A Mad Zombie Party - Showalter Gena - Страница 18

I grab my keys and head to the truck. She follows me. Whatever. This is what Kat wants, so this is what Kat will get.

The silence continues the entire drive to Hash Town. The old-school building is made of redbrick and cracked mortar. Charming, in a way. Inside, the walls are painted pale blue and the floors are tiled in black and white.

Cole and Ali are situated at a table in back...with a brunette I don’t recognize. A new recruit?

Camilla and I slide into the only two chairs available, on opposite sides of the stranger.

“Raina, this is Frosty,” Ali says. She’s exchanged her black leather fighting clothes for a pink dress, and she looks beautiful. Reminds me a bit of Taylor Swift, to be honest. Tall and blonde and slender, with a delicacy Cole claims brings out his inner animal. “Frosty, this is Raina. And no shop talk, okay? This is purely social.”

I get the hint. The girl isn’t a recruit.

The brunette offers a shy smile and wave. She’s pretty in a “touch me and I’ll break” sort of way, but I like her eyes. They’re so dark they’re almost black.

“Wow,” she says to me. “I didn’t know there was anyone else in the world as large as Cole.”

I nod—what can I say, really?—and signal the waitress for coffee.

Ali slides a thick, rolled-up napkin in Camilla’s direction. “What you asked for. You’ll want a moment alone.”

Raina looks at the napkin, then at Ali, then at the napkin again. “Um, what’s going on?”

“I... She...” Ali looks to Cole for help, but in the end it’s Camilla who comes to the rescue.

“Tampons. A lady must be discreet.” Camilla winks, then stands and walks away.

“Excuse me.” Curiosity propels me to my feet, and I follow her—straight into the ladies’ bathroom.

“I should have known,” she says on a sigh.

“You’re not supposed to leave my side, remember?”

“Whatever.” She unrolls the napkin. A piece of paper and a syringe fall out.

I catch them before they hit the ground and hand them over. She pales as she reads the note, then curses under her breath.

I snatch the paper from her to read it for myself.

Reeve was able to extract liquid from the darts. You were shot up w/some kind of slow-acting zombie toxin. She’s never seen anything like it. While she studies the ins and outs, this concentrated antidote should help. It’s a gift from Helen. Well, the recipe is. Reeve mixed everything together. In a perfect world, it will completely negate what’s flowing through your veins. Also, Cole & I searched for tracks at the cemetery, but there were too many to pinpoint the girl. I’m sorry.

The news is bad, but it isn’t the worst.

“This is going to hurt.” I pull the top from the syringe and jab her in the arm.

She doesn’t flinch, doesn’t even frown. I do the latter. I’ve had broken bones and torn muscles, but I still howl like a baby when I’m stabbed, no matter how tiny the blade.

I cap the needle, roll it with paper towels and toss the wad into the trash. “Tell me if you start to feel sick. Even the smallest twinge.” I’ll put her out of her misery. Because I’m sweet like that.

“Sir, yes, sir.” She gives me a jaunty salute.

We return to the table, where Ali is regaling Raina with a story about her grandmother. “—walked in when Cole and I were kissing. I just about had a heart attack. But Nana, she remains the picture of calm as she sits beside us on the couch and asks if we’re the evening’s entertainment or if we’d like to watch a movie with her.”

“I wish my grandmother was so cool.” Raina smiles and focuses on me. “Frosty. That’s an interesting nickname. Who gave it to you?”

“Cole.” Coffee is poured at last, and I drink it hot and black. The hotter and blacker the better. I’d drink motor oil if it wouldn’t kill me. Camilla, I notice, pours four sugars and half a carton of cream into hers.

Raina continues to look at me, as if expecting more of an answer. Finally, she says, “When did he give it to you?”

“Elementary school.”

Silence.

Ali kicks me under the table. I frown at her.

“There are a thousand rumors floating around about why.” Ali leans her head against Cole’s shoulder and pets his chest. “Most believe he got trapped outside after an ice storm and lost two of his toes to frostbite.”

“That’s my favorite.” Kat had somehow convinced herself it was true, and that I’d had the two toes surgically reattached, despite the impossibility of reviving dead flesh.

“Unfortunately,” I add, “the real story is far less exciting.”

“Well...?” Ali insists.

“I’d just moved to a new school for the third time that year, and on my first day, I knew I had to prove my prowess or I’d end up being every bully’s whipping boy. Again. I was small back then. I slinked through the halls, determined to take down the reigning badass, which just happened to be Cole. I provoked him into a fight, and he punched me. I fell, but quickly got back up. This happened again and again until finally he stopped and told me I must have ice in my veins, since I was practically begging for more hits rather than curling into a ball and crying.”

“First time anyone ever got up,” Cole says with a fond smile. “And he did it more than once...”

“Well, you hit like a baby.” I give him a smile of my own. “It was either stay down and laugh, or get up and let you try again.”

Cole snorts, and Ali laughs outright.

“Did you give him a nickname in return?” Raina asks me.

“Yes. Asshole.”

This time Ali snorts, and Cole laughs. Camilla nods with approval.

Raina leans closer to me, a slow grin spreading. “What nickname would you give me?”

Right now? Inquisitor. For some chick I just met, she sure asks a lot of questions. “I don’t know you well enough.”

“Well, hopefully we can change that.”

I shrug noncommittally and take another drink of coffee.

Cole clears his throat and I meet his gaze. His lips are twitching at the corners as he gives a sharp shake of his head.

“What?” I demand.

“He’s amused by the fact that you haven’t figured out this is a setup.” Camilla opens a packet of strawberry jelly and eats the inside. “A meet-and-greet. An arranged blind date.”

Shut the hell up. Raina is flirting with me?

“Ali.” I do my best to keep the anger out of my tone. “A word.”

“Oh. No, thanks. I’m good.” She looks everywhere but at me.

“Now.” I stand and “help” her to her feet, then drag her through the maze of tables and into the bathroom hallway. I whirl on her, saying, “What the hell, Ali?”

“Hey, don’t blame me.” She spreads her arms wide. “I’m simply obeying Kat’s orders.”

Kat told her to set me up with another girl? Damn it. I don’t... I can’t... The anger burns out of control, setting fire to my shock, and all I can do is choke on the fumes. I would never—never!—push Kat at another guy. I still love her. I still want her.

But she doesn’t want me.

Is she up there, watching me? Will it hurt her to see me flirt with another girl?

I guess we’ll find out.

“I’m sorry,” Ali says. “I know this isn’t—”

“Where’d you meet Raina?” I’m not interested in her pity. “What kind of girl am I dealing with?”

“Before I moved in with Nana and started going to Asher, I attended Carver Academy with her.” She nibbles on her bottom lip. “She’s a senior like you, a cheerleader with a sweet heart, and she knows nothing about Zs.”

Kat was a cheerleader in junior high, before kidney disease rendered her too weak. “Let’s get this over with.”

Ali grabs my arm as I walk away, stopping me. “One thing. Be nice to her, or I’ll be wearing your testicles as earrings tomorrow.”

“Set me up on another date,” I tell her, “and I’ll be using your lady balls as a coin purse.”

Snorting, she bumps my shoulder with her own. “You’d look good carrying a purse, but if you reach for my lady balls, Cole will cut off your hand.”