Page 164 of Something So Strong

“Just stop it, Josh. Please!”

“No!” I snap back at her. “Let him keep coming. I’m having far too good of a time.”

Trying to walk as tall as he can, I step to meet him and finish the trifecta by slamming his bottom jaw up against his top. His teeth collide with a loud crunch, his eyes lose focus, and my elbow is done for the night. But I stay homed in on every staggering movement my opponent makes as his right forearm hangs loosely by his side.

“Please stop!”

“Don’t think I will, sweetheart. Whoever the fuck you are.”

“Why are you doing this? We don’t even know you!”

“Because if you fuck with mine, I fuck with you. And Josh here knows all about that.”

“Kai. What’s going on?”

“Mind your business, Millie.”

“Millie?” I repeat, looking back at her terrified and confused expression. And—for Josh—this is the worst thing I could have done. “You were there! How the fuck do you not know what’s going on?”

More dumbfounded than before, she looks away from me. “Seriously, Kai. Is this all about the night at the park? You got beat up, so what? Don’t you think it’s time to move on?”

“The fuck did you say?” I roar at her, the rage inside me beyond boiling point. I’m out for blood, preferably his, but I can still rip this bitch to shreds with my tongue.

“You fuck him, don’t you?”

My head slowly turns back to Josh, who’s attempting to look down his nose at me.

“You fuck him, don’t you?” he asks again. Though it isn’t a question.

“No. I don’t.” I lower my hands and calmly move towards him. The closer I get, the more snide the words feel in my mouth. “I’m not like you.”

“What did you say?” Millie cries out.

“So you’re just a faggot lover, then?”

With a scoff, I wet my lips. “Nah. Cause that’d mean I like you.”

“I’m not a faggot!” he barks.

“You do fuck men, though.”

“Josh..? What?” Millie is beside me, panting. Rubbernecking between Kai, Josh, and myself.

“Fuck off, Millie.”

“Don’t speak to me like that, Josh!” she yells, creeping behind me towards Kai. “Now tell me what he’s talking about, or they will.”

“Fuck you, whore.” He spits at her feet.

I think I’m ready to see that blood now.

With him still focused on Millie, I kick Josh in the diaphragm. Just like Alma had done to me, but ten times harder. Doubling over, he coughs, and I hook my fist into his nose.

His legs give way and he falls to his knees—blood instantly pooling in the snow.

I stalk behind him and kick him face first onto the slushy, muddy pavement.

“Are you gonna tell her, or are you gonna leave it up to me?”

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