Page 9 of Supernova

“Vee wait—” he attempted but I was too far gone. He had lost me.

I ran. I ran as fast as I could away from him, out of the house and down the paved path onto the street. I kept running and as I did, power coursed through me. I could have sworn I was running at superhuman speeds but obviously that was not possible.

My heart pounded in my chest so hard that I was sure it was going to break through my rib cage and limply fall to the floor. At this point, it would be welcome. My whole life was crumbling before me. He was a lie. His whole nice guy act—a lie. The whole hero thing—a lie. River was a killer. I mean he was a wolf for crying out loud, I should have known better—obviously he was a killer!

“Fuck”, I breathed out.

“FUCK!”

I screamed with absolute pain, not caring who I woke up in this fucked up town. A girl was dead. My wolf boyfriend killed her and I was the coward who left her there with her murderers.

???

“MUM”, I shrieked. “MUM!”

I stumbled with the key in our old front door and when I finally managed to throw myself into the house I ran upstairs to her room, hurling the door open without a single shred of concern for her privacy. I didn’t give myself a second to catch my breath. Didn’t care that I just ran all the way here. The adrenaline fueled my run and in my current state I hardly felt the tiredness that should have been consuming me.

Mum was already out of bed and had a pocketknife in her hand ready to harm whatever threat had me in hysterics. That was my mother, a true badass.

Even in my current state, that thought crossed my mind.

When she saw my tear-stricken face combined with my robe and slippers, she lowered the knife. Concern painted her face. I threw myself into her arms as I dropped to the floor, she caught me and lowered herself down too, cradling me as the tears spilled down my face in uncontrollable streams. My body heaved and she patted my back, waiting for me to explain. I couldn’t speak, words escaping me.

“Venus”, she urged. “What is it?”

I choked on a sob.

“Is it River? Did he do something?” she cautiously continued. I nodded, my eyes wide as the tears slowed to just a trickle. I took a deep breath, deciding I needed to be strong for Amelia’s sake. As my mum stroked my hair and wiped the tears off my face I filled my lungs with all the air I could muster up and divulged everything I had witnessed.

???

I fell asleep in mum's bed that night as she comforted me. She let me cry until sleep overtook me. The way I felt, I thought I’d never sleep again. But I cried so much that I dozed off with the tears still wet on my cheeks. My nightmares and reality all blurred into one as I dreamt about River holding Amelia’s dead body over and over again until eventually it just stopped and darkness was all I saw. Darkness, until I was awoken by my mother and the bitter smell of coffee.

She got into the bed, handing me a steaming cup. I wouldn’t drink it until it was at least lukewarm so I placed it on the bedside table and wiped at my groggy eyes, my face sticky from the dried tears. Celeste followed her into the room and jumped into the bed on the other side of me and I was sandwiched in warmth and love by two females that meant the world to me—we were just missing one.

Mum stroked my hair as Celeste threw her arm around me and pulled me into her. We sat like that for what felt like hours, silently mourning my friend. I didn’t know which loss was harder to take, Amelia or River. Because I’d lost him too. I’d lost years of sweet memories with my best friend that would now be tainted by what he’d done. ‘I did this.’ Tainted by who he actually was. Tainted by all the deceit.

“I hope there’s room for me in that bed.”

I knew that sweet, husky voice anywhere but even so I was shocked when I swung my head towards the door and saw Xari leaning on the frame, her lithe body clothed in dark jeans and a black tank, her tattooed arms crossed. She was stunning. Stunning and scary and fierce—just as I remembered her.

Her smirk turned into a soft smile and then she walked to the bed before plopping herself right in the middle, half on top of me. I hugged her like someone clinging for life, and the tears started once more.

I wanted to look tough the first time I saw Xari again, wanted to prove I was like her, but once again my stupid eyes and incessant tears betrayed me. But the way Xari held me—tight and ever so lovingly—proved that I had every right to feel this way at this moment. To break down. To feel everything.

It did not make me weak.

Mum broke the silence first, “We have a lot to discuss, Venus.”

“Maybe we should do this in the kitchen and get some energy in us first,” Xari insisted.

They left the room to get breakfast started and urged me to shower. How they expected me to get through a whole shower and breakfast before telling me what was going on was beyond me. Normally my mind would run wild imagining every scenario that could possibly exist, but after the events of last night, I realised I was oblivious to too much. So I did not bother trying to guess what they had to tell me. My mind would not allow it. Instead I silently, impassively showered, letting the hot, hot water wash over me.

CHAPTER 7

When I finally sat at the breakfast table, waiting numbly, patiently, to hear what they had to tell me, mum was cooking some eggs while Xari buttered some toast. Celeste, like me, had not said a word, sitting by my side frustratingly watching them. None of us touched our phones or spoke, we just sat there—waiting. Come to think about it, I hadn’t even seen my phone since yesterday, before everything went down. It was likely that I left it in his bedroom, which, if I really thought about it, was probably a good thing because I didn’t want to hear from him. I didn’t want him to try to reach me. He knew me enough to know I would need my space right now and he wouldn’t dare come to the house in case mum called the cops, even if it killed him inside to stay away. If I had my phone, he would definitely be calling me, coming up with some bullshit excuse to clear his name, one I would most likely believe because this was River. This was my River.

But no more. I would not be taken advantage of again, strung along like some stupid lovesick puppy. It was time for me to be tough—tough like the other females in my life. These females here with me now.

---