Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

“The question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or the others crazy?” �" Albert Einstein

Ronnie

The peroxide Andie dabbed onto the gash I had on my leg burned to the point where I wound up grabbing a pillow off the couch to bite it.  She shook her head and laughed at me as I used texting in attempt to distract myself from what she was doing to me.  After accepting my invite to the fair next weekend, Ace kept up our conversation, making sure the topic remained focused on me for the most part.  Every time I tried to put it on him, he figured out away to turn it back to me.  The corners of my mouth tugged up in the form of a smile every time he did it, and the way he worded a few things made me giggle.

“So…who ya texting?” Andie looked up at me with a curiously suspicious gleam in her eye and a small smiled.  Her touch remained light and gentle as she continued dabbing at my leg.  The burning started to cease as the injury got used to it, so I was able to relax against the arm of the couch, now using the pillow for comfort.

“Just this guy.” I shrugged casually and looked away from her and at my phone just in time to see his reply to my question.  He said she got the tattoo because to her, the female black widow signified that females aren’t really helpless and need to rely on males for protection, considering the female spider has its own defense.  I guess I could see why she would choose that.  However, there were plenty of other choices she could’ve picked from, and some of them weren’t necessarily of something that could kill you in a matter of hours.

“Oh?  Care to share?” Her interest was peaked and she deliberately slowed down on patching up my leg.  Thankfully, we were the only two home, other than Chett, who was in the shower. “Clearly it’s not Corin.”

“It’s Ace; and there’s not much I can share about him…we only talked about the basics; like favorite things and least favorite things…just stuff like that.  I know he’s human because he ingested Holy water without knowing it and nothing happened to him.”

“You do know that there are demons out there that are able to come in contact with Holy water without feeling anything, right?”

“Yes, but never has there been a strong enough one to withstand ingesting it.” I looked away from my phone and up at Andie as she pulled out a piece of gauze.  Lucky for me, it wasn’t deep enough to need stitches and it’s a good thing us slayers are fast healers.  The injury won’t be much tomorrow, but it won’t be gone. “I guess maybe Accursius would be strong enough but would a demon really wear a cross willingly?”

“Good point,” she laughed. “What are you two talking about?”

“Just stuff.” I held down the end of the wrap as Andie wrapped it around my leg once, allowing me to move my hand. “We’re, uh, gonna hang out this weekend; just a heads up for you so you know not to invite Corin to do anything with me.  But don’t tell anyone about it…everyone else wouldn’t allow it and you know it.”

“Hey, wouldn’t dream of it.  Besides, the sister code states that if you don’t want me to say anything, I can’t.  The only thing I have to say is don’t get too excited about it; remember that Corin technically is your future husband.”

“Yeah…don’t remind me.” I rolled my eyes and looked away from my sister, knowing that she’d figure out that something’s wrong.  Unlocking my phone, I went into my messages and, out of curiosity, asked Ace what he was doing tomorrow.  I made sure that he knew I was just curious and that there was no second part to it so that he would hopefully keep the focus on himself for a moment.

“Uh-oh…do I sense some kind of hostility here?”

“Nope.  I’m just tired.” I had several reasons to use that as an excuse.  The ambush being one of them.  Not to mention it was almost midnight.

“Alright, go to bed.  And hey, depending on how your leg looks, either tomorrow or the day after it’s you, me, Chett, and Trick at the beach, alright?  The four of us never get free time to hang out together outside of a fight.  Remember last time we hung out?” She stood up and grabbed all the garbage and extra bandages she had left over.

“Of course.” How could I forget?  It may have been winter last time, but it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.  Trick had come up with the idea of an ultimate snowball fight, which consisted of each of us hiding in trees, tunneling through snow banks, and using anything that was necessary in order to hit our targets.  He even whipped out paintball guns, allowing us to use them as needed.  The only catch was that we couldn’t wear any form of protection from the force.  No snow pants either.  Just sweatpants or jeans and a sweatshirt with hats and gloves.  We had welts and bruises for weeks.  It was painful but it was as fun as hell.

I got off the couch, pulling the pant leg of my pajama pants back down, and walked to my room.  Chett came walking out of the bathroom in shorts and nodded at me as I turned into my room.  He looked just as tired as I felt, but I didn’t even stop to see if he was going out by Andie or if he was going into his room.  I just crawled into bed and looked at my phone once I got comfortable.

Just hangin out with a few friends of mine. Wanna join?

I did.  A smile tugged at my lips at the thought of hanging out with him again, but I couldn’t.  I told him that I couldn’t because I was probably going to hang out with Andie and Trick, leaving out the fact that I wanted to.

My leg was practically completely healed when I wok up in the morning.  All that was left was a small scratch, and when I showed Andie, she grew excited.  That meant that she had made plans for me, her, and Trick to do something today.  However, when I asked her what we were doing, she refused to tell me.  She said it was a secret and that I couldn’t know until Trick showed up at the house.  That was one of the first times I texted Trick, telling him to hurry up.  He didn’t get to the house until eleven o’clock, and by then, Andie was driving me insane by telling me how much fun we were going to have, even though I didn’t know where we were going or what we were doing.

“Ronnie, go get your swimsuit!  We’re goin’ to the beach!” Andie came running out of her room in shorts and a light purple striped bikini top that tied behind her back and behind her neck.  Her average skin tone looked perfect with the color of her swimsuit, her flawless skin looking even better.  Nothing marked her skin except for her tattoo.

Not even a scar.

Trick parked his truck in the sand so that we wouldn’t have to stress over looking for a parking spot in the packed lot.  Wouldn’t be the first time he did it and we’ve never got in trouble for it.  It’s kind of nice because we can keep the cooler on the bed and listen to music from the radio.  Chett decided to bring a football with, knowing that Trick would want to goof off for a while.  Andie took off her sunglasses and shorts, throwing them on the tailgate, and breathed in the ocean air.  I just decided to sit in the bed of the truck with my sunglasses and flip-flops on.  My salmon colored bikini, in Andie’s opinion, looked amazing on me with my skin tone, which was a little more tan than the average person’s, which also made my gold star trail tattoo stand out even more.  What I didn’t like, was that the scar around my ankle was in sight for anyone to see it.

“No one’s going to look at it, Ronnie.” Andie must’ve seen something in my eyes that gave it away.  Either that or she just knows me well enough to know that I’d be uncomfortable about that possibility.  Maybe both. “Especially not in a suit like that.  They’d be too preoccupied to look at your feet.” She gave me a wink and held her hand out to me.

“Yeah, but if they know what’s good for ‘em they won’t be looking at her that long.” Chett leaned on the tailgate, looking around at the guys with a warning gleam in his eye.  He tries to be a good brother that way, but once he’s done scaring guys, especially on the beach, he goes to talk to them or play football with them.  He and Trick both.  They watched over me like hawks, and if one guy looked at me for even a second, they jumped on it.

“Let’s go for a swim.” Trick pulled his shirt over his head in a single, swift motion, tossing it on Andie’s towel.  Honestly, he had an incredible body �" lean and well toned.  Andie sure liked it as well.  She smiled as soon as his shirt was off.  Every male slayer had a nice body, but Trick’s was just a little better than the rest.  Even Chett’s girlfriend, Monica, agrees about Trick having the best, but she doesn’t care about it.

“Uh, you guys go ahead, I’ll just stay right here.” I crossed my legs and draped my hands over my ankles in a way that would cover up my scar.  Nobody seemed to miss that and they all let out a sigh in unison.

“No one is going to see it, Ronnie.  You’ll be in the water.” Chett sounded a little annoyed with me, but he was still calm about it.  Honestly, the scar was actually burning from the fight last night and it was starting to bother me.  I guess the cool, ocean water would feel good on it, but I still didn’t want to give people a chance to see it.

“Ronnie-” Andie stopped when Trick held his hand up as he casually grabbed the cooler and set it next to Andie’s towel.  He then grabbed our clothes and set them on top of it.

“You guys go swim over there.  I got this.” He got in his truck and started the engine, pulling the truck off the sand.  Chett and Andie’s laughs faded as Trick drove me away; they knew what was going on, and it would’ve been nice if I knew, but I didn’t and that made me a little nervous.  Trick’s plans were unpredictable and no matter what they were, they usually almost always worked.

“Trick!  Where are we going?” I leaned over the side of the bed and looked at his side mirror in order to look at him. “And why did you leave the tailgate down?” Despite my question, I was still sitting fairly close to the tailgate, but I was holding onto the sides to sturdy myself.

“We’re not goin’ anywhere.  Just for a drive.” He looked in the mirror and at me with a grin.  I didn’t like it.  It wasn’t a happy grin or a comforting one.  It was a sly one that told me that I wouldn’t like his plan. “You fought your a*s of last night, didn’t you?” The music was off, which was nice because otherwise I don’t know how we would’ve heard each other.

“Um, I dunno if I would say that…I mean, I guess I fought hard but I don’t think I fought my best.”

“Why not?”

“My head wasn’t really in it.  I had other things on my mind.”

“Like what?”

“Just…stuff…” I shrugged casually and looked around.  He was backing the tuck down the wooden pier.  We were over halfway down it already. “Trick…what are you doing?” I looked down at the water as the truck continued to back up and saw Andie and Chett swimming out towards the end of the pier, looking up at us every once in a while.  They were laughing.

“Still don’t wanna join them?”

“No…”

“Alright.” Still in reverse, Trick sped the truck up, and right when I thought the back tires were going to go off the edge of the pier, he slammed on the brakes.  The truck jerked to a rough stop, stopping just in time.  However, being in the bed was far from beneficial for me, considering the fact that him slamming on the brakes caused me to go flying from where I was, and down towards the water.

Ace

My…pals and I were buckling up their lifejackets as we got the jet-skis off the trailer and into the water.  They were also demons, so we didn’t need the lifejackets, but that’s not the way to blend in.  We didn’t really need to breathe, so if we were to get into a situation where someone would drown in, we wouldn’t have to worry about it.  That’s what could give away something different about us.  My jet-ski, however, was different from theirs.  Mine was a trick ski, but we apparently agreed that we’d switch once we got to the main beach.  There were three of us, so we’d have to switch a few times, but we’re demons; we’ll figure it out.  If we don’t, we’ll beat the s**t out of each other until we do.

“Yo!  Ace!  Put your phone away and get your a*s over here!  We’re ready to go!” Vince, or, in Hell he’s known as Verrine, hollered.  He was always impatient, especially when he wanted to have a fun time.  His position in Hell was nowhere like mine.  Actually, his was almost lower than Succorbenoth’s, but that’s because he decided not to do what King Accursius told him to and got his rank knocked down.  He didn’t seem to care very much, and that’s why he never tried to get it back.  His reason is because he thinks it’s more fun to be a lower rank because he doesn’t have as much responsibility or have to respond to orders as much.

“I’m comin’!” I took one last look at my phone, making sure I didn’t get a text from Ronnie yet, and then tossed it in the front seat of my truck before slamming the door shut.  My cross necklace was still around my neck, but I wrapped it around twice so I wouldn’t risk it falling off while I was riding, even though my lifejacket held it snug to my chest.

I walked to the edge of the sand where the guys were standing, waiting for me to get on my jet-ski.  Vince’s brother, Rye, or in Hell he’s known as Verrier, was smoking a cigarette with patience.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen him without a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, other than when he had a beer in his hand.  If it wouldn’t fly back in his face, I bet he would’ve gone skiing with a cigarette.  He loved it not affecting him because he loved to do it.  Anything against even the laws he loved to do.  If it wasn’t for him, he and Vince never would’ve dropped rank �" he’s more disobedient than any demon I’ve met.  Honestly…I loved the guy.

“Checkin’ to see if your assignment called you?” Rye looked at me expectantly as he took a drag of his cigarette, grinning in the process.  I didn’t say a word to him; didn’t even look at him. “Dude, are you gonna let us meet her anytime soon?  You’ve been talkin’ ‘bout that slayer since that day after the club before you were given the job.  Hell, you were even talkin’ ‘bout her in front of Zona.”

“You’re not meeting her.” I pushed him off his ski, quickly started mine, and took off with Vince alongside me.  Rye and Zona thought they were sneaking around with each other without me knowing, but I was aware of it since they started about three weeks after her and I started, which was within my first decade of existing.  It didn’t bother me, but it was kind of ironic how she claimed she wanted to be with me and no one else, and then she starts sleeping around with someone else.  Even though he’s a disobedient demon, he can be very good at being persuasive and charming, and that is the reason I wouldn’t let him meet Ronnie.

She was mine.

Rye caught up with us rather quickly, cutting me off in the process.  If we weren’t on these I would’ve punched him.  Or rear ended him like I do in my truck.  Instead, I sped up and took a sharp turn in front of him, spraying water in his face.  That earned me a good flip of the finger.  I laughed and so did Vince as he did the same thing to his brother and me.  He looped around and came up alongside me.

“Ace!  Take the waves!” He pointed ahead of us and when I looked, I saw that two speed boats flew by in front of us, leaving nice sized waves.

I grinned and revved the engine before speeding forward.  The waves were big enough so that, when I gook them, my ski jumped high into the air.  The muscles in my core tightened as I threw my head back and pulled up, flipping backwards with the ski.  I felt my cross necklace shift under the lifejacket, but it didn’t move very much, even though that didn’t comfort me.  Sticking the landing, I instinctively reached up to make sure it was still around my neck as I turned to look behind me.  Vince and Rye took the waves but didn’t do anything special.  They needed my jet-ski to accomplish anything cool.

“Why the f**k not?” Rye came up alongside me, making his voice louder than the skis and splashing water.  He actually had to bring out the growling voice he uses when he’s down in Hell, or in his demon form.  It’s louder than his normal voice so it was more effective. “You can’t keep her all to yourself!”

I stopped my ski and turned to look at him, cutting the engine.  The other two stopped next to me and did the same thing, looking at me.  Vince looked curious and Rye looked just as sly and untrustworthy as ever.  I knew better than to tell him that he can’t do something.  It’d be smarter to poke a bear with a stick.  Prohibiting him from doing what he wants to do, or is told not to do something, only encourages him to do it more.  And according to his expression, he was waiting for me to provoke him in that way.  I had to make sure that I worded things the right way when telling him that he won’t be allowed to meet her.

“I can and I will.”