Page 16 of Casper
My thumbs flew over my phone as I typed another message for her.I won’t let anyone hurt you.
There was so much more that I wanted to say. That Brandy would be fine. She’d leave the hospital and go right back to being a piece of shit. It wasn’t as if I’d killed her. Anyone who could so easily treat a kind person like Luna so terribly deserved to suffer. Typing up a paragraph explaining why the Brandys of the world deserved nothing but pain wasn’t going to win me any points with Luna.
“I never asked for this,” Luna said, her sweet voice taking on a hard tone. “I don’t need a personal assassin. Maybe you’re not a bad guy, Casper, but I’m not seeing any evidence that you’re a good guy either.”
She was right. All she’d seen so far was my darkest parts. She knew that I was a criminal. A murderer. A bit of a stalker. She didn’t know that I liked to read mysteries or that I had a secret guilty pleasure of watchingGolden Girlswhen I couldn’t sleep. She would never get to know that side of me if I kept going like this.
You’re right. Give me a chance. Let me take you out. Get to know me before you judge me.
Luna appeared skeptical. Finally, she said, “Fine. One chance. Show me there’s more to you than murder and mayhem.”
I held out a hand, motioning to the phone tucked into the side pocket of her bag. She was momentarily confused before realizing what I wanted. Plucking the phone from the pocket, she unlocked it and pressed it into my hand. I opened up the contacts section and added myself before sending a text to my own phone so I would have her number.
There’s a concert tomorrow night at the Midtown Music Hall. A few local rock bands are playing. Would you be into that?
Luna hesitated a minute before nodding. “Sure. That sounds good. Text me the details later. I have to get to class.”
I followed her out of the classroom, watching her flee down the hallway. Maybe she was running late and in a hurry. Or maybe she just wanted to get the hell away from me.
I had to ask myself what the hell I was doing. Inserting myself into this girl’s life might only bring myself more pain and suffering. Maybe I’d been alone for too long. Something about her had captivated me, and I’d convinced myself that she was the one. Now if only she could see that too.
A hand on my shoulder startled me from my thoughts. I whirled around with a fist raised to find Dominik standing behind me.
“You’re jumpy as fuck today,” he said, watching Luna disappear at the end of the hall. “I have just the thing to take your mind off her. We have a problem to handle.”
“And what might that be?” I signed. I wasn’t sure I was in the mood for any problems.
“Someone slashed my tires. What do you want to bet it was Noah fucking Cunningham? We’re going to go find him.” Dom steered me along with a hand on my shoulder.
Even though I had class in fifteen minutes, I had a feeling I should tag along with him. If he confronted Noah alone, there was no telling how that situation might play out. The two of them were volatile together. I wasn’t sure I’d seen anyone harbor the type of hatred they held for one another.
“Is this really necessary?” I held my hands out so Dom could see them as I signed. “I doubt Noah or Damon would try anything now. Especially something as mundane and pointless as vandalizing your tires.”
“Who else would it be?” Dom fired back. “Just because their numbers are down doesn’t mean they aren’t up to something. They don’t strike me as the types to accept defeat.”
I wasn’t sure I agreed with that. Noah and Damon were the only two Venom members left that we knew of. Unless they had started to recruit. I suspected they’d already learned their lesson. They’d have to be complete idiots to keep fucking with us now.
Knowing that Dominik wouldn’t be convinced, I followed along as he checked every place on campus where Noah was most likely to be. Eventually, we found him outside smoking weed with Damon and a few other guys.
Dom didn’t hesitate. He stormed over to Noah, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and slamming him against the side of the building.
“What the fuck, man?” Damon shouted. He couldn’t do much to intervene. Even though the cast on his arm had been removed since we’d broken it in three places, he still wore a sling.
“Something wrong?” Noah chuckled, still puffing on the joint he held despite the enraged maniac pinning him to thebuilding. “It’s been a while since you’ve found a reason to put your hands on me, Dominik. What’s your excuse this time?”
Veins protruded in Dom’s forearms from the force he used to hold Noah in place. “Did you think you could fuck with my car and get away with it? Or was that your way of trying to get my attention?”
My eyes narrowed as I took in the scenario playing out before me. Stray had once mentioned that he thought there might be something going on between Dom and Noah. At first, I’d laughed it off as utterly ridiculous. Now I was starting to see it.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Noah blew a puff of weed smoke in Dom’s face. The cocky smile he wore was downright devilish.
“Bullshit,” Dom snarled. Pulling Noah away from the building, he slammed him back against it. “You knew exactly what you were doing when you pulled that move. Is this what you wanted? Are you happy now?”
The other guys who had been standing around smoking took off, leaving only Damon and me behind. I didn’t blame them. I’d rather not deal with this either.
Noah grunted when he hit the building. His smile faded. “Oh yeah, I’m really fucking happy. Because of you fucks two of my best friends are dead. I am fucking thrilled.”
One could argue that it wasn’t because of us at all but because of those two friends that they were dead. Not that it mattered now.
