“I’ll push you off a cliff when no one’s looking.”
“Hold still,” Lola murmurs to Henri as she shakes her fist at me.
“Whatever,” Henri says as she drops her arm to the table.
“Good comeback,” I mutter.
“Good comeback,” she snarks.
The ink is starting to take shape when I hear the front door to the gang hangout slam open We all jump.
“Shit,” Benji says as he studies my arm. “Your skull is going to have an extra-long blood drip.”
I barely register the pain as my heart beats hard in my chest.
“What’s going on?” Henri whispers.
“How should I know?” I reply still pissed at Henri for being such a BIH.
Then we hear Hangman bellowing. “Renfrew, where the fuck are you?”
Then I hear Selkie say, “Keep your voice down. Everyone is sleeping.”
Hangman sounds confused as he says, “What the fuck is wrong with her?”
“Hard to narrow it down,” Dad replies.
It’s a good comeback, but I don’t have time to enjoy it. “Oh oh,” I say to Henri, who by this time has abandoned her chair and is peeking around the corner.
“Yeah,” she whispers as she pulls her head back. “Your dad and my mom. They weren’t kidnapped after all.”
“You thought they were kidnapped?” Lola whispers over my shoulder, her hot breath on my neck making me almost forget how much trouble I’m gonna be in.
“We thought Renfrew had them,” I explain as I put some space between us.
Benji starts laughing. When we shush him, he giggles in whispers.
“So what’s the big deal?” Lola asks.
“What’s the big deal?” Henri says loud enough that I elbow her.
She glares but lowers her voice. “The big deal is that first, we came to the clubhouse and tried to join your gang and second, you were tattooing us. They’ll so have a cow.”
Lola doesn’t get it. “So what? You wanted to join the gang.”
“No we didn’t,” I say with agitation. “That was just our cover story. We came to rescue our parents.”
Benji scratches his cheek. “Why didn’t you just say?”
“Duh,” Henri replies. “You think we were gonna waltz in and tell Renfrew that we were just dropping by to pick up mom and dad?”
“We don’t have a death wish,” I add.
“But it doesn’t seem like they need rescuing,” Lola says.
“Is it too many drugs or were you born that way?” Henri asks.
Lola doesn’t realize it’s an insult. “Born this way, I guess.”
