took us forever to figure out how to pull Pipe’s back seats down, which was probably a sign of how messed up we were. She threw up outside of the car, which was disgusting. We changed clothes. Once I believed I was okay enough to drive, I took my sweet time cruising back down a dirt road to this house. You can drive right? I shouldn’t be behind another wheel tonight and I’m exhausted.”

I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Excuse me, but did you say you made out with Cyn?”

“So what did you and Pipe do while we were gone?”

We stared at each other for a long silent minute. For the first time ever, she looked away.

“You made out with Cyn?” I asked again.

Her bored expression crumbled into anxious giggles right before my eyes as she covered her face in pure embarrassment. “I’m losing my mind.”

“What?” I took her into my arms.

“I’m losing myself. I have no idea who the hell I am anymore. Oh my god. I kissed a girl. I was just in a threesome. I’m devouring marijuana brownies in the morning and drinking a bottle of vodka well into the night. I’m drunk driving, after what happened to your parents. I’m fucking drunk driving … oh Jay, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I did that and then—”

“Evie, calm down, baby.” I hugged her closer to me. “Calm down. It’s okay.”

“This isn’t me. What am I doing? I blamed you for the threesome, but that wasn’t you. It was me. Wasn’t it? I got myself into it. Something is wrong with me. Why? What the hell was I thinking? Why am I even here? Have I lost myself? It’s like the world is crumbling all around me, and I can’t figure out a way out. Am I like that crazy—”

“Evie.” I touched her chin and made sure her gaze was on me. “When was the last time you had something to eat or drink?”

“Besides the weed brownies and vodka?”

I gritted my teeth. “Yes.”

“Yesterday.”

“What about water?”

“Do rain drops count?”

I struggled with keeping myself calm. “You need to eat some food and drink an ass load of water. That’s why you’re having this mental crisis right now.”

“But it is weird that I kissed her right?”

Fuck. Don’t think about how hot that would be? Stop it, Jay. If you even picture it, you’re dick will burst through your pants. Anything else you say will mean nothing to Evie because she’ll remember that in the end you’re a pervert just like other men.

I swallowed. “Logically, it is strange that you kissed her. Did you like it?”

“Kind of.”

Tread slowly.

“Would you do it again?” I asked.

“I have no idea. I’ll probably wake up tomorrow and regret it all. We were both so faded and wet in the back of the car.”

How wet? In the back of the car? Clothes or no clothes … Stop it. Keep your mind out of your pants.

“The next thing I knew, her lips were on mine and her hands … ”

I licked my lips. “Yeah?”

She quirked her eyebrows. “Are you in best friend mode or horny guy mode?”

“How about sensitive ex-boyfriend that should be back in your life mode?”

“That wasn’t an option.”

“It should be.”

Silence hit us both.

I blew out a long breath and rose. “Sorry. I’m in best friend mode. Let’s get something in your body.”

The door opened. One of Cyn’s Uncles from earlier stepped in with his wife. “Hello there. Evie, right?”

Evie got up with me. Her relaxed expression shifted from strained and angry. She opened her mouth and bared her teeth at him like she was some rabid animal. “Don’t say my name.”

What the hell?

“Excuse me, but who are you?” His wife pointed at me.

Cyn’s uncle shook his head. “Honey, it doesn’t matter. Let’s go into the other room. Clearly this young lady has been drinking or something.”

Evie scowled at him, but said nothing else, which shoved me further into protective mode. For as long as I’d known my best friend, she never just started conflict with anybody that hadn’t earned it. If Evie was pissed off at this guy, then he deserved it.

Is this the piece of shit that hurt Cyn, or did this guy do something to Evie?

Cyn’s aunt clutched her pocket book. “Well, I think she should apologize.”

“I’m not apologizing.” Evie crossed her arms over her chest. “Especially not to
Uncle Kevin
.”

I didn’t like the way she said his name. It sounded wrong from her mouth like the mere mention of the words caused her to almost vomit.

“What’s wrong, Evie?” I asked.

She wouldn’t look at me. I formed my fingers into fists. “Is he the one?”

She turned away and nodded.

That was all I needed to end this shitty day, to have the sick bastard that damaged Cyn right in front of me, aggravating my Evie. I was across the room probably before any of us comprehended. Smirking, he targeted me with a furious gaze as if he’d been hoping to have the opportunity to hit me.

You don’t like me being Cyn’s boyfriend, do you? You sick fuck?

“Why did you do it?” I drew back and tried to hit him.

He blocked my arm and shoved me way. I stumbled over a plant behind me. His wife screamed. Evie shrieked. The next I knew a dead cat wearing a sailor’s outfit traveled through the air and crashed into the pedophile’s forehead.
Where the hell did the cat come from?
He smacked it away, which gave me enough time to jump up and charge for his center. “Son of a bitch!”

My head met his stomach. I punched at his gut. We crashed onto the floor, knocking over a lamp and a table.

“Get off of him!” his wife screamed. “Somebody help. These people are crazy!”

“You’re crazy!” Evie yelled back.

We wrestled on the ground. Many footsteps pounded behind us. Chaotic words and noises came next. So many people talked and bumped into things. All I focused on was the sicko in front of me.

He’d taken a little girl’s innocence and damaged her for his own pleasure and self-gratification. He hurt her.
How many times?
It didn’t matter. If I knew the exact number, I wouldn’t have stopped, no matter how many people tried to get me away from him. They all tried. Many grabbed my body to pull us apart as I pounded my closed fist into his jaw. He grunted in pain, struggling to escape. Blood and battered flesh covered his face.

“Jay, please! Stop!” Evie’s voice rose above everyone else’s. “Please!”

I let go of him and staggered back. The bastard was a lump of blood and puss in the corner, coughing into his scratched up hand and wheezing.

“What is going on?” Cyn’s mom raised her hands in the air.

I wiped my face. Blood covered my hand. I could tell my right eye would be swollen within the hour. It had that puffy feel when I touched it.

“Why would you attack my brother-in-law?” Cyn’s Mom shrieked. “My husband is dead and you—”

“Mom, stop. We’re leaving.” Cyn had shaking hands in front of her chest as she kept her gaze to the floor where that sicko still lay. It was the scariest I’d ever seen her. It made me want to jump back down on the bastard and hurt him some more.

“Go? With these crazy people? No.” Cyn’s mom grabbed Cyn’s arm. “You’re not going anywhere with them.”

Pipe held a dead cat in his hand. Evie held two. I didn’t know who’d thrown the cat at Cyn’s uncle earlier, but I guessed the most obvious choice was one of them. I would’ve laughed if not for the fear that Cyn wouldn’t climb out of her mom’s arms and leave with us.

“Come on, Cynthia,” Evie said. “Let’s go.”

“Hold on.” The pervert’s wife stepped in holding her pocket book up. “I’m calling the police.”

“Call them.” Evie stomped her way. “Let’s see if your husband wants them here. Do you, you piece of shit molester?”

The room went silent. People exchanged glances with each other. No one seemed to know how to deal with Evie’s drunken comment.

“Everybody stop. Mom, let go of me.” Cynthia snatched her hand away. “We’re leaving and no one is pressing charges. Right, Uncle Kevin?”

“Right.” With a reddened face, he slowly got up into a sitting position.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Evie pushed me forward and handed me Pipe’s keys. “Come on.”

Cyn followed her with no problem, leaving her mother’s pissed off pleas behind her.

“Outside now, Jay. Let’s leave. We can’t do anything else.” Evie nudged me some more. “Let’s just make sure we get our asses out of here.”

“Okay.” I walked off.

Pipe tucked the two dead cats under his arm and waved goodbye to Cyn’s mom. “Nice meeting everyone and thank you very much for opening your home to us.”

I sat on the floor in Pipe’s dark hotel room. He’d pushed his bed and night tables against the wall. The two dead cats he’d taken from my house sat on the table next to his Michelangelo bong, which was a thing of art. Five different shades of glass—violet, turquoise, silver, lemon, and crimson—molded into little swirls that extended a foot into the air. At the top of the opening it shaped into the mushroomed head of a decent sized penis with two matching balls at the bottom. In the middle sat a place to put the marijuana and light it. Somewhere during the time that I’d talked to Jay and fallen asleep in our room, they’d all gone to the supermarket to get tons of things.