Lunacy (3 page)

“Since Jynxx seems to suck at introducing people, I’m
Kacea. We go to school together. Who are you guys?” I made a point
of including the red-haired guy in the sweep of my eyes, even
though I was avoiding addressing him outright.

“I’m Kenshin,” a tall, lanky blond with a deep tan
said simply. His icy green eyes were stunning set against his dark
skin, and it threw me for a second as our gazes met. “I’ll take a
chocolate milkshake, please. Large.”

I nodded, tilting my head curiously at the boy next
to him. His gaze was fixed very steadily on his hands which were
twisting almost nervously in his lap. “Conner,” he said, his eyes
darting up to meet mine for the barest of seconds before they
returned to his hands. “Um… an orange raspberry smoothie would be
awesome.”

“Sure thing, Conner.” I couldn’t resist a smile for
the guy. Apparently this one was shy as hell.

The red-haired kid leaned dramatically across the bar
and took my hand in his, lifting it to his lips, his eyes never
leaving mine. “My name is Gavin, milady. Remember it well, as you
shall most likely be screaming it later.”

My cheeks burned immediately, but the darkness that
flooded my eyes had nothing to do with embarrassment and everything
to do with anger. Conner visibly flinched as if the atmosphere
itself had changed and he could feel it. Before I could even open
my mouth to say anything, Jynxx smacked Gavin hard on the back of
the head.

“Alright, Gav. I think that’s more than enough.”

Teigan nodded, finishing his drink and taking the
glass of Sprite I handed him without question. He always followed
his booze with a Sprite. “I agree. That was rather crass, don’t you
think? You’re lucky she didn’t beat you with one of the empty
bottles back there.”

Funny, that’s exactly what I was thinking of
doing…

Rather than getting the hint and backing off, Gavin
leaned in closer, the smell of cherries and grenadine on his breath
almost overwhelming. “I like it when they play hard to get.”

I lifted the nozzle filled with Sprite, pointing it
menacingly at Gavin‘s face, my voice low. “If you don’t wanna wear
this, I’d suggest taking two giant friggin’ steps back…
milord.”

He chuckled then, and that really pissed me off. I
was a nanosecond away from squeezing the trigger when Prince came
over, looking imperious and threatening. “Everything alright,
milady Kacea?”

I took a deep cleansing breath, the full force of the
anger in my eyes still locked on Gavin. “Aye, milord. All is well.”
His eyes told me that he didn’t believe me, but he’d let it go
unless I asked for help outright. He went back to standing by the
door, greeting customers that came in and bidding others farewell
as they left.

The milkshake and smoothie took a bit longer, but it
gave me time to cool down as I kept my hands busy. I gave Conner a
little wink as I handed him his orange raspberry and went to take
care of a few other customers.

I flitted about from conversation to conversation for
a bit, having to head out to the floor and wait tables while one of
the main waitresses, this total badass named Perfection, went on
her break. As I came back from the kitchen with four plates
balanced on a much larger serving plate, Jynxx came up to me, the
other four guys trailing slightly behind.

“We’re getting ready to head out. I just wanted to
say bye before we left,” he said with a little smile.

I beamed in return, not used to such displays of
emotion from my classmate. “I go on my break in ten minutes if you
wanna hang around for a bit. I can give you a lift home once I’m
done if they drove.”

Jynxx tossed his keys over his shoulder to Teigan
without even looking. The slender young man caught them in his long
fingers, directing a little smirk at me. They all waved goodbye and
I couldn‘t help feeling slightly relieved that Gavin was gone. The
others seemed nice enough, but there was something about that one…
Something scary and not right at all.

***

Finally, my break came. I grabbed my food and a
drink, sinking gratefully into the cushions of a booth with Jynxx
sitting across from me. He kept me company while I ate, talking
more than I thought he was physically capable of. It was strange
how quickly we were becoming comfortable with each other after
never really talking before.

I scarfed the last of my grilled cheese sandwich,
chugged the half of my strawberry lemonade that was left, and
covered my mouth with a fist to stifle a burp. We both laughed and
Jynxx just shook his head.

“You know, for a spoiled little rich girl, you’re
alright, Kaysh.”

I snorted. “Spoiled? Not hardly. My parents live at
the bottom of a bottle at least two nights a week, I cook any meal
that happens in our house, and I paid for my own car –for the most
part. That thing’s like my baby and my boyfriend all at once.” I
sucked on a piece of ice, mumbling around it, “When you’ve got an
engine that purrs like that, who the hell needs boys?”

I was an expert subject-changer. My parents inherited
money when my Dad’s mother passed away. They used the money to get
back on their feet, feet which had been so poor that they gave my
newborn brother up for adoption not even two months before Gram
died. I was too little to remember either of them, my brother or my
grandmother, but I’ve never really forgiven my parents for it. The
fact that our initial wealth came from the loss of two family
members still turned my stomach.

We came into more money than my parents knew what to
do with. Naturally, expensive alcohol and even more expensive cars
were responsible for a large chunk of it being spent, to say
nothing of the million dollars they spent on our house in the
wealthiest part of the suburbs. They both ended up using that
wealth to get very credible and lucrative careers, so that wealth
could be maintained once they’d obtained it.

Jynxx’s laugh made me smile. So natural, so pure… Not
rehearsed like my mother’s. “Your break’s probably almost up by
now, Kacea.”

I glanced at my watch with a sigh. “I’ll go ask
Prince if I can duck out early, since they’re only open two more
hours.” I motioned for him to stay put and picked my way through
the dwindling crowd to the Viking lord.

Prince bowed his head to me slightly as I approached.
He gave me a knowing, almost fatherly smirk. “You can duck out
early tonight, kiddo. Go rest that arm of yours. Just make sure you
clock out. You can make up the time in the kitchen or doing dishes,
okay?”

“My thanks, milord!” I dropped a quick curtsy and
went through the kitchen to the backroom, changing and clocking out
before heading back up to collect Jynxx.

He chuckled a little and I raised an eyebrow
questioningly. “You look like someone just lifted the weight of the
world off your shoulders, Kacea.”

I shrugged, the weight of the duffle bag on my
shoulder making me cringe a little. “I’m a jeans and tee shirts
kind of girl. Fancy duds really aren’t my bag. Mom’s the
shopaholic.” I smirked. “I could wear the same shirt for three days
running as long as it didn’t smell bad. If mom’d let me out of the
house that way, that is.”

I led him to my car and we drove a while before I had
a sudden, moronic epiphany. “Uh… Where do you live, Jynxx?”

Jynxx laughed at me, and I couldn’t really blame him.
“I’ll tell you how to get there.” He gave me directions as we
drove.

“Hey, what are you doing Friday?” he asked me,
totally out of the blue.

“Uh… Nothing that I know of. What’s going on?”

“There’s a show at Club Luna on Friday. We, my band
and I, are playing at it. You should come.”

I thought it over for a second. Why the hell not? I
nodded with a smile. “Sure!”

We ended up at this cute forest green house with a
huge bay window in the front. Several other cars were parked in the
driveway. He hopped out onto the gravel covered ground and leaned
back into the car. “Thanks for the ride!”

“That’s what she said,” I replied promptly, causing
both of us to laugh.

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow, Kaysh.”

“Bye!”

I watched him walk into the house, thoroughly
enjoying the view. As I finally drove off, I felt like something
was missing. Like I should have kissed him goodbye or something. It
was the weirdest damned thing, because Jynxx definitely didn’t
deserve that kind of familiarity yet. I shook my head, pushing the
thought aside. I had a long ass day; I just wanted to go home and
sleep.

“Holy shit!” I slammed on the brakes as something
dashed across the road in front of me. Something huge and gray. I
pulled over and hammered on the switch for my hazard lights,
resting my forehead on the steering wheel and practicing deep
meditative breathing for a few moments.

Maple Lane was a long, almost empty road with two
houses on it aside from my own. I was almost home and very few cars
came out this way, so I didn’t know why I bothered with the lights.
But with the way today had been going, better to be safe than
sorry.

After taking a few moments to collect myself, I
double-checked to make sure no one was coming either way before
pulling back out onto the road. I was starting to wonder what I’d
done to piss off Mother Nature. She sure as hell wasn’t happy with
me today.

The house was quiet when I pulled in. Mom and Dad
were out God-knows-where drinking, but they’d left the living room
light on for me. I locked all the doors behind me on my way in;
again, better safe than sorry.

I turned on some obnoxiously loud and bouncy foreign
rock as I busied myself with the dishes. Good music isn’t exclusive
to English-speaking countries. The loud music made it so I wouldn’t
have to hear all the creaking, settling noises the house made at
night. I’d rather have someone sneak up on me and shank me than be
paranoid and jumping at every little sound I heard.

I’d been considering getting a pet, of late. Someone
to keep me company, so I wouldn’t be totally by myself all the
time. Maybe not a dog, but I’d be content with a cat or even a
chinchilla. Mom and Dad weren’t much for pets, but they probably
wouldn’t even notice with how huge our house was.

I heard something over the music and I instantly hit
the mute button on the stereo remote. I waited in silence,
listening for the anomaly again. When it came, it was the long
mournful howl of a wolf, shortly echoed by three answering cries.
Their lupine song, both haunting and beautiful, sent a chill down
my spine.

Since when in the hell had there ever been wolves in
Elm Valley, New York?

Chapter 4

As I expected, no one believed me the next day at
school. They said I’d either heard some ballsy coyotes who were
daring enough to come right up to our well-lit lawn, or that I was
hallucinating from my massive blood loss.

Dumb asses.

I didn’t bother wasting my breath arguing. When the
Big Bad Wolf came along to show them what big teeth he had, he
could rip their faces off for all I cared.

It was third period and I was in study hall, working
on my homework from Shakespeare Lit and Calculus. I was beat and
had been relatively quiet all morning, so Jynxx sat down next to me
warily with a public display of friendliness that I honestly never
would have expected. “What’s buggin’ ya, Kaysh?”

I sighed and shook my head a little, resting my chin
on my hand. “I’m exhausted because a small wolf pack kept me up all
night with their howling. And everyone seems to believe me to be
too retarded to know the difference between coyote and wolf
noises.”

Jynxx cocked an eyebrow in disbelief. “The two breeds
don’t sound even remotely similar.”

“Thank you! I’ve lived out on Maple Lane, essentially
in the middle of the woods, my entire life. I know what a damn
coyote sounds like, and these were definitely not it.”

He nodded. “But wolves aren’t native to the area…”
Jynxx seemed to ponder for a moment. “Maybe it’s some adolescents
passing through. They were old enough to get kicked out of their
packs and are forming their own.”

“Yeah, but groups of just male wolves wouldn’t
usually travel together. It’s like this weirdo masculine dominance
power struggle thing.”

Jynxx shrugged. “Maybe they’ve already established a
power structure amongst themselves. Probably just looking for
territory of their own. And maybe mates,” he added, almost as an
afterthought.

“But if there aren’t usually male wolves in the area,
there likely aren’t lady wolves either.” I retorted.

“Could be some weird environmental factors pushing
them out of their natural habitat higher up into the mountains,
even.”

I nodded. “Maybe,” I sighed, letting my head drop
onto the table. "This is such a shitty day... I'm exhausted and I
just want to go home." I looked to Jynxx with a sparkle of hope in
my eyes. "Knock me over again so I can go to the hospital this time
and leave school early?"

Jynxx laughed like it was the funniest thing the kid
had ever heard. "You're not serious, Kacea."

I sat up, straightening my back. "I believe, sir that
you underestimate how badly I don't friggin' want to be here right
now..."

He patted my head with a little smirk. "Keep
dreaming, Kaysh. I never hit girls on purpose. But sometimes I'm
just a big lummox and I crash into them, anyway."

I snickered at his comment and punched him lightly on
the arm, shaking out my fingers since it felt like I whacked a
brick wall with it. "Yeah, you are kind of clumsy for a guy who's
in such good shape..." I teased.

He half frowned. "Well, screw you too!" And then he
proceeded to tickle me until I was afraid I was going to wet myself
and it was hard to breathe. After me writhing and squirming about,
giggling madly for what seemed like an eternity, he finally stopped
and I gasped to regain my breath.