Toxic Bad Boy (21 page)

“
Wait, Caleb!” She grabbed
my arm as made to pass.

“
Yeah?” I asked
impatiently, regretting briefly dating a girl I’d have to deal with
on a professional basis.

“
It’s really
over?”

“
It never started,” I stated bluntly, walking away from
her.

“
There are things like
love and hate and jealousy that are just going to be there
forever.”

-Shiloh
Fernandez

CALEB

“
So you and Gianna are
back together?” my mom asked as she ate her bagel before heading
off to work. She wore a business suit, letting me know her client
today must be important. Usually she dressed more casually in her
flowy bohemian skirts and dresses. She’d even pulled her black hair
up into a sleek updo.

“
Yep,” I replied, taking a
bite of my omelet.

She opened her mouth to
speak then snapped it shut with an audible click of her
teeth.

“
Just say it,” I said,
rolling my eyes.

Finishing off her bagel,
she rinsed off her plate in the sink. “I just wonder if the
relationship is good for the two of you.”

I set down my fork, not
liking what she’d suggested. “Meaning?” Gianna and I had been back
together for five days and I thought it was better than
good
.

She shrugged one shoulder,
turning to face me again. “It just seems as if the relationship may
be a little...toxic.”

I scraped the rest of my
omelet in the trash and brushed past her to rinse my plate,
spraying water onto the counter in my annoyance. “You can hardly
blame me or Gianna for Josh attacking her.”

My mom crossed her arms in
a move that indicated her intention of digging in for an argument.
“No, but the drama with her mom which led up to the attack, Julie
filing for divorce and following through with it, plus you two
running away together for a few days were all cause for concern.
After all that, you ended up in youth corrections for eight months
only to be jerked around by Gianna when you got out.” She let out
an irritated huff at the end of her tirade.

“
It was my choice to beat
the crap out of Josh, mom.”

“
I know that, but it
wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t in love with her.”

“
You said you liked
Gianna.”

“
It’s not that I don’t
like her, she’s a sweet girl, but together you two may be
toxic
.”

“
I put Claudette’s ex in
the hospital and I wasn’t in love with her.”

“
What about Gianna
breaking up with you for that other boy?”

“
She wasn’t jerking me
around,” I insisted, taking a deep breath before continuing. If it
were anyone else, I’d likely tell them to shove it, but I felt my
was owed an explanation for everything I’d put her through. “She
was only pretending to be with him to discourage me.”

My mom’s mouth dropped
open. “Why would she do that?”

Damn, I didn’t want to
spell it out. Emphasizing my words, I said, “She was beaten and
sexually assaulted with a flashlight. She didn’t think she could
handle having a boyfriend after that.”

That shut my mom up, her
face revealing guilt. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“
Yeah, so do you think we
can get off the subject of my girlfriend being
violated?”

I didn’t wait for her
answer, storming out of the kitchen in a rage. It still killed me
to think of that happening to my precious girl. Josh would get out
once he reached adulthood and I’d be waiting. But this time I’d be
smarter about it and catch him alone in the dark somewhere, just as
he’d done with Gianna.

Taking a sketchpad out of
my nightstand, I grabbed one of my drawing pencils. I flipped to a
blank page and began sketching out the shape of the most beautiful
eyes I’d ever gazed into.

After twenty minutes, I
was putting the finishing touches on her eyebrows. My text alert
beeped and I picked up my phone from its cradle.

Just got to the clinic.
Bringing Chance to dad’s house later so my mom can have a
break.

I quickly sent a
reply.
Meet you there.

For the past few days I’d
soaked up as much time with her as possible. I still had to finish
one last painting, which was why we hadn’t hung out last night and
I’d ended up spending the night at my mom’s apartment.

Gianna drove to her mom’s
yesterday so she could go with them to a doctor’s appointment this
morning. I figured they’d be there at least an hour and I’d wait
two before driving to her dad’s house.

Okay,
she texted.

How does pizza sound for
lunch?

Delicious!
She was such a dork sometimes.

See you then.

Calmed down after a dose
of her, I put away the sketchpad and headed to my mom’s art studio
to finish the painting. It was of a downtown scene with a group of
breakers forming a circle around one wearing a bright orange
jumpsuit. The other breakers all wore the same stereotypical prison
jumpsuit. We hadn’t worn the bright color at the youth corrections
I’d been locked up at, but if I’d made them blue the group in the
painting would like janitors instead of prisoners.

I thought it’d be
interesting to have them dancing out on the streets of Denver, as
if they’d recently escaped or been released and were celebrating
their newfound freedom. Passing pedestrians skirted around them in
obvious fear and the backdrop to the scene was a Starbucks and a
Subway. A homeless man sat against the wall nearby, watching the
dancing as passersby also avoided him.

I sifted through the
paintbrushes, choosing a smaller one to put on the finishing
touches on some of their faces. Jim would love this painting. I’d
let him name a few of the others, deciding he knew better what
would draw in art buyers.

Painting was enjoyable for
me, but it was hard to ignore the money it could potentially make
me. If this didn’t work out, I’d find another way to support
Gianna. She said her trust fund was smaller than her dad’s but in
our life together I wanted to be the one to provide for her, not
money from her grandparents.

While she was in college,
I didn’t want her to work unless she needed the experience, like
the internship Norah had. Plus, she wouldn’t get her trust fund for
another decade. Decent apartments downtown or in Boulder, if that’s
what she decided, were both expensive. I’d need a lot of money for
several years of rent.

An hour later of steady
handiwork and it was completed. I’d let it dry and pick it up on
Monday to take to the gallery.

Dialing the number of a
pizza place I had in my contacts, I ordered my girl’s favorite
pizza and another one with just cheese for Chance.

*****

GIANNA

My dad had given me money
to do the grocery shopping. I stood in the frozen food section,
scanning for Chance’s favorite chicken nuggets when she approached
me.

“
Are you
Gianna?”

I whirled around to see a
short girl with black hair. “Yes?”
Weird
, I didn’t recognize
her.

“
You’re Caleb’s
girlfriend?”

“
Yes,” I repeated,
figuring some girl labeling me as his girlfriend equaled an unhappy
past hook up.

“
I’m Christina, Norah’s
roommate,” she said as if I should know either of those names. At
my purposely blank look, she continued, her attitude altering as
she became more confident. “Anyways, I just thought you should know
they dated while you two were broken up and Norah’s hurt that he
dumped her to get back together with you.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
They really liked each
other and Norah says he was really into it, if you know what I
mean, but he broke up with her last Saturday.”

Last Saturday Caleb and I
had been back together for two days. “Caleb has never had any
girlfriend but me.”

“
Maybe they didn’t make
if
official
, but
dating and getting naked sort of implies it,” she said
sarcastically with a roll of her dark eyes.

Dating and getting
naked
. Wow, was that a knife entering my
gut or this helpful bitch’s sharp claws?

“
Why are you telling me
this?”

Her smile turned sly. “We
girls gotta watch out for each other.”

Right
, I was totally feeling her sisterly love. “How the heck did
you even know who I was?”

She shrugged. “Internet
and social media. I’m good with computers.”

Funny, she didn’t look
like a hacker, but what did I know? I grabbed the handle of my
cart, smiling with fake sweetness. “Thanks for the heads up, but
I’m not stupid enough to believe some girl who stalked me to the
grocery store to impart the information.”

With that, I wheeled my
cart the hell out of there. I’d find Chance’s chicken nuggets and
everything else on my list at another store.

*****

The day was already crappy
and now I stood staring down at the mess on the garage’s concrete
floor.
Just great
. The spaghetti sauce that was meant for tonight was
splattered along with broken chunks of glass.

First a strange girl tells
me Caleb had another girlfriend while we were broken up for two
short weeks and that he screwed around with her and now I had to
plan something else for dinner.

After putting away the
rest of the groceries, I took paper towels, a trash can and a broom
into the garage to clean up. Chance was with my mom today and I’d
be alone until either my dad or Caleb showed up.

And I
really
wanted to speak with
Caleb.

I was not a chef, so the
options were limited. Spaghetti had become a once-a-week event.
Breakfast for dinner was also a regular menu item. I had all the
stuff for fettuccine alfredo so that plus frozen garlic bread I
could pop in the oven was the meal I decided on.

I wouldn’t need to start
dinner for another forty-five minutes, so I grabbed the mailbox key
off the entry table and walked to the mailbox. Dialing Caleb on my
way, I got his voicemail. He was hanging out with Dante this
afternoon but planned to come over for dinner. I didn’t leave a
message.

Retrieving the mail from
our slot, I locked the mailbox and sorted through it as I went back
to the house. All of it was generically addressed junk mail or
bills for my dad except a large yellow envelope with my name on
it.

The envelope looked
official, with
Gianna Thorpe
printed on it and the name of some lawyer’s
office as the sender. It would round out a crappy day to find out I
was being sued or something equally as bad. Could a
seventeen-year-old be sued?

Leaving my dad’s mail and
the junk mail on the front table, I tore open the manila envelope
as I entered the living room. The only contents were a sheet of
binder paper. Unfolding it, I read the note.

Written in thick penciled
letters was,
Ha! ha! Got you, bitch. Can’t
wait to fuck you up.

The single sheet of paper
floated onto the coffee table.

My cell phone beeped from
my pocket, but I stood staring at the ugly words staring up at
me.

Got you, bitch.

Got you, bitch.

Suddenly, all I could see
was Josh’s face contorted in rage and his angry words,
You’re a cold bitch.

I screamed, running to the
front door to double check the deadbolt. From there I made sure all
the doors and windows on the bottom floor were secure. Upstairs, I
locked my bedroom door, then went into the bathroom and locked it,
also. Hiding in the shower seemed like a good idea. I should have
thought to snatch Chance’s baseball bat from his bedroom. Or a
really big knife like on a scary movie.

Got you, bitch.

With shaky hands I called
my dad’s cell. He answered with me on speakerphone. “I’m almost
home.”

“
Dad! Someone wants to
kill me. I think it might be Josh!” I felt a panic attack coming on
and struggled to fight it.

“
Are you home?” he
pressed.

“
Yeah,” I told him between
deep breaths. “I’m in my bathroom.”

“
Is someone in the
house?”

“
I don’t think so,” I told
him.

“
Listen, I’m going to hang
up and I want you to call 911.”

I pictured cops showing up
at the house and me handing over the threatening letter, followed
by a lecture on wasting their time.

“
It was a letter,” I
informed my dad.

“
A letter?” he asked, his
voice steadier. “I’m turning onto our street now.”