I rubbed in between my eyes and my forehead. A headache was building, and I just wanted, needed, to relax. “Ruin what? Are you saying you wouldn’t want to be my friend if you knew we were pushed together?” I felt my anger snap. “Are you so willing to throw away the last almost three years of friendship, all because of how it started?”
Toya reeled back like I hit her. “No, of course not.”
“So you think the girls would toss all of what we have built together because you felt the need to sit down at my table?”
“Of course not.”
“So it’s me. You’re afraid that I would walk away because of a little meddling in the beginning. That you saving me, taking care of me, it all meant nothing?”
“NO!” she screamed. I stood and walked out of the room. Toya followed. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to ask everyone.” I looked at her as I started down the stairs. “Girls.” Everyone turned as I walked into the kitchen. Wendy and Micca were putting a meal together, and I was about to cry before Toya stomped in behind me. “We have questions.”
“We don’t have to do this.” Toya shook her head, but I disagreed.
“No, you have questions and now so do I.” I grabbed the open bottle of wine and refilled my glass. I took another long pull from it before I faced everyone. “If any of you are like Toya, and I know one or two of you might be, you might have questions about what we discussed just now, about the Gods.”
Wendy put down the spoon and came around the counter. “What do you mean?”
I looked at Toya and gestured. “You explain, and then I’ll ask.” She glared at me for another second before she seemed to fold in on herself.
“The Gods, if we are all descended from them, and we all became friends. It seems too coincidental, too organized.” She tossed her hands in the air.
“What?” Hanna looked at me. “I’m confused.”
“She thinks that if you are all descended from the first families, that it is too big of a coincidence that we all became this close. That it is more than likely that the Gods pushed us together.” Toya pointed at me and nodded.
“Exactly that.”
“Ok…so what?” Micca stirred whatever they had in the pot.
Toya reeled back again. “What do you mean, so what?”
“Exactly what I said. So what?” She looked up. “We might have been pushed together, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t given a choice. We decided to become friends. We chose to be this close. And so what if a God pushed me to be friends with you all? You’re my best friends.”
Everyone nodded and turned one by one to look at Toya, who was staring back at us in shock. “I thought…I thought you would throw it all away.”
We all stared at Toya. Then Wendy came over and got into her face. “What’s wrong with you?”
Toya pulled back, but her eyes were filled with panic. “Nothing.”
“No, Wendy’s right.” Hanna came closer. “You are Amy’s biggest supporter. We are all close, but you and Amy have always had that extra bond. You have never once worried or questioned your spot here, or Amy’s decision. But this…” She waved her hand, gesturing wildly to Toya. “This isn’t you.”
I felt my eyes narrow as I leaned against the table. “They are right. In the last three years, you have never once questioned your place here. You have questioned my decisions, but I always appreciated your opinion, but you always did it away from everyone.”
“I came to you to discuss this alone, but you brought us down here.” Toya pointed out.
“You’re right, but so are Hanna and Wendy. This isn’t you.”
Toya pointed at all of us. “You’re not buying this, right?”
Wendy grabbed her hand. “Calm down Toya. We are just trying to figure out what’s going on.”
Toya threw up her hands. “Nothing is going on.” She whirled on me. “You’re poisoning them against me.” She snarled, and that’s when I knew for sure. Someone or something was attacking Toya.
I lifted my brow.Nix, tell Micca to look for some rope.I waited for a minute, but then Nix snorted.What?
There is a bag on the table behind you. Micca said she had it in her room. Carl left her a note telling her we would need this stuff tonight, so she brought it down.
