Page 80 of Hunter
“EVERYONE JUST TAKE A FUCKING BREATH. FUCK, NONE OF YOU LITTLE ASSHOLES FUCKING LISTEN!” Alvie shouts.
“Did you say, Ed? That’s not her fucking name,” Gabe laughs like it’s fucking hilarious, and a sharp pain rips through my head. It hurts so bad that I hold my skull in my hands and rub circles over my temples.
“I already fucking told you, she isn’t your concern,”mi cabrónhits back. The chaotic energy is too fucking much, and it’s making my brain literally hurt.
It’s the same pain and pressure that I’d get when a fucking storm was coming through. It would always be some disgustingly hot and humid day in July when it would hit a hundred fucking degrees down in the X, then the clouds would fucking cry for all the bad shit happening down on the streets.
Ms. Santos told me that. She called it ‘reframing.’ It may have worked. I remember I’d tell myself that the rain was gonna wash away all the bad shit in my head.
“You tell your man out here what your real fucking name is,prima?” I can hear the ruthless undertone of his voice, and it overpowers his New York accent. “You tell him where we’re from, Val?”
“STOP FUCKING TALKING TO HER!!” Hunter shouts, and I squeeze my eyes together when I’m hit with another searing pain.
“Your little boyfriend know you a hood rat, Val? He know about the bad shit you’ve done? How you sold drugs? How you were passed around like a dirty fuckingputa(whore)?” His voice grates over my nerves, and I wish he’d just stop, but I know it never will now that the universe has put us back together.
“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY, MOTHERFUCKER?! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!”
“You need to calm the fuck down, Hunt, I fucking mean it,” Alvie snaps, and I switch from rubbing my temples to squeezing the back of my neck to relieve the pressure building in my head.
“Someone’s in trouble,” thebaboso, slimeball, that no one fucking cares about, adds.
“AGAIN MOTHERFUCKER, FROM NOW ON, YOU TALK TO ME AND ME ONLY!”
“That’ll cost you,” Mr. Polyester Suit adds from his fucking guarded corner, and it makes my cousin smirk like he’s amused that whatever plan they’ve pieced together is finally working.To me, it looks like a grown-ass man’s in fucking time out.
There’s no fucking way that this loser contributed to any fucking plan; diabolical, revenge, or otherwise. He looks like he has ten working brain cells. My cousin,or Payton, is behind whatever it is they’ve got going on.
“ED?! ANSWER ME, BABY!” I can hear his voice, but the pressure in my ears is so strong it makes me wonder if this is what being on a plane feels like, or if there’s a cumulonimbus cloud that’s formed in my skull. “Alvi, man, I’m gonna need you to get the fuck off of me now.”
A storm was coming, I could fucking feel it. I also felt his hands pick up my face and pull my beanie off my head before I was up in his bigystrongyinked arms. My skull felt heavy, and I couldn’t keep it up any longer, as my face rolled onto his muscular shoulder.
The thunder claps inside my head, and lightning strikes behind my eyes as the storm quickly approaches. My heart is beating so fucking fast that I start to sweat and feel hot all over. The black and white tiled floor looks weird on the wall, and I can’t keep my eyes open.
And then I see her. She’s looking back at me in my mind’s eye, and she’s carrying a big-ass navy blue umbrella with gold lettering. I can make out 'KINGS PREP' even though the letters are fuzzy. I remember Gabe holding it for us all to walk under on those wet walks to school.
Her face comes into focus and she looks fucking derranged. It scares the shit out of me.
FORTY-NINE
“¿Qué onda? (What happened?)”She asks weakly as Alvi walks over with a Ginger Ale can and the requested straw. I bring it up to her lips to drink.Fucking crazy girl didn’t think to mention this shit?
“You fucking passed out, Ed, do I need to take you to the fucking hospital?”What the fuck else am I supposed to do? Should I call my fucking parents? They’re doctors, that’s a good idea, right?
“No, I’ll be alright with this,” she sucks down giant gulps of fucking soda, and I can’t believe that a Canada Dry Ginger Ale is gonna save the fucking day.Is that really all she needs?I don’t want anything to fucking happen to her. “I hate fucking hospitals, I’m not going back,cabrón,don’t you dare take me there.”
“I’m ordering a fucking giant-size bag of Jolly Ranchers for your ass, and you're gonna have one every day again,” I tell her, and she starts to cough on her drink. I help her sit up in my lap, and she has the biggest fucking frown on her face. “That shit was fucking scary, Ed.”
“¿Ya le dijiste? (You told him?)”She asks, and I try to remember what that means. She grabs her black hat that’s shoved between us and pulls it down over her pretty little head as she turns around to look at her cousin, with a fucking death stare.
“Don’t be an ungrateful bitch, Val. Remember, I could’ve let your ass go into fucking shock. Your little boyfriend wouldn’t have known how to help you.”Oh, you fucked up. And here I thought we’d turned a fucking corner, man.
“¿Qué carajo me llamaste? (What the fuck did you call me?)”She hisses out as she slides off my knee. I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her back to me as I stand up. No one is gonna call my lady a bitch. Fucking ever. And my girl ain’t fighting after a low-blood sugar episode.Fucking hell, she really is a fucking savage.
“I’m not gonna let you fucking talk to my girl like that. I don’t wanna fucking hear you call her a fucking bitch or any shit like that again,” I firmly tell his ass, refusing to break eye contact. He needs to know his fucking place.Go ahead, blink motherfucker.
“I asked you a fucking question,primo,” Ed spits out at him, and I can feel how fucking tight she’s getting. She’s not letting this go.
“I called you a fucking ungrateful bitch…prima.” I grab onto my scrappy black cat and hold her crazy-ass back. She’s so fucking feisty, even after passing the fuck out.Unbelievable.
