I am a churned-up mix of desire, anger, and self-loathing.
“What is your problem now?” Khaos asks, smacking my cabin wall hard enough to startle me.
“My problem!” I shriek.
I do an abrupt U-turn and stalk up to him and hiss; the air escaping from between my clenched teeth. “My date didn’t say I looked nice. He said, ‘hey, sweetheart, you look much more fuckable today than your pics. Your tits are fucking ace.’”
Behind Khaos, I see Hazard wince.
“He said that?” Wrath asks, his eyebrows in his hairline. His silver hair catches the light as he turns to Riot.
I ignore him.
Khaos exhales and puts his hands on my shoulders. I stare at the point of contact and try to find calm and then decide, fuck it. I throw his hands off me, stalking into his space, and, to my surprise, he steps back.
“He wanted to go for a drive. I agreed. He said it was on the way to this really cool place he wanted to show me. Which, for your information, was code for ‘place outside we canhave a quick fuck’. I did not know this at the time, but he explained it very eloquently in the car on the way.”
Angel snarls, startling all of us.
Khaos licks his lips, and I can see some form of hesitation or caution appearing in their depths.
“‘But, first, babe,’” I sneer the words, “‘I gotta stop and get a fuel up.’ Now, I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t sure what the fuck that meant, so I just shrugged and agreed. He drives me out to the outskirts of town. Parks on the side of the street in the shittiest suburb I’ve ever seen and disappears for an hour!” I scream. “An hour! When he comes back, he smells like the musty end of a teenage boy’s washing hamper. He gets behind the wheel and then turns and gives me this smile, all toothy and completely messed up. I realise he’s sky fucking high. ‘Can you drive, babe?’ he asks. I get behind the wheel, swapping spots with him, and he puts his feet on the dash and starts rolling another joint. At that point, not to my surprise, he lights it up and offers me one. I slam my foot on the brakes, get out of the car, and walk back. It took me three fucking hours.”
Khaos frowns. “None of that was in his profile.”
“Do you know what he yelled while I was walking away?” I hiss menacingly.
Khaos takes another step back.
“Your profile says you’re down for a good time. Why don’t you loosen up and get laid? It might take that stick out of your ass.”
Khaos winces this time.
“He said that?” Riot snarls and turns to go back out.
I stare after him, trying to hold on to my anger but finding myself ridiculously pleased by his response.
Wrath drags him back inside.
“All right, all right. So that was a bust, lesson learned,” Khaos mutters, which ignites my rage again.
“I’m not losing my license over drug possession. I thought you said you checked him out?”
“I did.”
“Where from? Pluto?”
Khaos grinds his jaw. “I’ll check them more thoroughly.”
“You do that.” I turn and go into the kitchen. I open the fridge and pull out a beer and skull it down. It doesn’t put out the fury that I’m feeling. I hate people sometimes. This is why I live alone on a mountain.
“Hey.” The hesitant voice makes me turn.
Hazard stands there staring at me. His fingers trace the pattern on the refrigerator door handle. He won’t actually make eye contact with me. I set my beer bottle down and turn to face him directly.
“I’m sorry, I put that there in your profile, I mean.” His face goes bright burnished red, and he hunches his shoulders, his eyes downcast.
And because it comes from him, I know that it was just miswording, and my frustration at the pack turns back towards the main source of my rage; my disgusting pig of a date.
