Duality: Vol 1, Melancholia (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (29 page)

Two male voices were conversing in the main part of the store.  One of them sounded a lot like Derek.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Malcolm

JASMINE DISAPPEARED INTO THE STORE, and about two minutes later, Derek got out of his car and went inside too.

“Dammit!” yelled Kootch, hitting the steering wheel.  “He went in.  Now what?”  He frowned and smoothed the spot on the wheel where he’d punched it.

“I’m going to get out and see if I can find out what’s going on inside.  I don’t want him to know we’re here, though.  Keep the car running and maybe point it out of the lot so we can take off in a hurry.”

“What, you think he’s just going to let them go?”  Kootch sounded skeptical.

“Jasmine said they’d go out the back, so maybe he won’t see them.”

“Fine.  You go, but not too close.”

I got out and shut the door.  Kootch slowly pulled out of the spot he’d taken, doing a couple moves forward and back until he was facing the exit.

I walked a few feet down the lot bordering the store’s property.  From my new position, I could see Derek standing at the counter, talking to the clerk.  The clerk was pointing to something in the store, towards the back.  Derek nodded and started walking in that direction.

A noise on the side of the building caught my attention.  I heard whispering voices and running footsteps.  Movement near a dumpster told me Jasmine and Rae were on their way.

“Over here!” I yelled as loud as I dared.  “He’s going to the back of the store from inside!”

The two girls came into view as the light from the store reached them.  They scrambled up the small incline separating the two properties.  I waited at the top, grabbing each of their hands and pulling them towards me.  “Come on, Kootch is waiting!”

We ran to the Gremlin, our feet slapping on the blacktop.

“Rae!” came Derek’s voice.  He sounded angry.

I looked over my shoulder as I waited for the girls to get into the back seat.  They were shouting in their panic, easy to hear from anywhere around.

“Rae, where are you?!”  Derek was standing outside the front of the store, searching the parking lot desperately.  He looked panicked and mad at the same time.

I didn’t waste anymore time looking at him or wondering what the hell he was doing.  I threw the seat back into position, knocking Jasmine on her butt, and jumped in, slamming the door shut.  “Go!  Go!  Go!  Step on it, Kootch!”

Kootch revved the engine and it roared, its weak little motor doing the best it could to follow Kootch’s commands.  But the car didn’t go anywhere.  Kootch still had his foot on the clutch.

“Come on, Kootch, go!” screamed Jasmine, banging on the side of his seat.

Rae started to cry, moaning with fear.

“Stop yelling at me!” he yelled as his foot left the clutch.  The car jumped forward, just as Derek had reached my window, putting a small bit of distance between us.

“Rae!” Derek yelled, his face contorted into a mask of fury.

The car stopped and stalled.

Derek ran to catch up to us again and pointed to the window, speaking in a deadly calm voice.  “Rae … get out of the car.”  His chest was heaving and his nostrils flared, making him look crazy.

Both girls were screaming bloody murder.

“What the hell!  What the hell!  What the hell!” chanted Kootch, turning the engine over, shoving the shifter into gear, and revving the engine.  The car jerked forward and then stopped, jerked forward and stopped.  Our heads were snapping back and forth with the stuttering movements.

Derek banged on my window and grabbed the handle.

The door came open partway before I was finally able to grab the arm rest from inside and pull it closed again.  I held onto it for dear life, knowing if he got in, someone was going to get hurt, starting with me.

Jasmine’s hand flew up from the back and slammed the lock down on my door.  “Fuck off!” she screamed at Derek.

The car surged forward, this time leaving Derek behind.  But then it stalled once more.  I could hear him running to catch us again.

“Jesus, Kootch!” I yelled.  “Drive the damn car, would ya?!”

Before we could get rolling again, Derek showed up at Kootch’s door and pulled it open, grabbing Kootch by the shoulder.  The car inched forward as Kootch hung out his door.

“Assbag!  Get off me!”  Kootch swung out with his right fist and hit Derek, punching him in the arm hard enough that Derek lost his grip.

I pulled Kootch back in from my side, and he took the door with him, slamming it shut.  Jasmine leaned over and smacked her hand on top of the lock, pushing it down just as Derek tried to open the door again.

I thought we were home free as Kootch threw the shifter into gear, but then Derek drew back and punched the glass near Kootch’s face for all he was worth, shattering it.

“What the hell are you doing to my car?!” roared Kootch, finally getting his feet on the pedals and getting the car to go.  We moved slowly, rolling along gradually, but not fast enough to get away.

Derek ran alongside the car and reached inside, trying to grab Kootch’s shirt through the broken window.

Derek screamed in agony a second later and yanked his hand out.  I saw something black sticking out of the back of it before it disappeared.

Kootch slammed the gearshift into second and tore out of the lot, not even slowing down at the exit.  The car jumped out onto the main road and quickly moved into third gear, picking up speed on the way.

The girls were crying in the back and Kootch was wild-eyed with fear and anger.  “What in the holy fuck was that all about?” he finally asked when we were a couple blocks away, glancing over at me and then in the mirror at the girls.  “Can someone please explain to me why that lunatic smashed my car and tried to kill me, please?!”

“What did you do to him?” I asked, looking back at the girls.

“She stabbed him with a frigging pen,” said Jasmine, sounding proud.  “That’s gotta hurt.”

“Just get me home, just get me home,” cried Rae.  She was shaking her head back and forth, lost in her misery.

“No.  No one goes home until I say so!”  Kootch was practically growling he was so mad.

“Come on, Kootch, you can’t kidnap us.  We’re done with that shit,” I said, suddenly very tired.  Nothing had gone right tonight.  Even the few moments that I had thought were amazing had turned to utter shit.  I just wanted to leave town now.  Screw the three months until my eighteenth birthday.  Screw my diploma.  I didn’t need it that bad.  It’s not like I could get a regular job anyway.

Kootch calmed down, but now it was like a crazy kind of serenity that was coloring his tone.  “Listen.  All my life I’ve been going to school with that shit basket, and in all that time, the most fucked up thing he’s ever done is slap another football player on the ass.  Now he’s kidnapping girls, punching windows, and trying to pull me out of a moving vehicle?  No.  No, no, no, no,
NO
.  I do
not
accept that.  Someone tell me, what.  The fuck.  Is going. 
On!” 
He turned around and glared at Jasmine for a few seconds before looking back at the road.

“What are you looking at me for?  I didn’t do anything!” she yelled.

“It’s my fault,” said Rae, sounding defeated.  “Just take me home, and you won’t ever have to worry about it happening again.  I promise.”

Jasmine took her hand.  “Don’t say that.  We’re not just going to dump you off at your house and say goodbye.  Let us help you.  We need to call the cops and report him.  Derek’s a nutbag.”

“No!” Rae argued, her tears stopping in the wake of her obvious fear.  “No cops.  No cops ever.”

Jasmine frowned.  “Cops are there to protect you from douche bags like him.  Seriously, you can’t just let him get away with it.”

“You don’t understand,” Rae said, dropping her face into her hands.  “No one does.  Just bring me home.”

Kootch turned in the direction I knew would grant Rae her wish.  I wasn’t so sure it was the best choice, but it was hers to make, not mine.  I pushed aside the guilty feelings and the ones of regret too.

“Come on, Rae, tell us what’s going on.  We won’t judge, I promise,” said Jasmine.

“Oh, yes we will,” said Kootch, sounding absolutely sure of himself.  “I already am.  I’ve judged you guys nuts and crazy and anything else related to that.”

Jasmine leaned forward and flicked him on the back of the ear.

“Ow! Butts!  Cut it out!”

“Stop being an ass and just drive.”  She turned her attention back to Rae.  “I’m serious.  Kootch is not.  He will understand whatever it is you have to say.”

“No, I will not,” he mumbled.  Everyone ignored him.

Rae looked up, her face streaked with tears.  “I can’t tell you what’s wrong.  I just can’t.  I need to just go home and try to get in without my parents finding out I was gone, and hopefully Monday everything will be okay.”

Nothing was ever going to be okay again.  But I wasn’t going to destroy her fantasy with my reality and tell her that.  Besides … maybe she’d be just fine on Monday, even though my world had just imploded.

We drove the rest of the way in silence.  As we approached the Highlands community, the light in the sky grew brighter.

“What the hell is
this
now?” asked Kootch as we pulled near.  “Cops?  Holy shit … and fucking swat teams?  What the hell?  Did someone rob a bank?  Take hostages?”

Cops were coming out of the back of a van parked outside the gates of the Highland neighborhood, dressed in military gear, including flak jackets and helmets.  There had to be at least ten cop cars in and around the entrance, too.

“Don’t go in,” shrieked Rae.  Then in a calmer voice, she said, “Just drive.  Pass by, please.  Please don’t go in.”  She was begging, sounding more desperate than she had all night, and that was saying a lot.

“Fine, I’m going, I’m going.”  Kootch sped up and passed the entrance.

I watched the scene as we drove by, unable to look away.  It was surreal, like a movie about a bank robbery hostage scene.  They looked ready to take down an army of bad guys.

“What in the hell happened in there do you think?” asked Jasmine.

“It’s me,” Rae said, staring out the opposite side of the car.  It was like she was deliberately not looking at the circus outside her neighborhood.

Jasmine turned to Rae.  “You can’t be serious.”

“Where am I supposed to go?” asked Kootch, looking into his rearview mirror at Rae.  “If I can’t take you home, where can I take you?”

“Take her to my house,” said Jasmine without hesitation.  “Right now.”

“What?  Are you serious?”  He turned into a nearby neighborhood and stopped at the side of the road.  Pulling the emergency brake, he twisted in his seat to look at all of us.  “Someone who’s not insane, please tell me what’s going on, where to go, and why the world has fallen off its axis.”  He paused waiting for only a second before continuing.  “Ha.  I’m asking for the one not insane person to speak up, and I just realized that’s me!”  He turned to face the windshield, hissing out a big sigh of frustration.  “Butts, you always get me in trouble. 
Always
.  Why did I listen to you?  Why did I agree to go to that stupid party?”

“Because you wanted to go, you putz.  No one twisted your arm.  And everyone in here is perfectly sane, you least of all of us, so shut your pie hole and let me think.”

“I don’t want any fires in my car, so maybe you shouldn’t,” he said.

She flicked his ear again.

“Do that one more time and you’re gonna be sorry.”

He ducked as she reached forward to do it again.

“What … you gonna throw another rock at my face?” she asked.  She sat back, a look of concentration coming over her face.  “Seriously, I need a cigarette, so take me home.”  She looked over at Rae, patting her on the leg.  “You’re coming with me.  Don’t argue.  I have a bunk bed.”

“But your parents…”

“My parents aren’t home.”

“Her parents are never home,” said Kootch.  “Lucky for her.”  He pulled away from the curb and made a u-turn.

As we turned onto the main road again, several cop cars sped past us heading in the other direction.

I turned to watch them go before looking at Rae.  She was watching them fly by too.

“Those were for you, weren’t they?” I asked.

She nodded, not looking at me.

“I’m not going to ask any more questions until we’re at my house.  My nicotine level is too low for me to talk sense right now.”

“I think you’d better smoke more often, then,” said Kootch, “cause you never make sense.”

“Wet willy punishment,” Jasmine said simply, just before sticking a slobbery finger into Kootch’s ear.

He jerked the wheel and yelled, trying to smack her hand away before giving up and using his shirt to wipe his ear out.  “You are so dead when we get to your house.”

“Touch me and you get corn-holioed next,” she threatened.

“What’s that?” asked Rae, sounding slightly less pitiful than she had before.

“You don’t want to know,” said Kootch.  “Just trust that I will not be touching her in the next million years.”

Jasmine smiled at me and Rae.  “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do to defend herself.”

We pulled into a neighborhood I didn’t know, and three streets down stopped at a driveway between two single-story houses.  It wasn’t an overly affluent place, but it didn’t suck like my area of town either.

“Everyone out.  I have to tuck Geneva in for the night.  I’ll be over when I’m done.”

We got out of the car and followed Jasmine up the front walk to her door as Kootch backed up and pulled into the driveway nextdoor.  Jasmine took a key from her pocket and unlocked the door.  Once we were inside, she shut the door and turned off the beeping alarm.

“Welcome to Casa Butts.  Make yourselves at home.”  She gestured to a room on the right, grabbing a pack of cigarettes off the front hall table.

I stared at the living room, visible through the foyer.  A streetlight just outside on the road lit up the entire room with a weird bluish glow.  The walls of the space were covered in American flags, pictures of people in uniform, and mementoes of a military life.