“No.” I stand up, letting my brain react before the brain in my pants overrides the only logical decision. “No. I can’t be here with you. I can’t.”
“Stop.” She stands up too, putting her arms on my shoulders. “If it’s that you don’t want to after everything, especially after that text I sent you, I get it. I totally get it. But I talked to your dad, he called me this week and I went into his office. And it all makes sense now. I never thought it was your fault, but I didn’t know who to blame. I didn’t know what to do, but now I know.”
She pauses, a panic-stricken look in her eyes the moment she notices my unmoving facial expression. “I made a mistake. I should have immediately talked to you about it afterwards. I should have trusted you. I should have trusted that you are a great guy for real and not just for show because now I know you are. And I—”
“Riva,” I interrupt her, my voice booming off the building. “You don’t know the full story. They were going to kill you that night. And the only reason they saved you is because I vowed to never talk to you again, vowed to never have you in my life. It’s all because of the sponsorship with Chimera, and that ruined us. And I won’t let it ruin your life too, I won’t let it kill you. I can’t live with myself if that happens.”
“Are you seriously going to let these crazy fucks stop you from doing everything in life?”
“Are you seriously going to let me talk to you, let me be in your life, when it might end up in you dying at any instant?”
“I don’t know.” She shakes her head and leans back on the railing. All I want to do is hug her, but I feel like that will only make this moment worse. “I haven’t thought it through that far. I needed to talk to you, to see you again. You were one of the only people I have ever met where I felt like you didn’t want something from me. I felt something with you, a connection, a trust that I don’t really feel with anyone, and I was excited to see where it would go. I was excited to see what we would become, and I’m not ready to give up on that yet.”
“I’m not ready either.” I hold her hand, rubbing the back of it with my thumb.
“Well then why should we give it up?” I feel her hand graze over my chest as she steps closer to me. I can feel her breath against my neck. “I almost died. Yet I know you weren’t the one who did that. You didn’t do any of that. And I’m just like you. I’m competitive too. Hell, I killed you today, even though it was almost impossible for me, because in the moment nothing but the game matters. And in moments like these, nothing but you matters. And I’m not gonna let some random people who are after your father’s company hold us apart. I won’t give them that power. I won’t let them win.”
“We don’t always get to choose the rules of the game.” I tense my body as she grows dangerously close to leaning in and kissing me. Despite my fear, after hearing her confidence and will to fight, I have never looked at a woman who is more beautiful. “Sometimes life messes us up and we can’t do anything to stop it. We have to accept it. And I don’t want to, so instead I’m gonna forget.”
“You may be right.” She gulps, a car alarm echoing in the distance startling both of us. “But I’m going to try. And if they stop me, if they stop us—so be it. I trust it when your dad says they don’t want to kill me, that they are trying to scare us. And if these people are as powerful as you say, then it doesn’t matter anyway.”
“What do you mean, it doesn’t matter?” My hand moves with a mind of its own from her hand to her waist, while I let my other arm awkwardly hang by my side. “Your life matters. Our lives matter.”
“You said sometimes life messes us up and we can’t do anything about it.”
“Yes, I did,” I say.
“Well, if they are truly as powerful as you say they are, then if they want to kill me, they will find a way and an excuse to do so no matter what.” She inches in even closer to me. I know exactly what she is about to do, and I give in to the moment. In reality, I don’t want to stop her anyway. “They can kill me if they want. If they want to, they will anyway. I won’t let them stop me from living while I’m here, though. I won’t let them stop us, just as I was getting excited about another person for the first time in my life.”
She leans in, and even in the darkness of the night, I can see the glow in her eyes before our lips connect. The horrible smell of the dumpster evaporates amidst the gorgeous aroma of her body. The various odd noises coming from the city streets, including horns, screaming, and raucous laughter, fade away as the only thing that seems to be present in this Earth is her.
My hands glide across her body, the rhythmic movement of our lips sending my mind to all the places I had shut it off from the last few days. But there is no turning back now. I want her, and I can’t let go. I can’t let them take her from me. I can’t let them take anything more from me—for however long I live, I want to feel this as much as possible.
Time melts away, and as I caress her neck, her sigh fills my ears with calmness. If I could, I would kiss every square inch of her body until she feels numb from all the love. But before I can awkwardly ask if we can continue this someplace else where we can get a little more comfortable, my hologlasses vibrate in my pocket.
“Is everything okay?” She has both her hands on my chest, kissing me on the cheek as I pull the hologlasses out of my pocket.
I put the glasses on and read the flurry of notifications that have come across.
“I have to go.” I stand up, my heart suddenly jumping out of my chest as I scan them over.
“What’s wrong?” She grabs my wrist as I open the door.
“It’s Jake.” I exhale, the amount of stress suddenly bubbling up inside of me enough to give a horse chest pain. “He’s throwing a massive party at my house; well, it was our home. The house that is falling off the cliff and illegal to go in. The house we grew up in.”
For a second, she stares at me unmoving as I continue walking down the dimly lit hallway, already making a round of wild hand gestures as I try to hail a ride to La Jolla.
“Well, I’m coming with you.” She suddenly skips to catch up to me.
There is a determined expression in her eyes that I don’t question. After all, part of me wants her to come. I need support.
This is going to be insane.
Chapter 28
It has been weeks since I have last been here.
The house looks eerily similar to how it did when I was five years old. Besides the lawn in the front yard, whose grass is entirely dead on one half, and then on the other half, where it actually received some runoff from the sparse rainwater, is overgrown and full of weeds, everything looks the same.
The tall palm trees still line the street, their leaves extending dozens of feet in the air. The house itself looks pristine from the outside. The red circular shingles on the roof don’t seem to be chipped or out of place at all, and the beige stucco lining the exterior of the home looks just as good as new. When we first moved into the house, which was over twenty years old when we bought it, the entire back side ended up being renovated to contain large glass windows overlooking the ocean, and an earthquake-resistant porch over the cliff.
Now that porch, and that entire section of the house, can barely hold its own self up from the pressure that the erosion of the rock wall beneath it has caused. I shiver, my legs stuck at the end of the cracked pavement of the empty driveway. From the outside, the house, like every other house on the street, looks ominously beautiful and utterly abandoned.
But the loud music playing inside, which Jake had made sure to send me multiple videos of, practically shakes the entire structure of the house. And the flashing lights from whatever crazy setup they have going on in there bounce off the windows, refracting out into the night, and ruining what would be a peaceful night surrounded by the small mountain peaks, the ocean breeze, and hundreds of stars visible up above.
There must be dozens of people in there.
“Are we gonna go in?” Riva stands beside me. I c
an’t tell whether she is more nervous that I have stood here for practically five minutes without saying anything, or because she is scared of what is inside.
Before I can respond, a luxury sedan pulls up, and Maken and a few of his friends who likely came to watch him play in the match emerge from the car. Despite being knocked out, or maybe in spite of it, he runs across the dead half of the lawn, the odd rhythm to his step clearly signaling he is under the influence of at least one substance.
“Fuck yeah!” His voice echoes as he climbs up the granite steps, his curly hair bouncing with his movements, and charges in through the front of my home without even bothering to look over at me. His friends, who are likely as far gone as he is, follow him close by as the gray sedan pulls away.
“Yeah, we are going in.” Seeing that disgusting display of drunkenness trample into my childhood home, the home my mom wanted to be our forever home, sends a surge of anger through me.
How could Jake do this? I walk in long strides across the driveway, the bass of the music growing louder along with the noises of people yelling and talking. This was his childhood home too. This was his home too.
I save up all that vexation inside me, preparing to unleash it to his face in one furious punch. I don’t even know how to go about getting all these people out of my home. If I call the police, it will be my dad, Jake, and I held responsible for it. I can’t afford to get into any more trouble, especially days before the finals.
I’d be risking everything: my sponsorships, fan support, and even a spot in the finals. My dad would kill me. And when I say kill me, I mean that he will ruin my life. He will take every opportunity away from me, and make sure my life and my world are so far away from his that people barely even recognize me as his son.
“I don’t know what I’m about to do.” I stand right outside the tall glass door with gold lining the edges. I want my hand to press down the handle, but there is an uneasy feeling in my gut stopping me.
“We will go in, find a way to turn off the music and try and get everyone out as fast as possible.” She keeps her voice calm and steady, placing a hand on my shoulder. I explained the entire situation to her, what I have been struggling with the last week, in detail in the car. She understands better than anyone, and she is right.
“Okay.” I take a deep breath, pressing down on the door handle, the smell of alcohol and the deafening blasting of the music smacking us both as we step inside. All the anxiety temporarily subsides as I look out into the darkness and the dozens of people sprawled along the furniture in the living room, with more dancing, and even one particularly wasted person sleeping on the kitchen counter. With Riva by my side, all I feel is determination.
A few eyes turn to glance in our direction. Even though the electricity company long ago cut off power to this house, the flashing lights that Jake must have bought for the purpose of this party provide enough light to make out the identity of each dancing silhouette.
I walk through the front entrance, the eight-foot-tall chandelier in the middle of the marble floor tile at the entrance to the house standing as a haunting reminder of what this place used to be. When the house was decorated for a special occasion, with ivory ribbons adorning the staircase and trails of roses lining the floor, it truly felt magical.
Now it all feels dead, the large wooden dining table to the right and china cabinet simply hollowed shells of what this place used to be.
But I still have to save it.
I bound forward, making my way into the middle of the pack of people that litter every square foot of the back of the house, the exact side of the house that no one is supposed to be on. People yell my name and Riva’s too, some people even aggressively greeting me by grabbing my shirt or my arm.
I ignore all of them.
As more people pour in from the outside world, the ticking time bomb that this party represents moves faster than the beat of my heart. I want to scream, even begin shoving everyone out of this house in one massive rampage. But the people out on the porch, and the multiple couples who are likely upstairs in the bedrooms (the thought of anyone being in my childhood bed is certainly disturbing), will never hear me.
I need to make a scene.
“Go find the music and shut it off. Jake is controlling it.” I speak right into Riva’s ear so she can hear me above the electronic pop music that is playing. “I’m gonna create one of the loudest noises anyone has ever heard.”
She nods, her body disappearing into the crowd, pushing her way into the far corner of the living room where Jake may be at. Of course, since this house is extra as hell, there isn’t one massive speaker fueling the noise of the party. There is an entire home stereo system with dozens of speakers built into the structure of the house. We have no chance at simply destroying each one, we have to stop the person connected to it. And that person must be Jake.
I, on the other hand, make my way to the kitchen. I pass by a table that contains an array of food, drinks, and other items meant to escape this world. People swarm the brownies, which, judging from the pots and pans strewn everywhere, were likely cooked by Jake himself in the kitchen.
I am so not cleaning up after this. My brain hurts imagining the cleanup that will have to take place after this. I hope no bodies have to be included in the mix. I climb up on top of the counter, opening one of the cabinets, which contains well over a dozen of the glassware in the house.
Seconds later the music cuts off, and it coincides with an awful cracking noise. I use the silence and sudden confusion of everyone in the house as my cue to sweep my arm forward from the back of the cabinet, knocking all the glasses in an ear-shattering bang onto the floor. I now have everyone’s attention, but it is already too late.
The music didn’t turn off because of Riva. Everything went silent because the house is falling apart.
It’s all over now.
“Get out!” I scream before the chaos erupts.
In my entire life, I have never seen bodies move so quickly. I jump down from the counter, missing the massive pile of shattered glass as the stampede of people knocks over furniture, bottles, and their screams practically tear the white paint off the walls. I jump on top of the table, wincing a bit as my feet land in a bowl of hot liquid that looks to be coffee, judging from its brown color.
The people on the porch. My eyes widen with horror as I approach the open glass doors overlooking the ocean.
At least half a dozen bodies fall with the far-right corner of the porch as it collapses. A horrible noise, the amalgamation of unimaginable amounts of terror, erupts from the group of people who are now falling dozens of feet to the ocean below. I run out onto the porch, desperately trying to save them before everything comes to an end, but the rest of the porch falls too, another splintering noise pounding my ears. The platform tilts as the entire porch, including the pool and grill, threaten to spill into the ocean.
I am about to fall too.
“I’m sorry!” I yell, my vision shaking from the vibrating platform as the clunks of the stones and bodies hitting the rocks below echo in the night.
I feel someone grip my waist and pull me back inside as my body freezes, too shocked to do anything to save itself. I feel Riva hug me as I collide with the marble floor of the edge of the living room, feet away from the rest of the porch that has begun to crash down into oblivion below.
Watching the floor disappear from a few feet away snaps me back into action. I spring up with Riva, running out of the house and the empty living room.
I hold her hand, emerging outside onto the front lawn that is covered in dozens of late teens and twenty-something-year-olds who barely survived a near-death experience.
I swallow, holding back the will to collapse into Riva’s arms as the loud sirens of the police grow closer, and their blue flashing lights pull up right outside of the house.
The ambulance follows two seconds behind them, emergency responders running out of the car and up the steps to the house and beginning t
o run around the side of the house. In seconds, a sea of sirens, flashing lights, and vehicles have arrived at the once quiet street where I grew up. The light from the stars and moon above shines down on the front yard, illuminating the sorrow, shock, and horror present amidst the chaos.
Not everyone was as lucky as us.
Some people died today.
There’s no way to ever fix that.
Chapter 29
I grab Riva’s hand as a dozen emergency responders climb up the stairs, most darting right past me to go inspect the ruin inside the house. Then two men in police uniforms walk up the stairs with a peculiar character to their gait. Their eyes lock with mine immediately.
I feel multiple pairs of eyes turn to stare at me as a couple of screams roar from the dozens of people on the driveway and front lawn. An entire army of law enforcement officials have descended on them, stopping anyone from running away or leaving.
“Hey, it’s okay.” One of the men steps forward, offering a hand as I cower backward. The instinct in the back of my brain is to run away as fast as I can. I already know it’s all over. My dad is gonna end up getting charged for something, Chimera will be screwed, I’ll get kicked off the Deadwave tour, and possibly sent to jail. “We aren’t going to arrest you. We wanna know what happened.”
“You shouldn’t be acting this nice to me.” I lean on the railing of the stairs, the iron bars barely strong enough to hold up my body, which is overloaded with emotion. The adrenaline inside me is the only thing keeping me from collapsing. “This is my fault.”
Riva grabs my arm, her eyes begging me to shut up. She knows the consequences of all of this. She knows what I’m about to lose. But nothing can save me from the inevitable. People are dead, nothing can reverse that.
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