Page 20 of My Revenant
Rather than his boot coming down on me, Mason grunted as a body slammed into the side of him, taking him down like the sack of shit he was. Then Dex fucking Weller rained down pain twice as furious as anything he’d delivered during their fight.
It all spiraled pretty quickly from there. Mason’s friend got involved, trying to pull Dex off, which got Bryce involved, whichgot someone else I didn’t recognize involved, and then another person, and another, and pretty soon it was an all-out brawl.
The crowd dispersed, people running away from what quickly became more than they’d signed up for. Becca pulled at my arm, attempting to hurry me away, but I pulled back, away from her. My feet wanted to take me in a different direction, but she pulled again, and fuck was she strong when she wanted to be.
We scrambled away just as the sirens and red and blue lights came into view, running through the surrounding forest as fast as my limp would let me.
“Fuckingspill,” Becca demanded as she slapped a bag of frozen peas to the side of my face.
I winced and glared at her, but she remained unperturbed.
“What the fuck were you thinking tripping Mason fucking Bates?”
I shrugged, and she pressed the peas harder to my face as punishment.
“He said homophobic shit,” I confessed after an argument that took place entirely through glaring at each other. I wouldn’t specify who he was saying homophobic shit about, though. That was irrelevant.
Her expression softened a little at that. “Yeah, he’s an asshole. But you can’t just start a gang war because he said something fucked up, Jonah. You aren’t violent like that. Are you?”
I looked away.
“Are you?” she repeated in a sterner voice.
“No. I don’t know why I did it. Okay? I just… I had to dosomething.”
Becca flopped back on the bed beside me with a sigh. I did the same. Side by side, we lay looking up at the ceiling, at the shitty glow-in-the-dark stars my mom had put up there after I’d begged her for them. They’d dulled over the years, or maybe they’d always been that shitty and I just hadn’t noticed when I was so pleased she’d finally given in and got them for me to stop my nagging.
There were a few long minutes of silence before she broke it. “Well, that wasn’t how I expected the night to go.”
After a beat, I heard her snicker, and despite trying to hold in my own, I failed. The next moment we were both laughing so hard my stomach hurt.
“I swear it looked like Bryce was flying for a moment,” she cackled, and I groaned as my lip split again. “No, but actually…” She turned on her side to face me, and I mirrored her. “What the fuckwasthat,Jonah? Dex literally came out of nowhere to save you after just getting his ass beat.”
I scowled. “He didn’t get his ass beat. That fight was clearly Dex’s win.”
“He only had a chance at the end because helickedthe guy, JJ.”
“So? That fuckhead didn’t have to react like he was poison or something. Why? Because he’s gay?” I paused for a moment, not able to meet Bee’s eyes as I asked, “Ishe gay?”
“Dex? Yeah. That’s not a secret. I don’t think he’s ever tried to hide it from anyone.”
Okay. So Dex Ice-Eyes Weller was gay. Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Didn’t matter to me at all. I didn’t care, and it wasn’t like it affected me in any way whether he was or wasn’t. So yeah. Not sure why I even asked, really.
“Jonah.” Bee frowned. “I told you to stay away from him.”
“I’m away!” I snapped back a little too quickly. “Haven’t even said a word to him.”
“But you want to.” Not a question but a statement. I needed to defend myself. I opened my mouth to speak, but she beat me to it. “Oh, shut up!” The bag of peas in her hand smacked against my bruised cheek again.
ten
Jonah - Past
BABY, I’M THE DEVIL.
I didn’t feel like going to class the next day, so I didn’t. Instead, I took a walk.
Rather than the beach path, I went in the other direction, through the thinner parts of the forest that blended with the large grassy field separating Port Skelton from Meadow Park.
