Page 57 of On The Edge
“She’s fine,” I snap, stepping up to my place and turning all the equipment on.
“She’s fine? And I’m just supposed to believe that?” Adam narrows his eyes, and stands up gripping his drumsticks in on hand tight enough that I can see his tattoos stretch over his knuckles.
“She’s upstairs. Hopefully showering,” I say under my breath. I look out of the corner of my eye and see Kai smile with the most confident, infuriating grin. I swear his chest puffs up and he licks his bottom lip before he brings his fingers up to scratch his nose.
And he fucking smirks.
“She’s good, guys. I convinced her to stay,” Kai says while he plugs in his bass to the amp.
“How’d you manage to do that?” Markus asks knowingly, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest questioningly.
Clearing his throat, Kai swallows uncomfortably. And I chuckle under my breath because he’s got to face the music of what he did. What he took from us.
She chose him.
Based on the conversation I heard, the declaration and panic attack, not to mention the uncomfortable car ride, she’s definitely picked him.
“The same way you two did.” Kai throws at them and a new wave of anger fills me.
“What?” I snap angrily, whipping around to look at the three of them. “You all have fucked her? When? Why?” Each word bringing me closer to throwing punches.
“Well, it seems like you heard some of it, man.” Kai cocks an eyebrow like an arrogant motherfucker and I grab the neck of his shirt, pulling him to me for a beating.
“Woah!” Markus steps in between us, and Adam jumps over his drums to get in the middle.
“Stop!” Adam tries to pull me away from him.
“You’re a traitor,” I spit at him, an accusing finger pointing at him.
“Why do you even care that we all love her? Why does it matter so much to you? All you’ve done since we found her again was try to hurt her for some fucked-up revenge overnothing.” Kai throws the questions at me while Adam holds my arms back tighter.
Fucker is good at anticipating my next move.
“He has a point,” Markus says, stepping back.
“Because!” I yell. There’s this knot in my chest that I don’t know how to work through. I’m so fucking angry, and I thought I was past the hurt, but knowing that she didn’t just pick one of them… that she had all of them… all of them but me. And it pisses me off.
Why not me?
“Because she was–” I start to explain, but Adam cuts me off.
“A teenager?”
“A teenager who had four guys protecting her, and was getting relentlessly bullied behind their backs. Bullied so badly that she had to protect herself and throw the bitches off the scent. Bullied so hard that she was conditioned to think that what sheactually wantedmade her a whore. And thatwewould think that too.” Kai’s words fill the air, and land uncomfortably in my mind.
What?
There’s no way.
“We would’ve been able to see or hear of people bullying her,” Markus says as his eyebrows knit together in confusion. His eyes look to the side, unseeingly, as if he’s going through all his high school memories for anything that stands out.
Just like I’m doing.
“Apparently we’re either self-absorbed motherfuckers, or she just didn’t want to bother us with it.” Kai lips press into a thin line and his eyes drop to the floor, like it’s physically hurting him to know this.
I feel like I’m going to throw up.
Shaking my head, I refuse to let that show… I didn’t make a mistake.
