Page 16 of When Darkness Calls

My feet are moving before I realize I’ve made up my mind. The patio door making a harsh KSWUSH! as I slide it open, stepping out into the humid evening air.

Their heads snap up, twin sets of golden hazel eyes glowing in the setting sunlight watch me. One confused. One hopeful.

“I thought you were leaving?” Cade pats the ground next to him, and I sink down on the plush grass, criss crossing my legs, in front of them.

“I thought so too but…” I shrug and grin at them. “It’s been a while since I’ve sat out here with you two. Figured it’s too nice out to waste the evening holed up in my garage.”

Cade nods his understanding. Then a quiet settles over us. It’s…odd. It’s a strange silence that I’ve not really experienced when it’s just us three in the room. Awkward. Stifling. Kind of suffocating. I pick anxiously at the grass as Dani clicks away on the laptop, the screen blocking her view of me, and Cade is scrolling casually on his phone.

Shit, maybe I should’ve just left.

“I haven’t thought of what will be for dinner. Any suggestions?” He sets his phone on his lap, the screen showing a delivery app is pulled up, glancing between Dani and me.

“You know I don’t care. I—uh, I’m just gonna go grab something to drink. Want anything? A beer?” I ask standing, dusting the grass off my jeans.

“Yeah, please.”

“Um, Dee? Do you want a drink?”

She glanced up from her laptop, looking shocked I asked her directly. Her dark brows furrow a little bit, almost skeptical.

“Um, yeah. Can you get me a—”

“Dr. Pepper? Yeah, I know. Back in a sec.” I rush across the backyard into the kitchen. The cold air inside sending a chill down my spine, making the nervous sweat beading along my neck and hairline even more noticeable.

Fuck this is actually so much harder than I thought. Maybe it was blind stupidity that had me thinking I could just go out there and plop on the grass like the last year pretty much didn’t happen. That I haven’t been avoiding her like the fucking plague because every time I see her the image of her broken, covered in blood, tears, and her own vomit surrounded by those fucking pricks flashes in my mind and I’m drowning in guilt.

There’s no way she has forgiven me for the way I acted that night. For pissing those guys off. For pushing her. Causing her to walk away. None of it would have happened if I had just taken her home when I first got to that house.

I take a deep steadying breath, trudging to the fridge to grab all of our drinks. Opening the door again has me greeted with their laughter as I walk back to my spot.

“Nah, dude, no way.” Cade snickers grabbing his beer. “You’re going to be so miserable. Why did you even agree to go?”

Dani groans, setting the laptop beside her, and grabbing her drink. “Thanks, Grays.” I take a sharp breath, giving her a nod, wide eyed.

Fuck, okay, she actually spoke to me. Hell yeah, I’ll take that as a fucking win.

“Honestly, because she’s right. Since her and Issac started dating, we really don’t get to hang out, just the two of us, all that much. I mean, she spends the night sometimes, but it’s ‘cause we live closer to the diner. We need a girl’s night.”

Cade chuckles. “Or in other words, you’re gonna make her suffer through the most fucked up movies because she’s dragging you out in public for the night.”

Dani grins wickedly, taking a drink of her pop. “Precisely, dear brother. Precisely.”

I huffed a confused laugh. “What exactly are we talking about? I think I missed a couple chapters.”

“Liz is dragging Dani to the Fest for a ‘girl’s night’. BUT, get this, she also swindled her into going to a football game.” Cade raises an amused brow as mine lift in surprise.

“Damn, Dee. Tell me, did you at least get a receipt when you sold your soul with that one?”

She groans again louder, throwing her head back against the tree. “Fuck, I know. I know. But she was doing her weird pouty super power. I can’t say no to that.”

Cade and I snicker again as he asks, “Ain’t that how she got you to do the talent show in middle school?”

“Yeah, when you tripped doing that dance with her—”

He cuts me off. “And you both hit the ground like a sack of potatoes—”

I choke out, “And it got so quiet in the auditorium—”