Page 60 of Made for Cyn
But I’ve done nothing wrong, I remind myself when he turns to Jig standing behind him and says, quietly, “Take her home.”
He stalks off, and I shrink under Jig’s censure, his eyes angry pools of disappointment, before following him out to the vehicle slowly. He doesn’t so much as look at me as we drive to my house, and once we’re parked outside, I stare at the facade.
Iris isn’t home yet.
John’s in there, and we’ll be alone, and I hesitate, but I can’t tell Jig. I can’t tell Cyn. I can’t tell anyone because I don’t know what will happen if I do.
Instead, I hesitate but pull out the phone Cyn gave me, handing it back to Jig, but he just snorts and pushes my hand away. “Keep it.”
I open my mouth to respond, but he cuts me off. “What you did was really shitty.”
“What I did?”
He nods and turns his blue eyes, dark with disdain, my way. “Cyn doesn’t do shit like that, and you’re fucking with his head.”
“I didn’t do anything,” I mutter, looking away because, despite my insistence, I feel a pulse of shame for my bitchiness.
“Whatever,” he huffs.
“Despite the chicks that hang off your arm, girls like to be treated like more than a piece of meat,” I say scathingly, wrenching on the door.
“And Cyn treated you like a bitch when he brought you home over period cramps?”
Ignoring him and his incredulous tone, I stomp to the door. Jig waits at the curb, and I hesitate at the threshold, willing him to go, and when he doesn’t, I turn and wave him on. He narrows his eyes before pulling away, and as soon as he’s driving down the road, I leave.
The bridge isn’t too far from here if I can figure out how to get there on foot. Which thirty frustrating minutes later, I finally do, trudging up the hill warily, where I spy Oscar sitting in his usual spot.
“Hey,” I mutter, looking out over the crystal waters and green trees as I ease down beside him. The beauty before me is so at odds with the pain in my body and mind.
“Hey.”
“How come you sit here alone?”
“I don’t want to go home.”
“Oh.” With a sad smile, I lean against the railing and wait with him because now I know exactly how he feels.
As soon as the sun sets, I turn to Oscar once more. “Do you have Iris’ phone number?”
He gives me a weird look but doesn’t ask, and I tap out a text to her, hoping she’s not too pissed off at me.
Soon after, I meet Iris at the base of the bridge, and she greets me with a snarl while I lie through my teeth. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t believe my story but relents.
“I’m sorry, but I got my period, and it was a mess, and Cyn, well he was really cruel, and I . . .”
Sniffing back tears that are horribly real, I look away because I don’t know what I’m doing, and I feel bitterly alone.
“I told you he was a dick, Rainy,” she says grimly, “but whatever. Do you want me to knee him in the nads?”
Chuffing, I wipe my eyes and mumble, “Yes.”
She barks out a laugh. “When did you get a phone?”
“Oh, my mom sent it in the mail,” I say weakly, damning myself for all the lies piling up around me.
“Oh, cool. C’mon, let’s go. I’m tired, and I have a shit ton of homework.”
Nodding, I lean back in the seat as she drives us home, closing my eyes against the specter of John because I’m nauseous enough already.
