I was growing fed up with her. She had undoubtedly overstayed her welcome, but until I was able to bring Mario in, I had to deal with her. Yesterday, when I saw her exit the store with Monroe and wearing a conspiratorial grin, I felt the urge to strangle her. I knew she said something to her when Monroe emerged from the store as pale as a ghost. She spotted my car as soon she left the store, and though she couldn’t see me through the dark tint, her glare was just as powerful. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
Diana brought my attention back to her when she started running her hands furiously through her hair and running in place while shrieking and groaning. I rushed to her and grabbed at her hands and when I did, I noticed all the tiny jumping spots. Her entire body looked as if it was infested with them. Some of them jumped onto me, and I released her quickly nearly causing her to fall backward.
Why the hell was she covered in fleas?
“Why are you covered in fleas?” I asked, repeating my question out loud. This would have been funny if it weren’t late and if I wasn’t annoyed by her very existence.
“You tell me,” she screamed. “It’s your house!”
“Calm down,” I ordered.
“No! This is gross. You don’t even have pets!” She ran from the room to what I assumed was the bathroom.
I looked back at John and Keenan, who still watched on silently. I walked over to the bed whose sheets were crumpled. I could see even more fleas jumping about the sheets.
“Did you do this?” I asked Keenan. Diana was right. We didn’t have pets, and with the amount of fleas present, I knew they had to have been planted.
“And why would I?”
I watched him before figuring he was telling the truth. Even though he didn’t care for Diana any more than I did, he was on bed rest. If not him, then who?
Another shriek sounded from the bath and I took a deep breath before leaving the bedroom. I pushed open the bathroom door without knocking. If she were naked, then she would just have to deal. She had been trying to get into my bed non-stop for the past three months anyway.
“What is it now?”
The curtains were ripped back, and she nearly fell out of the shower in her haste. She held a bottle of shampoo in her hand where more fleas jumped about. There were even more on her face and hair. She was crying hysterically. I cursed and grabbed a towel to cover up her naked body.
“Keiran, what is going on? Why are there fleas in my house?” John asked, speaking for the first time.
“I don’t know, but they had to be planted.”
“Who did you have over here?”
“No one.” I wracked my brain but continued to come up empty. Between school, basketball practice, and gathering as much evidence as possible, I had barely been home.
“Keenan?” John asked.
“No—” he started, and then stopped as a smile spread across his face. He shook his head and then burst out laughing. It came out strangled due to his condition, and while I wanted to order him to stop, I knew he wouldn’t listen. Sometimes I think he wanted to die.
“Oh, this is rich. You really picked a winner.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Lake came to visit me today.”
“She did what?”
“She came by. We watched movies, and she left, but when she got here, she said she had to use the bathroom, so she came up here.”
I tamped down my jealousy over her visiting my brother to concentrate on the pressing issue at hand. “And she didn’t use the guest bathroom downstairs why?”
“The shrieking bimbo covered in fleas might be my first guess.”
“Son of a bitch…”
*
I had one thought when I arrived at school the next morning. A thorough inspection of the house revealed that the little bitch had not only infested Diana’s room with fleas, but mine as well. We spent the entire night attempting to clean Diana and control the infestation until an exterminator could be called.
For whatever reason, Monroe liked to get to school ahead of everyone else. I never knew exactly why, but my guess would be to avoid me in the hallways. It worked to my advantage now.
The only hiccup would be if Willow were with her. I knew they carpooled together every day.