Playing with Fire

“Jesus, man!” His yelp was muffled as my palm crushed his air pipe. He brought his hands up and tried prying my fingers away from his neck, his knuckles turning white.

“Itssaarrrjkk!” he spluttered, foaming from the mouth.

I bared my teeth with a feral snarl. I wanted to scare him to death. To make sure he knew the next time he took a jab at Texas, he would be in a world of hurt.

“Work on your material, funny guy.”

“She doesn’t even care!” His eyes were bugging out as I put more pressure on his throat. I felt the delicate bones in his neck snapping as I pressed harder into them.

“Well, I do,” I said quietly.

I could kill him. I knew that. I’d been aware of my ability to kill people for a while now. He wouldn’t even be the first person who’d ended up in a body bag because of me.

But that was a secret I wasn’t in a particular hurry to share with the world.

I got in his face. “I dare you to disrespect her again, Reign. I will break you into miniscule pieces then flush you down the toilet. A part of me half-wishes you’d be dumb enough to pick on her, just so I could finally end you.”

“Bro, you’re choking him,” someone murmured to my left.

“He is turning purple!” This came from my right.

“Quick, somebody do something!”

The cries bounced all around me but never slipped under my skin. I watched as he turned colors, as his flailing subsided under my hands, as the realization he might not walk out of this alive crossed his face.

A few pairs of hands pulled me by the back of my shirt. East, Grayson, and Bradley plastered me against the opposite wall, away from Reign. I shot East a murderous look and shoved him away, launching myself at Reign again.

East pushed me back harder. “You almost choked him to death. What’s wrong with you, man?” East panted, pinning me to the wall by my shoulders.

I threw a cool glance at Reign. He was slouched on the floor, gasping for air, and rubbing his neck, which was dark purple, a noose-like stain forming around his Adam’s apple.

The crowd around us thickened, the buzzing of murmurs filling my ears. Texas stood at the back, clutching the straps of her phoenix backpack.

She looked at me like I was a traitor.

I was fed up.

With her.

With my family.

With the world.

I spun on my heel, marching in the opposite direction. She wasn’t worth the trouble. I’d done as best as I could to help her out, but I was officially done. I couldn’t afford a friend like Grace Shaw, even if I was interested in her company.

Which, for the record, I wasn’t. Not anymore.

Too much drama. No, thank you.

I tramped my way into Addams’ class. A part of me was sure Texas was going to run after me. Thank me. Apologize for being unreasonable.

Beg and cower like everyone else did.

Seek my unattainable affections.

When I was at the door, I glanced up at the hallway, expecting to see her face again.

She was gone.

“Whatcha thinking?” Reign nudged my shoulder with his foot later that evening. He plopped beside me by the kidney-shaped pool, taking a drag from his joint, the smoke rushing out of his nostrils in two thick streams.

Guess it was his version of an apology for what had happened in the hallway this morning.

I took a pull of my beer, dangling my feet in the lukewarm water. One look at his neck and I knew I had to own up for my part of the shit show, too.

Yes, he was an asshole, but I’d also almost killed him today. For a girl who didn’t even want to be saved.

Damn you, Texas.

“I’m thinking I have really hairy toes,” I said honestly, staring at my narrow, long feet.

Reign’s shoulders trembled with laughter. He shook his head, kicking my foot with his in the water. “Whoa, man. You do.”

There was a beat of silence. I was still seeing red every time I thought about him picking on Texas. I wasn’t even sure why. She’d already established we weren’t friends, and I’d told myself I wouldn’t touch her.

It wasn’t the first time Reign was being a yeast-infected dick to other people, but it was definitely the most persistent he had been.

“I wish I could get away with being like you.” He drew circles in the water with his toes, which, I noticed, could use a trim, too. “You’re the strong, silent type. You don’t have to run your mouth to get noticed. I need to entertain. People expect me to talk shit.”

“If this is you making an excuse for today, you better turn around and walk away before I drown your ass.” I took another pull of my beer.

We were at a birthday pool party East had dragged me to. The birthday girl, who lived just outside Sheridan, had begged us to come, both on her face and to her party. Oil lord daddy. Parents out of town. It was a frat party on steroids. Everybody brought inflatable toys and danced poolside. Music blasted through a surround system that made the earth quake. There were ice bars and shot luges.

The birthday girl swaggered around in a pink and white bikini, high heels, and a Sweet Twenty-One sash. I’d come here to get rid of some of the stress with a quick lay, but as soon as my ass went past the iron-wrought gate, I realized I’d rather sit by the pool and glare at my hairy toes than pound into some nameless, faceless chick who’d whine about it later.

The cons outweighed the pros when it came to hooking up these days.

“Aren’t you going to ask me why I did this to Goldilocks?” Reign asked.

When he gathered an answer wasn’t in the cards for him, he soldiered on.

“I did it because I knew you like Toastie. Hell, my dog knows you like Toastie, and he lives in Indiana. That’s why you went for Melanie, right? She basically looks like Toastie from behind.”

If he called her Toastie one more time, I was going to hammer him so deep into the ground he was going to reappear in China.

“Long, blonde hair. Cute, round ass.” He counted their similarities on his fingers. “You’re pretty transparent, St. Claire. Guess I just wanted to give you a taste of your own medicine.”

I sipped my beer. He was high if he thought I liked Texas. She was unbearable, other than the few times she’d made me laugh.

East plopped down to my other side, plucking the joint from between Reign’s fingers.

“Are we having a heart-to-heart? Reign, are you finally coming out?” East beamed at Reign, who slapped the back of his head, laughing.