Gigi purposely steps over me to walk toward to the kitchen and fuck me. I can smell her heady scent from the floor.
Now I’m fixated on the possibility that Matt has been in between those legs.
Shit, this isn’t good.
I decide to do twenty more pushups for good measure.
“You must really enjoy working out,” Gigi mocks.
“These arms of mine might have to knock somebody out,” I say through angry exertion. “Remember, this isn’t a slumber party. I’m here to protect you.”
After I’ve broken a sweat, I head to the refrigerator for something cool to drink since I know she will not offer me anything. She's a horrible hostess.
“What do you have to drink in here?”
“Nothing you’d like.”
It doesn’t escape my notice how Gigi always takes a few steps back the moment that I’m anywhere near her. What’s her deal? She doesn’t seem like she’s intimidated by me when she opens her mouth to say some sort of wisecrack but her body language says something different. Have we been out of touch with each other so long that she’s actually afraid of me?
“There’s nothing in your fridge but bottled water, sparkling water and that stuff you’re drinking,” I say with my back turned to her. "What the hell can I have to drink?"
“Help yourself to a bottle of nice, cool water. I won’t even charge you.”
“I don’t want water. I need something flavored and I’m not drinking rum this early in the morning.” I pick up one of the glass bottles. “Can I have some of this Kombucha stuff?”
“No, it’s expensive.”
Ignoring her refusal, I twist open the bottle and am surprised by the taste. After I’ve swallowed about a fourth of the bland bubbly tea, I place it down on the counter and step closer to her.
“Thanks, that hit the spot.”
She not-so-discreetly clenches her fist.
“I can’t do this, Knox.”
“I don’t think that either of us has a choice. This was a parental assignment. I tried to get out of it but it was either this or you move home.”
“Move home?”
“Your mom wants you back home.”
“Home? That's not where I was raised. That's their new home, and there’s nothing up there but trees, mini mansions, and shopping malls. I’d die up there.”
“I know, Queenie; that’s why I’m here, saving your pitiful little life.”
“Is this supposed threat against the family really that serious?”
“It could be.”
“In the muggle world, all our parents do is own a few businesses. Why is this even a thing?”
Gigi and I have always known our families and our world were unique, and we also learned pretty early that most people wouldn’t understand it or them. We call those people muggles, just like the witches and wizards do in the Harry Potter books. It’s a world I’ve come to respect, but a world that Gigi shuns. I thought she would have grown out of it by now, but I see that it’s only gotten worse.
“You know that it’s more complicated than that,” I tell her.
“I didn’t ask to be a part of this dysfunctional, dangerous life. All I want is a normal one. What are you even protecting me from? A shooting? A rape? What will these people do if they find me? This is not normal, Knox. None of this is normal.”
“We’re perfectly normal.”
