It’s already five in the afternoon on Sunday, the last day of the break, and we have to be back at school. Avoiding Edge for the next several hours shouldn’t be that difficult. Tomorrow at school, I won’t get off so easily.
After I take a shower and settle into bed, I call Luca.
He answers on the first ring. “Hey, Kins, what’s wrong?”
“Why does something have to be wrong?”
He sighs. “It doesn’t, but I know you. So give it up.” Leave it to Luca to cut right to the chase.
I heave out a breath. “Everything, actually. But right now, I need a way to get to Python. Find out who he is, where he lives, if he goes to school?—”
“Kins, stop!”
“What?” Impatience eats me alive from the inside. As difficult as it’ll be, talking to him is the next step. That is, if I don’t kill him first.
“Do you even hear yourself?”
“Of course.”
My phone dings. I accept the FaceTime call with Luca. Flames from the fireplace dance behind him. I would much rather be hanging out with him on the couch than playing detective and finding ways to plot revenge.
“That’s better,” he says. “Now I can see the full-on attack of the maniacal invasion of my best friend.”
“Luca! I’m serious. I don’t see another way.”
He drops his head to his chest. Even though I can no longer see his face, I can perfectly imagine the disappointment and defeat of being unable to talk me out of my insane plan.
Letting him have his moment, I wait a few beats before pulling him back. “Luca, please,” I say in a soft voice.
He takes a sip from the glass he’s holding. The glow of the fire intensifies the color of the amber liquid. Knowing Luca, it’s probably from the most expensive bottle of bourbon his dad owns. He lowers the glass from view. “Let me get this straight. You want totalk”—he makes quotes with his free hand—“to the fighter that killed your father? Kins, baby, I know you better than your own mother, even yourself. And there’s no way in hell you won’t wrap your hands around the guy’s throat the second you come face to face with him.”
I huff out an impatient breath. “I— Well, I can control myself. Besides, I don’t have a choice. It’s the only way to find out what’s really going on in Venom.”
Looking back at the camera, he says, “Kinsley West, you know that I have always been—and I will continue to be—by your side, no matter how crazy your asinine ideas are, but this is insane.” He wipes the front of his pants, closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and then lets it all out in one long sigh. Opening his eyes, he zones in on me, studying me like a weird new species. “So please, just tell me that you’re fucking with me and this is one big joke.”
I slowly shake my head. “I’m not joking.” I was going to avoid telling him about the fights the other night, but I don’t see another way around that either. “I went to the fight the other night.” The confession slips through my lips, leaving no room to back out.
I wince as he spills his drink on his lap. “Oh shit!” He abruptly pushes off the lounger, ice cubes falling from his sweatpants. He throws his hands in the air. “Jesus, fuck, Kins! Are you trying to get yourself killed? Getting stabbed wasn’t enough?”
“Python was carried out of the cage. He couldn’t even stand after the… the other fighter got done with him. He was the one on the receiving end this time. Why?” I leave out the details of the other fighter. That’s a whole other level of fucked-up. “Luca, something seriously dark is happening, and more fighters will step into the octagon, and they may end up like my dad. I believe Venom is at the heart of this, and they need to be stopped.”
“And you’re going to be the one to stop them? To put an end to this corruption?”
All I see for the next several seconds is the fire swaying and jerking in the background as the camera swings back and forth. I picture him scrubbing his hand over his face and head, cursing silently, and finally biting his pinky nail. When he lifts the camera to his face, the tip of his pinky is between his teeth. He knows me as well as I know him. There’s comfort in that.
“I know I’ve done some stupid shit. And this probably tops it all. But I need to do this.”
He hastily shakes his head. “None of this feels right. You and a killer, meeting face to face in some dark back alley?—”
“It’s not going to be in a dark alley. It’ll be a coffee house or... something.” I have no idea where the meeting will take place, but I’ll do what I can to avoid anywhere too private. “Besides, you and I know I can take him down if I have to.”
“Girl, you know I’m not underestimating your skills. But he’s a killer. Your dad’s murderer. He took down Slayer! And nothing is stopping him from filling the space in the ground next to your father.”
“I know.” The words come out in a breathy whisper.
“It doesn’t matter what I say. You’re going to meet him, aren’t you?”
I close my eyes. A welling tear falls as I nod. “Yeah.” I swipe it away and look directly at him. “I have to.” He knows I’m notlooking for his permission. I want his support. And he’s never not given it to me. Until now.
