“My mom…she had defunct kidneys, too, and she died at a pretty early age. Like, just after I was born.”
“Kat.” I grabbed her hand and held on, never wanting to let her go.
Her chin went straight into the air. The overhead light glinted off the sheen of tears in eyes more green than brown. “I don’t want you to treat me any differently. I’m still just me.”
Yes, she was still one of the best people I knew. I wanted to save her, somehow, someway, as I hadn’t been able to save my family and Brent, because losing her would destroy me, and I knew it.
Every day the clock ticked—or not. The end could come in a heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second. Gone, gone, gone.
Kat. Nana. Pops.
Cole.
I’d been keeping him at a distance, tiptoeing around him, I realized, thinking yes, I’d give him a chance, then no, I wouldn’t. Yes. No. Excited. Nervous. Always holding a little part of myself back.
Well, no longer. I was done letting fear rule my life. I’d had that thought before, but this time the words were alive inside me. This time, I wouldn’t back down.
“You said Frosty doesn’t know?” I asked quietly.
“No, he doesn’t.” Her gaze locked on mine, the gleam inside hard and harsh. “I want to keep it that way. Okay? I shouldn’t, but I still love him. If he finds out, he’ll either drop me or double his efforts to be with me for the time I have left. I don’t want him to drop me, but I don’t want him to only want me because I’m a limited time offer, either. I want him to fight for me just because he loves me.”
“He hasn’t noticed your fatigue? Your scars?”
“Well, of course he has. But the days I’m tired I tell him I’m on my period and that settles that. Girl issues scare him. As for the scars, I told him I was in a terrible fight in junior high and the little witch scratched like a sissy. He asks me for her name and address at least once a week. I think he hopes to watch a rematch.”
I wanted to laugh at that. I wanted to cry. “I won’t say a word, I promise.”
Bit by bit, the tension eased from her. “Good. And now, to purposefully change the subject, I finally finished the rumor tree. You’ll never believe who the culprit is.”
I’d stopped caring, and yet, curiosity got the better of me. “Who?”
“Justin’s sister, Jaclyn.”
“Of course,” I said, her name switching on a lightbulb inside my head. I was ashamed I hadn’t deduced the truth sooner. I hadn’t spoken to Justin since that night in the forest, when he and his crew had stolen my zombies, and Jaclyn had turned in the other direction every time she’d spotted me. “She hates me.”
“Hate is too mild a word. But it’s nothing personal, I don’t think. She hates everyone who’s involved with Cole. Even hated me while I was dating Frosty. Not that she ever said why.”
I knew why, but I couldn’t tell her.
“Are you going to say anything to her?” Kat asked.
“No,” I said with a sigh. “It’s over. Done.” I wasn’t going to risk getting in trouble over something like this, not when I had so much to lose. Plus, Cole would be all over Justin, and he had enough to deal with right now.
We all did.
16
The Good, the Bad and the Really Ugly
At ten fifty-nine that night, I spotted a flashing light outside my bedroom window. Cole’s signal. He was here.
The storm had left its mark, the sky an endless expanse of polished onyx, the ground dark and muddy. I’d been watching for him for the past five—cough sixty-seven cough—minutes, and had wondered how I’d be able to tag him. Well, now I knew.
Filled with a bubbling kind of guilt, I double-checked the Pillow-Ali I’d rigged on the bed, then tiptoed down the stairs and to the back door. Pops and Nana were a lot older than my mom and dad, and their hearing wasn’t nearly as keen. I was taking full advantage, and I knew it, but their new rules had left me no choice. I had to do this.
Hinges erupted into a chorus of noise as I eased the door open, and I cringed. I waited several seconds, heard nothing and locked up, then shoved the key into my pants pocket. The night was far colder than the day had been, and I was suddenly very grateful I’d worn a long-sleeved shirt, thick socks and boots.
“Hey, you—”
Our eyes met, and the rest of the world disappeared—
—he had me backed against a bedroom wall, his body supporting mine. My legs were wrapped around his waist. His hands were flattened beside my temples; mine were in his hair. He’d imprisoned me with his strength to kiss the breath right out of me.
“You okay, princess?”
Princess. He’d once again called me princess, as if I’d sprung straight from a fairy tale. I melted into him. “I’m good.”
“More?”
“Please.”