“Okay,” I commented. He’d tried to abandon me last night. Now he was wordlessly begging me to fuck him and giving me his watch. There was even prolonged eye contact.
Orson was always confusing. It was hard to understand what he wanted out of Nemo and me. Some days, it seemed like he wanted nothing at all. That he was annoyed we were even there.
Then there were days or moments like this, where I didn't know what the fuck we were. Of course, there was the whole building sexual tension with him and Nemo that was bound to explode in a fuckfest at some point. Been there, done that.
“Six thirty in the morning. That’ll be twenty-four hours since the gas station,” Orson said. I looked at the watch and counted. My numbers ended short, and I counted again.
“You all said twenty hours.”
“It was an estimate,” he said. Eighteen hours. Losing more time than I expected was a gut punch. I kept staring at the watch.
“Maybe you can distract them,” I started. “How much gas is left in the van? And what lever do I pull to make it drive? Or is there a button?”
“And then what, you just drive away, never to be seen again?” He asked.
“Maybe,” I said, finally dragging my attention away from the time. “Who cares. The point is, I’ll leave, and things will get a lot easier for you, right? Just like you wanted back at the motel.”
“No,” he said. I was speechless for a moment.
“What do you mean? That you don’t think it’ll be easier? Nemo is a handful, but still, one of us is better than two.”
“You aren’t leaving,” he said. My mouth hung open.
“What?” I was baffled. It didn’t make any sense. “You … you already wanted me gone. Now the situation is even worse.” Orson walked away with a sigh, pacing back and forth at the foot of the bed. The room and bed were larger than the ones at the asylum. It’d be more comfortable for us all to stay together … for them to stay together. Not me. I wasn’t going to be here. I might never sleep next to any of them ever again.
“I need to think about it,” Orson said.
“In eighteen hours, I’ll become so lethal none of you will be able to survive me.” I pushed up on my elbows and glared at him.
“We have no idea how your powers are going to develop.” He avoided my gaze.
“Fuck,” I hissed. “Why do you care? You tried to leave me in a parking lot.”
“The situation is more manageable now?—”
“The fuck it is!” I yelled. I eyed the door and dropped my voice. “What aboutsupervenom don’t you understand?” I whispered.
“Even if we can’t touch you directly again, that doesn’t mean you’ll kill us.”
“Everyone I’ve ever stayed close to for long has suffered for it,” I growled. I was angry.Shit. My emotions were supposed to stay manageably suppressed. But ever since we left the asylum they kept bubbling up. Once those doors opened fully, there was no knowing what would slink out in the open—a Trojan Horse bursting with every awful thing I’d successfully ignored for decades. Gee whiz, I couldn’t wait.
“Have you forgotten that I could kill you right now?” I threatened. “No extra power needed.”
“That would be more concerning if you could stand for more than a minute,” Orson responded apathetically.
“What if my venom becomes airborne?” I asked. I hadn’t wanted to voice that. Verbalizing it made it all too real. “It will,” I said.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s not,” I sighed, rubbing my face. This was going nowhere, and now my emotions felt unmanageable as I faced the extent of how fucked I was going to be. They thought I was worried about what,having sex? I didn’t know if I’d be able to be in the sameroomas another person. Ever. Again.
“Your pupils aren’t going back to normal,” Orson said. “They’ve been vertical since you took your mask off.” I swallowed thickly and touched the corners of my eyes. I hadn’t realized. I could constrict them into snake slits, but only for a moment; it was like flexing a muscle. They should be normal, human eyes right now. Would they never be again? Another nail in the coffin of being physically abnormal compared to the rest.
What would my dad have said if he were alive?
No,he didn’t get an opinion anymore. Not since I killed him. And yet the faint echo of his words were in my head.Wrong. Freak. Abomination.My fingers inched towards the mask in my pocket. I felt too exposed.
“You don’t need your mask, Baz,” Orson said.
