Broken Knight

by Shen, L. J.

  Vaughn and Daria, who understood what I’d said, burst out laughing. Knight ignored me, turning his head to Poppy, his eyes dropping to her lips.

  “I can get a place in heaven, can’t I, Sunshine?”

  Sunshine.

  I was Moonshine, and she was Sunshine.

  If I’d had any doubt he was playing a game to get even, I’d just received my proof.

  “Of course,” she simpered. “I’ll take you with me.”

  He leaned down, pressing his lips against hers. Kissing her. In front of me. Her mouth opened, and his tongue slid past her lips. I looked away, feeling something inside me collapsing. I felt the ground beneath me shaking. I needed to get out of there.

  “Luna,” Vaughn barked, staring daggers at Knight, who was still engrossed in the kiss. “Come with me.”

  “Where to?” I asked.

  “The humble pie is getting cold. Better get Knight his fix.”

  My legs carried me after Vaughn as we moseyed through the lush grass toward the Coles’ house. Even though I wasn’t sure where we were really going, anything was better than standing there with a front-row seat to Knight trying to wrestle his tongue into Poppy’s mouth, not stopping until he reached her liver.

  I didn’t know why Vaughn was saving me—if, indeed, he was doing that. He was the one who’d insisted I go away so Knight could get over me. Job done.

  Inside, Vaughn started throwing doors open, like he was looking for something specific. When he got to the laundry room, he motioned for me with his head to come inside with him. I did. I stood with my back against the wall. He kept the door ajar, crowding me with his back to it.

  “You like Lenora,” I signed.

  I didn’t want to talk about how much it hurt to see Knight with someone else. I didn’t want to ask Vaughn how long Knight had had a girlfriend. I clutched the ragged ends of my pride with bleeding fingernails.

  “I hate her.” He let out a breath, and with it, his obvious frustration.

  “Same difference.”

  “We’re competing over the same spot at her dad’s academy. She’s her father’s daughter. Connect the fucking points, Lu.”

  “Is that what’s bothering you?”

  “What else could it be?” He scoffed.

  “The fact that she might be more talented than you.” I jutted my chin out.

  He threw me a patronizing smile, stuffing his hands into his pockets and taking a step toward me. He seemed relaxed, like he was burning time until something important happened. Vaughn was a world-class planner. His life was a chess game, each step perfectly calculated and in complete harmony with his end game.

  “You seem to be taking Knight’s antics in stride. I’m proud of you. I thought you’d cower and break. You proved to be more resilient than I gave you credit for.”

  I tipped my head up, meeting his gaze. He was close to me now. Too close for comfort. Vaughn was beautiful, but not in a way I found attractive. Like a god-shaped sculpture. Gorgeous, lifeless, and so terribly cold. He captured my chin between his fingers, slanting his head sideways as his eyes traced the shape of my lips.

  “Terrible, isn’t it?”

  My heart quickened. I wanted to step away. To turn my back on him and leave. To run back to my house. But running away from problems was getting old, and had proved to be destructive.

  My grays met his blues, defying him to finish his thought.

  “The sacrifices we have to make to put things back in order,” he explained.

  “You wanted me gone,” I reminded him.

  “I wanted you strong,” he amended. “You were no match for Knight, which was why you didn’t have the balls to go after him.”

  “And now?”

  My heart looped inside my chest. Why was I waiting for his confirmation? Who was he to decide, anyway?

  “Now the jury’s out, and it’s your job to prove it.”

  “You’re mad at Knight for pushing Lenny into Hunter’s arms.” I grinned. I’d found Vaughn’s vulnerability, dug it up with a little spoon.

  “I’m never mad. Just fair.” He shrugged. “Besides, this is about you, not me.”

  “Knight doesn’t want me anymore,” I signed.

  I foolishly tried to goad him to tell me differently, but Vaughn was far too sophisticated to fall into this trap.

  “You know, Luna, people dislike me because I fight mean. With no mercy. But what they don’t get is that terror and arousal are very similar. Same adrenaline. Same incentive. Same reaction. What do you say, Rexroth? Are you ready to fight back?”

  Before the meaning of his words could register, Vaughn leaned down and pressed his lips to mine ever so softly. We hovered between a kiss and breathing each other in, our eyes still open, but I didn’t pull back. Didn’t push him away.

  Vaughn kissed the corner of my lips, murmuring, “You are delectable, Luna Rexroth. I could devour you and not even feel sorry for it.”

  He still wore a cunning grin when he was jerked back, and before I realized what was happening, Vaughn had been thrown on top of the washing machine and Knight’s fist hovered in the air as he towered above him. Knight was bigger by far, and physically stronger. But that didn’t stop Vaughn from smiling up at him, the flame of the devil’s match twinkling in his pale eyes.

  “If it isn’t fucking Judas Iscariot himself.” Knight narrowed his eyes, spitting on the floor.

  “Careful, Cole. You’re a taken man now. I wonder what your girlfriend is going to think about your little outburst. I was just kissing a perfectly single, shit-hot girl.”

  “Traitor!” Knight screamed in his face.

  Vaughn straightened. “Traitor, as in I hooked up with the girl you love and now you’re salty?” Vaughn asked conversationally.

  Oh, God.

  Oh, Lenora.

  “Yeah.” Knight flashed a wolfish grin. “Exactly like that. You made Luna go to Boon.” His entire body shook with rage, a stark contrast to his schooled features. “Poppy said she overheard you in the courtyard.”

  Vaughn shrugged, refusing to get pulled into the hysterical atmosphere in the room. “You babied her. You weren’t equals, and therefore couldn’t be together. I sent her on her way, and look at her now. All grown up and ready to face you. Where’s my thank you?”

  “I’m going to kill you,” Knight whispered.

  His expression scared me, but not enough to sit back and let him stake his claim. I didn’t want to move on with Josh, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have the right to. Knight and I had never been together, and he was now seeing someone else. He had no right to be mad. I grabbed Knight’s bicep, trying to pull him away from Vaughn.

  He shook me off. “Stay out of this, Luna.”

  My eyes widened in disbelief. I was part of this. I slipped between them, blocking his access to Vaughn. Not that Vaughn needed my protection. He’d kill for a chance to brawl. I obviously hadn’t thought the idea through, because now I was sandwiched between them, and Vaughn’s groin was pressed against my butt, something Knight could see very well from his eagle-eye angle, being so much taller and bigger than Vaughn and me.

  I opened my mouth, trying to yell at Knight, but of course, it failed me again, and nothing came out.

  Knight took a step back immediately, giving me space. He worked his jaw back and forth. “Get the hell out. It’s between me and Vaughn.”

  I shook my head, opening my mouth again. I knew I looked stupid. I felt it, too.

  Just say something.

  “I’ll throw you out,” Knight said.

  The hell he would. I gave him the finger and smiled. Here. One visual—a thousand words in it.

  Knight advanced toward me, and I snapped.

  “Stop being a hypocrite,” I yelled in his face, unable to take it anymore. “You have a girlfriend now. You moved on. You don’t have the right to get mad when I kiss other people. You don’t own me.”

  As soon as I clamped my mouth shut, I remembered we weren’t alone. I stumbled
away from Vaughn, still at my back, until I hit the wall. When I turned, Vaughn stared at me in disbelief. The room spun like a ball gown before my eyes, the colors and shapes blurring together.

  “Say something,” Vaughn ordered, clamping a hand on my shoulder. “To me, Luna.”

  I opened my mouth. I didn’t think I could do it, but a part of me desperately wanted to. I didn’t want Knight to feel special. Like he had a hold on me. A power too great to be shared with others. I felt my throat clogging up with my words, but pushed through anyway.

  Do it. Do it. You can do it.

  I tried, but I couldn’t.

  Opened my mouth. Closed it.

  Then opened it again. After a few seconds, I closed my eyes and shook my head. I couldn’t do it.

  “Well, then. You keep saying you aren’t mine, but all evidence points to the contrary.” Knight’s smirk implied he was slightly unhinged as he stared at me.

  He was most likely drunk again. He was so good at disguising it at this point.

  “As for you, Moonshine, I think it’s time the tables turned. Unrequited love is a bitch. Time to taste your own medicine.”

  Then, Knight turned back to Vaughn and launched at him with so much force, I thought Vaughn’s spine would snap like a twig. Knight grabbed him by the collar and threw him against the wall, then tried to punch him in the face, but Vaughn was quicker. He elbowed Knight’s collarbone, knocking him down on his butt. The door flung open and Poppy, Daria, Lenora, Penn, and Hunter rushed in. It was a tiny room to begin with, so Hunter and Penn didn’t have any trouble breaking up the fight by simply stepping between the two guys. Hunter pushed Vaughn, who didn’t need much restraint because he was in full control, toward the door. Penn—who was a big football player—secured Knight’s hands behind his back.

  “You’re a dead man walking,” Knight spat at Vaughn.

  Knight was red, his eyes glassy with anger. Vaughn sneered, once again looking bored out of his mind. Lenny and Daria pushed a crying Poppy out the door.

  I realized it probably looked horrible from where she was standing. She didn’t deserve to feel like the other woman. Things had gotten out of control. I squeezed Vaughn’s arm.

  “I’m off.”

  Rushing past the stairway, I saw Poppy sitting on the bottom stair, Lenny and Daria stroking her hair and comforting her.

  “I love him!” Poppy cried.

  My heart nearly spilled out of my chest, I hurt so much for her.

  “I know, darling. But I wouldn’t date a guy who’s so hung up on someone else,” Lenny admitted softly.

  They all looked up at me when they heard my footsteps. I ducked my head.

  “Saint Luna, what happened?” Daria asked.

  She no longer looked smug and thoroughly entertained. I didn’t answer.

  I slipped back to my house, as I always did.

  Running from conflict.

  From the truth.

  From my voice.

  From my silence.

  “Nice shiner. Goes well with your shirt.” Dad shifted his gaze from my black-purple eye to my indigo dress shirt.

  He didn’t ask how I got it. He knew he wouldn’t get an answer. Months ago, I’d run in a circle that attended a betting ring/fight club called The Snake Pit. I sometimes used to fight there, especially to cover for Vaughn when the little asshole would disappear without notice—not often, but often enough that black eyes were the norm. Besides, it was pretty fucking obvious—with Luna making an early exit, and Poppy clinging to the lapels of my blazer all night—that there were hormones and pussy involved.

  Things with Dad had been different recently, though. He was snappier and less attentive. Couldn’t blame him. He was busy trying to find a cure for Mom’s illness. It just felt fake to let shit surface now. We were in a different place. We used to share di ganja in the backyard. Now, we were lucky to exchange two sentences without biting each other’s heads off.

  The party would have been a good time to break things off with Poppy, but I was so mad at Luna and Vaughn, I couldn’t think straight. Winter break had just started, and if they were going to be making out all over town, they sure as hell were going to get a nice view of my junk grinding all over Poppy.

  I knew I was being an ass. Poppy was a cool chick. Just not cool enough for me to curb my asshole ways, apparently. Anyway, she knew what was up, yet she still pursued me. The writing had been on the fucking wall since freshman year, when I’d followed Luna everywhere.

  Poppy wasn’t illiterate.

  Even so, I’d literally spelled it out for her.

  “I’m off.” I threw a baseball cap on my head.

  I didn’t feel like sticking around hearing my mom have a coughing fit. She’d been getting worse and worse lately, and sometimes—okay, oftentimes—I just wanted to run away from the sound of her body failing her. Failing all of us.

  I wore black sweatpants and a rain jacket and jogged through the woods of El Dorado, heading to the treehouse, the treehouse I hadn’t visited in four years—but hey, who was counting?

  Me, actually.

  I was fucking counting. Every single hour.

  Day.

  Month.

  Remember when things were easy and simple?

  Luna and I had decided we were too grownup for the treehouse when I was fourteen. Well, she’d decided, and I’d agreed. I’d agreed to a lot of stuff in the name of pleasing Luna, and I had to admit, it felt liberating to stop giving a crap. Even if I was just pretending.

  When I got to the treehouse and climbed up, I was surprised to see it in top condition. No dust on the mini chairs, plastic table, and little makeshift kitchenette. The drawings we’d made were yellow and curled around the edges on the wall, but still there. There were fresh flowers stuck in a tin can on the table. Sign language books stacked neatly on the DIY shelves. Someone had been cleaning the place, and I wondered if it was now occupied by new kids from the area.

  I lay on the shabby carpet that smelled of dampness, old wood, and squirrel shit and closed my eyes.

  “You had no right,” I heard a voice from the entrance.

  Rather than opening my eyes, I relished her voice, which I was still getting used to.

  Soft.

  Hoarse.

  Sexy and gruff, yet feminine, like Margot Robbie’s.

  Luna crawled into the treehouse. It was snug for two grown-ass people. That meant she had to rest her thigh beside mine as she curled against the wall.

  I opened my eyes, arching an eyebrow. “She talks again. Maybe all you really needed to start talking was for people to stop giving a crap about you.”

  Rewind. Stop. Apologize.

  No matter how much I’d tried to get over FUCKING JOSH, I couldn’t. The idea of him would haunt me to the grave. Perhaps even beyond. What if hell was watching Luna’s sex tape with FUCKING JOSH on repeat?

  Could you die twice? Thrice? My head was spinning. I needed to start looking into good lawyers. I was bound to kill the bastard.

  “Don’t change the subject.” She looked around the room, hugging her knees to her chest. Watching Luna kiss Vaughn, or Vaughn kiss Luna, if we’re being technical here, was God’s way of telling me he hated me on a personal, profound, go-fuck-yourself level. I shouldn’t have cared. Vaughn being Vaughn, he’d done it to piss me off. He obviously had a boner for Lenny. It was all over his face—I’d check the crotch, too, but gross.

  Luna wasn’t wrong. I had no right to get mad when minutes before I’d shoved my tongue down Poppy’s throat. I’d been tortured by Luna for so long, tormenting her was now a knee-jerk reaction, though.

  “You want to fuck around?” I sniffed. “Be my guest. But if you expect Vaughn to dick you, here’s a friendly reminder: he only does blowjobs. But I can refer you to Hunter. He gives full service.”

  “Knight,” Luna warned.

  I still couldn’t believe she was talking. It made me happier than a pig in shit and disturbed more than a pig on someone’s plate, as
bacon. Because she was becoming someone else, and that someone? I wasn’t her best friend. Or her soulmate. I was barely her goddamn neighbor at this point.

  “Fine. Sorry. Yes, I’ll stop being a dick.”

  “Now.”

  “Old habits die hard, Moonshine.”

  “You were never a dick.”

  “Hmm, no. I was actually a seven-foot dick. Just not to you.”

  She gave me her pinkie silently. A peace offering, without saying so explicitly.

  I curled mine over hers. “This place is neat as fuck.” I scooted up to sitting, motioning toward the treehouse with my finger.

  “That’s because I’ve been cleaning it on the reg. Or at least I was until I left for college.” Luna bobbed her head.

  I swiveled my upper body, staring at her.

  “What?” Her nostrils flared.

  “I don’t know. I never thought you’d say something like ‘on the reg’, is all. You sound completely…”

  “Normal?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Yeah.” She nodded. “I used to talk to myself sometimes, when no one was listening. Like, to see if I had an accent or something.”

  That made me burst out laughing. Suddenly, the shitty holiday parties seemed centuries away. A spurt of optimism exploded in my chest. So what if Vaughn had kissed her? It wasn’t like they were going to date. Plus, it meant she was no longer with FUCKING JOSH. So, really, today had been pretty pleasant. Even the shiner was badass.

  “I have a question.” I poked her ribs.

  “Is it about Vaughn?”

  “Yeah, but don’t get cocky.”

  “Pretty sure you trademarked cocky, Knight. What is it?”

  “Remember when you retrieved my bike from him?”

  She nodded.

  “What did you do to get it?”

  “Told him if he didn’t give it to me, I’d kick his ass.” She puffed her chest, smiling.

  I snorted, raising an eyebrow. “That did the trick?”

  “Well, no. I kneed his balls when he refused. We were about the same height back then. I grabbed the bike and ran. That did the trick.”

  “You kneed Vaughn in the balls for me?”