Page 46 of Bleed Me

That hot-ass crazy bitch. I inhaled the sun again, thinking of how Art just told me we didn’t know shit about what we need. I was starting to figure out the truth in that statement. I realized I might be making a mistake by pushing Justice away all the time. Just maybe God knew better than me.

Wham! Wham!

Rattler and the other Prospect looked at me… Then we ran, following the noise. As soon as we made our way around the warehouse, I slowed. “I got this, Rattler. He’s who I was looking for.”

Brat was swatting a baseball bat at the metal warehouse. His long, light brown hair was flying in the air with every angry strike. Brat was tall, but not skinny like Houston. This was a man who had already put on his weight after being a toothpick tall teenager.

Not getting too close, I called, “Bro, can we talk?”

He faced me, showing more pain. “Giver. I’m so sorry.”

I approached with my hands in the air to show no threat. He was holding a weapon, after all. “Can ya set that down, buddy?”

He did more than that. He flung it. The bat soared into the trees that had given me refuge the night before, and he screamed, “Goddamn it!”

“Jesus. I didn’t know you liked her so much. I swear it. We can work this out. I won’t touch her again.”

In dismay, he gripped his hair and pulled. “I know who you want. It’s not that. It’s—”

Brat suddenly smacking his head, over and over, had me rushing in. “Dude, stop! Talk to me!” I grabbed his hands. “Stop!”

His face was beet red as if he were fighting tears. “Did you wear a condom?”

My face scrunched in confusion. He wasn’t making sense. “I was told bunnies are on the pill and checked by Doc regularly. That’s why only two of us per one. I’m clean—”

“I tricked her.”

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“I’m in love with her.”

Relieved, I sighed. “Now you’re making sense! She wants you, too!”

Tears finally dripped from bloodshot eyes as he stumbled back into a tree that was the only thing now holding him up. “Giver, you sure?”

“She told me herself. Said that there’d be no more sex between us.”

He bent over, grabbing his stomach.

“I, uh, thought this was good news—”

“I tampered with her birth control.”

Mother. Fucker. “You what?”

Snot dripped toward his upper lip as he peered up at me, still hunched over in agony. “Oldest trick in the book. I was trapping her to me.”

Anger rippled through my chest. “I’m startin’ to see how you got your road name, you prick. She doesn’t deserve that bullshit.”

“I know.” He nodded vigorously, wiping his hands down his wet face. “I know. Dick move. It’s just, she makes me crazy. Her heart is like a drug for me. Her voice… that sweet gasp she makes. That smile from the heavens above. I just want her to be mine so bad, but she’s—”

“In love with you, you dumb fuck.”

His jaw dropped. “What?”

I started pacing, my temper rising. “She’s too good for you.”

He went back to standing tall and yanking on his hair. “I know! I know! I don’t know what I was thinking!”