Page 31 of I Love to Hate You
“Look at her now,” Eddie says, pointing at me with a Joker smile on his face. “She’s about to cry. After all the pain you caused, now you want to cry? Go ahead and cry, you fucking baby. You deserve payback for how shitty you've been.”
“Yeah. Cry,” Amy echoes, and the entire house joins in a chant repeated by every voice but mine.
“Cry!”
“Cry!”
“Cry!”
My tears begin to fall and I have to cover my ears with my hands to try to deaden the sound, which is why I barely notice when the chant suddenly stops and is replaced by gasps of shock. A scream gets my full attention, and when I pull my hands away from my ears, I clearly hear the clamoring of furniture being moved and bodies shuffling violently.
Every eye turns away from me and focuses on the noise, which is being caused by two men slamming against a China cabinet, breaking the glass and sending platters and cups crashing to the floor.
“What the fuck?” Amber screams. “Kendrick, stop!”
My eyes bulge so large they threaten to pop out as I look to see Kendrick with his arms around Eddie’s neck and head as he pins him into the ruined cabinet like a cop wrestling a perp.
“What’s the matter?” Kendrick says over his shoulder to Amber, whose terror-stricken face is red with fear. “You were all cheery and hyped up just a second ago. Why not now?”
“Fuck. Stop, man. My face is bleeding,” Eddie says, as a shard of glass embedded in his cheek begins to leak red.
“So fucking what?” Kendrick barks. “Show me how tough you are now, bitch. Go ahead. Make fun of a girl who’s all by herself while you lead an angry mob against her. Keep going, tough guy. Or maybe you’ll just cry now because you’re bleeding. Go ahead. Cry. Cry. Cry.”
“Oh, my god. Stop it, Kendrick!” Amy shouts before covering her mouth like she’s witnessing a murder. “Somebody call the police.”
That’s when Kendrick finally lets Eddie go. He tosses my ex-boyfriend down like a rag doll, and Eddie skids across the floor, coming to a stop right at Amy’s feet. She and Amber rush to Eddie’s aid, laying their hands on his body like they’re checking for the exit wound of a gunshot that never happened.
After stealing all of the joy from the room, Kendrick puts his hands on his knees and looks the trio in their faces. “I overheard someone talking about this party on the last day of classes—even heard the address being passed around. Just like Maya, I wasn’t invited, but I decided to show up anyway. I know where you live now, and if you call the cops, you will never have peace in this house again. It doesn’t matter if I go to prison for a year. You’ll never be safe here. You know it’s true, too. You all do. I’m from Strawberry Mansion after all, so you know I know people who don’t attend Temple. Don’t make me do something I definitelywon’tregret.”
With that, Kendrick stands up straight and turns on his heel, never giving anyone a chance to respond. I watch him walk through the crowd, everyone scrambling to get out of his way like roaches running from the light. When he reaches the door, he turns around and looks at me.
“Come on,” he says, gesturing toward outside with a head nod.
Once again, my heart explodes, and the smile on my face when I turn to look down at Eddie, Amber, and Amy couldn’t possibly grow any wider. They maintain eye contact, but the look in their eyes is one of defeat, and I love it. I take a second to glare at each and every one of them, before turning away and following Kendrick out of the house.
Twenty-Two
~ MAYA~
No one follows us when we walk out, but I’m right behind Kendrick as he stomps down the driveway, obviously still hot from what just happened. I feel the tension wafting off of him with each step even though I’m a few feet back, and it stays that way until we reach the end of the street where his car is parked. He opens the door and finally looks over his shoulder at me, his face tight with anger.
“Get in,” he demands.
I freeze at the front of the car. “What about my car?”
He puts one foot inside his car and looks over at me, still fuming. “We can come back for it.”
“What? I don’t want to leave it here. What if they do something to it?”
“First of all, there isn’t even the slightest chance they’d do anything out of fear it might get back to me,” Kendrick says confidently with a furrow in his brow. “Secondly, if one of them actually decides it’s worth the risk to call the cops right now, we don’t wanna be here. So, just get in the car, Maya.”
“You know I don’t like being commanded,” I tell him.
“Oh, do you like getting arrested?” he asks as he drops down into the driver’s seat. When I don’t answer, he glares at me through the windshield. “Then get in.”
As much as my mind tells me to respond in a certain way, I let out a frustrated sigh and walk to the passenger door. The second I close it, Kendrick fires up the engine and we’re off, storming away from the party I waited days to attend.
We zoom out of the residential area and onto the highway, where traffic is backed up as usual, and I look over at Kendrick to find him finally beginning to relax. He exhales and sinks into his seat further, his muscles unclenching and fingers easing up on the steering wheel. Now that it’s just him and I, the butterflies in my stomach slowly start to wake from their sleep, fluttering their wings and stretching their legs as he looks at me.
