Violent Delights

by Boggs, Hannah;

“You can see the stars out here. It’s nice,” she commented. Odette was about to ask about something trivial, like how his rehearsal went or when his next show was, but she didn’t get to.

  Grayson knelt to her level and kissed her lips. His aim was a little off and he only got about half of her mouth, but she wasn’t about to complain to him. It was a feverish kiss that knocked the air out of her lungs and she just stood there and accepted it.

  He pulled away reluctantly, his forehead resting against hers. “I’m sorry, I just … you’re beautiful. I needed to make sure I wasn’t dreaming this.”

  Odette wanted to tease him, say something like, “You dream of me often?” but she didn’t think that she had the energy to. Technically speaking, she dreamt of him often too but she didn’t think he would like her kind of dreams.

  So, instead she said, “Are you okay?”

  “I have this … fear of losing you. My past is full of people I cared about dying and I can’t let you be the next one.” His eyes were dark, almost like the time before but, for the time being, he seemed calm.

  Odette tilted her head and swallowed hard. “You know that I can’t promise anything, right?” She brought their entwined hands up and kissed the back of his. “My heart, the condition I have, I’m always at risk if I’m not careful.”

  “I could never let anything take you from me. Not death, not a person, and not some illness,” Grayson said in a deep voice. “I won’t allow anyone else to be taken from me, not when that person is you.”

  He obviously wasn’t feeling well, Odette rationalized. “Okay.” She didn’t bother to shush him either as she could still hear her father snoring downstairs. “I believe you.”

  Runt trotted over to the pair, her eyes gleaming in the dark. She meowed and it was loud like she was trying to alert everyone in the house that Grayson was there.

  “Runt, hush!” Odette hissed, nearly jumping out of her skin. Even with Grayson with her, she was terrified of the dark and what could lurk inside.

  The cat made a noise, rubbing against her owner’s bare ankles. She stepped on Grayson’s feet, bumping him with her butt, and whipping him with her tail. She mewled again, a little softer this time.

  “Shh! Go back to sleep, it’s not wake-up time yet.”

  Runt headbutted her, as if to taunt the girl further, before she curled up on Odette’s foot and purred happily.

  Odette was seething. “Runt, you turd.”

  “Cat,” Grayson spat. He glared at the animal, his hand twitching. Almost as soon as his aggravation started, he turned his attention back to Odette. “Don’t worry about her, she won’t bother us.”

  “Her meows could wake up my parents—” Odette glanced behind her at the nearly shut door.

  Grayson released her hand and cupped her jaw, pushing her face to look back at him. “Don’t worry and stay quiet.”

  He kissed her again with the same frenzy as before but Odette was a little more reluctant to return it. The risk of getting caught was too great; even if they weren’t really doing anything bad, her parents’ minds would jump to conclusions.

  She forced herself to turn her head to the side and his lip grazed her cheek. He sighed, burying his face in her hair. She could feel a defeat in his body language.

  “Come by tomorrow at a reasonable hour,” she instructed. “Maybe we can go somewhere.”

  Grayson snickered quietly, “Are you asking me on a date?”

  “I said maybe, Mages. Now, out the window.” Odette stepped out from under Runt, ensuring she wouldn’t hurt the cat, and closer to him. She pushed against his chest, urging him to walk backwards. Odette prayed that he wouldn’t trip over a miscellaneous item in her room and cause a commotion, but he made it to the window ledge without incident.

  The boy had half of his body out the window, straddling the ledge. “How about a kiss goodbye?” He winked and Odette hated that it made her blush.

  “Just because you’re technically outside does not mean we are in the clear yet, dummy.” She rolled her eyes at his overly puckered lips and swung down to give him a quick kiss, but his hand caught her by the back of her neck and held her there.

  The night breeze blew through her window and chilled Odette’s superheated skin. It was unfair how warm he made her. His fingers wove through her messy bed hair, angling her head just right. He smirked into the kiss, lingering a moment longer, before he released her and dropped down into the darkness.

  Odette lingered by the window in a sort of daze and she squinted to see if she could see him down in the yard at all … there was nothing. It was like he vanished.

  What felt like minutes later, Odette’s eyes opened to see the sunlight filtering through her window. It was still partially open from hours before and she cringed at the thought of bugs crawling in while she was sleeping. At the time, that hadn’t occurred to her.

  Odette yawned and stretched her arms high above her, her joints popping loudly. It felt good, but she was too stiff in reality. After a bit more stretching, she let out a satisfied sigh and ran a hand through her messy hair.

  Her eyes landed on her cat next, curled up in her little bed. “Hey, Runt.” She leaned down and gave the fur ball a little head scratch. “I hope you slept well.”

  Runt didn’t look up at her and stayed curled up. It disturbed Odette greatly.

  “C’mon, talk to me. Meow,” she giggled to herself. “Kitty, I’m not going to stop annoying you until you talk to me,” she sang, poking her cat again.

  The kitten’s head moved and she sighed, but it was only a loll to the side because of how hard she poked her. Her eyes were only half open but there wasn’t any sign of consciousness. Odette scrambled to get out of her bed, falling with a loud thud. The fact that she could have given her parents a heart attack was very far from her mind. She was almost afraid to touch the small kitten again. She didn’t know exactly what to think.

  “Runt, please wake up,” Odette begged. Her vision was blurring over with tears but she knew she was just being silly. Her cat was fine. She was just playing a game and being lazy because cats were like that, right? “Kitty? Please?”

  The loud thumping of footsteps of her parents didn’t bother her. She scooped the cat up in her arms and held back a sob. The small kitten wasn’t moving at all. There was no purring and there were no small movements as she breathed. Runt had gone cold. Odette held her close to her chest and allowed her tears to fall, not daring to make a sound. She rocked herself back and forth in a ball on the floor. A hand was laid on her shoulder and Odette jumped, a whimper tearing from her throat. She held onto her cat tighter.

  “Oh baby, what’s wrong?” her mother asked in a sweet voice. How could she be so calm at a time like this?

  Odette parted her lips but a strangled sob came out. “Runt!” She held the small animal out in her shaking hands.

  Her mother obviously didn’t understand as she could see nothing wrong right away with the kitten. That was Odette’s problem too. Pamela looked between the cat and her daughter’s distraught appearance. It must have dawned on her that Runt wasn’t moving and laying far too still even for such a calm kitten. Normally, Runt would greet even her, always up and always alert. Pamela gaped, turning to her husband for help. Jonah stood in the doorway, still and very grim. The two of them had eventually pried the dead cat from Odette’s iron hold. Jonah had laid Runt in a fabric bag that his wife used for washing lingerie and dug a hole in the backyard. Pamela was not happy about having to give that up to bury a cat, but she got over it fast.

  Odette watched the whole time, red-eyed and teary. Her body shook with sadness, her arms perpetually wrapped around her torso to hold herself together. She spent what felt like hours outside, staring at the freshly overturned dirt where her beloved pet laid. She hadn’t had her long but she loved her. She found comfort in her. It made no sense that she would just die, unless she had been sick the whole time. Her father never did take her to a vet; they never thought about it.

 
“Odette?”

  She looked away from the ground, seeing the boy that she cared for. He looked classy as always; the distraught version of him that she saw the day before was now long gone. Worry was plastered over his face.

  “Your mother told me,” he said carefully.

  Odette could feel her throat tighten again and she threw her arms around him. In the back of her mind, she felt bad that she was probably ruining his shirt but that only made her more upset. She held fistfuls of his shirt, crushing him into her.

  “I-I don’t understand!” she cried. “She was fine last night, nothing was wrong with her. You even saw her.” Most of what she said was muffled by his chest but he heard her.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered to her, stroking her hair.

  Odette pulled back, her sobs turning to sniffles. “I just can’t help thinking that it was my fault somehow. I wasn’t caring for her enough. I just wish I had given her more affection. More attention. I wish that I just could have given her more.”

  “Giving her more affection wouldn’t have stopped this from happening. It’s obvious that something was wrong with her.” He tucked some hair behind her ears so that he could look at her easily. “I think I should get you inside now, these thoughts will only make you feel worse.”

  She didn’t have the strength to argue with him. She spared the grave one more glance before following him indoors, clinging to him with her frail arms. Grayson took her to the living room and pulled her to sit down with him. He situated them both so that her head stayed tucked under his chin and she curled up on his chest.

  “When you feel up for it,” he said, lacing their fingers together. “We can go wherever you want to.” He traced patterns, letters, and words into the back of her hand with this thumb. His other one rested on her elbow not on her hip, as Jonah was practically staring him down from the other side of the room.

  Odette hummed but didn’t answer him outright. For that moment, all she wanted was to be held.

  XVIII

  There were only three people who ever visited the Sinclair’s home—Grayson, Greer, and the mail carrier named Enid. So, when there was a knock on the door early in the morning, Odette expected to see two of the three as she never expected to see Greer at her house—at least not voluntarily—ever again. It was, however, none of the three.

  “Nadia?” Odette stepped back. Seeing her on her front porch was alien to Odette. Nadia was never without the others, which meant they could be nearby. That left a bad taste in her mouth. Odette tightened her hold on the door knob.

  As if she knew what was in Odette’s mind, the girl reached out fervently to stop the door. “Please. I need to speak with you. It’s important.”

  Odette shifted her jaw and kept her voice low, “Why should I? Was my life not important?”

  Nadia hung her head, her thick black hair forming a curtain around her face. “I know. That’s why … that’s why I came to talk with you. Please, let me in. If they find out I’ve been here …”

  Guilt nagged at Odette. She risked one more glance over her shoulder to make sure neither of her parents were nearby, and reluctantly widened the door for Nadia to enter. “What do you want?”

  Nadia shifted from foot to foot and gnawed on her lower lip. She, too, looked about the room with a questionable gaze. “Will we not be disturbed here?”

  “I don’t know. I still don’t trust you.” It was the truth.

  They both were silent for what felt like too long, just staring at the floor, avoiding one another’s eyes as best they could. Odette wanted to demand to know why Nadia had come. As she was Greer’s crony, it only made her more of an untrustworthy opponent.

  “I came to apologize,” Nadia whispered, “I had no idea that Greer would go as far as to … you know. Bonnie didn’t either.”

  “But you stood by and watched as it happened.”

  “We thought she was just going to scare you, that’s all. Not drown you. And …”

  Odette frowned, not liking her silence. “And what?”

  Nadia sat down on the arm of the couch and rubbed her neck. When she gathered the courage to speak again, her voice was hushed and her eyes glassy. “Bonnie and I were worried. Greer never had any more than three friends—two that she always keeps with her and the third is always an object of ridicule. That’s how it’s always been. No one says no to Greer.”

  Odette could feel heat rising on her face and she clenched her fists tight. “So, why were you worried? Obviously, I was the object of ridicule.”

  “So did we!” Nadia exclaimed, too enthused by Odette’s agreement. “But … Greer had never acted the way she had with you with anyone else before. That was what made us worry. No one has ever been allowed to date Grayson that was in her friend circle. Bonnie and I used to joke with her that she should set one of us up with him, no offense or anything, but all she would do was glare. And then you came along and, suddenly, she was pushing the two of you together. I thought maybe I was being replaced.”

  Nadia pinched her lips together and looked at Odette earnestly. “I’m not jealous…. Maybe I was in the beginning, but it’s different now. I’m afraid for you. I think you’ve gotten in over your head. You don’t want to have Greer as an enemy.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I need to go now. Any longer and they’ll know I’ve been here.”

  Odette gaped and attempted to block her exit. “Wait! You can’t just say stuff like that and leave,” Odette protested. “If you know Greer is dangerous, then you need to take care of yourself. Get out from under her thumb or whatever you have to do.”

  Nadia shook her head rapidly and pushed past her. “I know too much, Greer would never allow it, but you can. Stay away from Greer. And Grayson, for that matter. They both have more secrets and issues than anyone I’ve ever known—and I don’t even know half of them. They can tear any sane person to shreds. It’s best to leave with some of yourself still intact.” And, without allowing Odette to get another word in, she left.

  “I thought I was the one who was supposed to pick the date,” Odette stated wryly.

  Grayson leaned against his car casually, a pair of sunglasses resting on his face, glinting in the sunlight. “You can pick the next one. I want to show you a place I’m pretty sure you haven’t been to.”

  “How can you be so sure?” she teased him, pushing up the sleeves of her sweater. “I might have.”

  Uncertainty crossed his face but there was that small crease of worry in his brow. “I would be very concerned if you had. It’s kind of a place couples go to together.”

  “You’re taking me to a make out spot? Geez, Mages!” She swatted at his arm, laughing nervously.

  “Not like that,” he looked uncomfortable but he did it to himself. “It’s a nice spot and I thought you would like the drive. Get a break from being inside so much.”

  Odette chewed on her lip, glancing back inside. “I’ll ask,” she said quietly, hiding her embarrassment by digging her fingernails in her palms.

  Her mother was sitting on the couch with her laptop open, typing away. “Hey, sweetie. What does your boyfriend want that he can’t come inside for?”

  “He wanted to take me on a drive to one of the diners in town, maybe do some sightseeing. Can I?” She couldn’t believe how much of an idiot she felt like, having to ask her mother while he was right outside.

  Pamela sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. “Just please make sure that he has you home by ten o’clock. Preferably before but …”

  Odette’s face broke out into a grin, “Thank you, Mom!” she ran up next to her and pulled her into a tight hug.

  “Promise me one thing—that you won’t end up in the emergency room again. It always seems like something bad happens when …” Pamela stopped herself before she started something with her daughter. “Just be safe.”

  The girl nodded her head slowly. She understood what her mother was saying but she knew that Grayson would protect her. “Of course, Mom.” She
hugged her one last time before she went back outside where her beau was waiting so patiently. He quirked an eyebrow, asking silently if she could come. Odette closed the front door and skipped over to him, kissing his cheek. “Let’s go.”

  The car pulled out of her front yard seconds later. Grayson had one hand on the wheel and the other holding hers. She noticed how clingy he had become since the “incident.” It was like he couldn’t function without her but she thought that most boyfriends must act like this.

  Odette laid her head back and watched the trees whiz past them. It was relaxing, a moment where she could really breathe.

  “What are you smiling about?” Grayson asked suddenly. He squeezed her hand gently, glancing at her every few seconds.

  “I didn’t know that I was. I guess it would be you.”

  They were in town now, Odette had never seen so many people around. Most of them were looking over at Grayson’s car too.

  He chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re cute.”

  Grayson had to stop for pedestrians. Unfortunately, the pedestrians were Greer and her best friends. It was a staring contest, full of ice and mirth.

  Seeing them reminded Odette of her conversation that very morning with Nadia. She was a good actress. The girl wore a mask of indifference when staring at Odette and Grayson, tapping her lime green nails against her slushy.

  They can tear any sane person to shreds. It’s best to leave with some of yourself still intact.

  Odette forced herself to look away, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. Surely, Nadia’s words weren’t true. She must have been trying to scare Odette away. Then again, Nadia had known the Mages longer. How much longer, Odette didn’t know, but she assumed it must have been a while.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you,” Grayson said. He pulled her closer to him and Odette could feel his sister’s glare intensify.

  “I know.”

  “She’s been rather tame … but then again, I’ve avoided her as much as I could.” He accelerated and they were speeding through the town once more. Then he added, “That isn’t new, though.”