Touch (Denazen #1)(39)

Alex folded his arms and shook his head. “First Beldom and Doon, now Rain Man here? Is there something I should know, Dez?” He turned to Kale. “I thought you stayed here with me last night.”

Kale shrugged and turned away from him. “I left when you fell asleep.”

“There’s no way you snuck out of here without me knowing it.” Alex was jealous, I could see that—but he’d lost that right a long time ago.

“You sleep loud,” Kale said to Alex, still smiling at me. “It was easy.”

Alex looked like he wanted to lunge for Kale but maintained his distance. He turned to me, disgusted. “He seriously spent the night with you?”

“Not like you’re thinking, but yes! And who the hell are you to care? Your college skank not giving you enough these days?”

Kale looked from me to Alex, face darkening. At his sides, fingers twitched. “You hurt her. She told me. Why do you care if she lets me kiss her? She holds my hand now, not yours!”

Alex let out a horrible laugh. “Aww, you poor shmuck. You got shafted, trust me. Haven’t you heard? She lets other guys do a lot more than that.”

I didn’t think, only reacted. A lot like the day I found him groping the college bimbo in the back room of Roudey’s. My fist shot out, nailing him right in the corner of the jaw. He took the blow like a trooper, but I could tell it stung. It better have, because my hand felt like it might fall off.

“If you’re done being a dick, then I have some news.”

And like flipping a switch, Alex turned serious. Kale spending the night, as well as my well-placed right hook, was forgotten.

“I start my new job tomorrow,” I said with barely contained pride. It probably should’ve bothered me that I was putting myself in the hands of men who used people like me as puppets, but I was riding the high. I’d gotten myself in and managed to pull the wool over Dad’s eyes. Again. That never failed to give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

“New job?” It took all of about six seconds before Alex caught on. His eyes widened, and he flashed me a truly appreciating smile. Suddenly, I was his hero—heroine. “Excellent! How did you manage it?”

Yeah. This was going to be the hard part. I knew Alex would make a stink. Kale was liable to get downright volatile.

“I have something they need.”

Kale watched me, suspicion replacing the anger he’d been directing at Alex.

Alex was just plain confused. “No offense, Dez, but what could you have that they could possibly need?”

There was a baseball across from me on the end table. I grabbed it and headed to the kitchen, where I’d seen an orange sitting on the counter next to Alex’s car keys. With both items in hand, I headed back to the living room and stopped in front of them. Closing my eyes, orange in one hand, baseball in the other, I imagined taking a bite of the orange, citrusy juices dribbling down my chin. Pictured the unsmooth surface and thick skin simply waiting to be peeled away. It was definitely harder than usual—not that I did it often—but it did work. I knew not by the weight or texture change of the ball but by the sudden spike in pain and loss of gravity. Several seconds of black, and I was on the floor.

“Jesus!” Alex swore, sprinting forward.

Kale beat him to me. “Dez?”

I nodded, and inclined my head to our right. Two oranges had rolled to the corner of the room.

“You’re—”

“A Six,” Kale finished for him, sounding less surprised. He gathered me in his arms and helped me to the couch. Tilting my head up, he brushed the hair from my face. “You’re bleeding. What happened?”

I swiped at the wetness under my nose. Blood. Well, that was new.

“I don’t use it because it’s too much of a strain on my body. It physically hurts to do it.” No need to elaborate.

Alex snorted. “That looks like a little more than hurts. You’re bleeding, for Christ sake.”

“That’s never happened before,” I insisted. “I think it’s because I’ve been doing it a lot more than usual.”

About ten seconds later is when the piss really hit the fan.

“Are you out of your mind?” Alex bellowed.

Kale began pacing the floor like a wild animal, growling, “Not a chance!” He was flicking his fingers again. Pointer, middle, ring, pinky.

I waited a few minutes for them to get it out of their system—testosterone and all that. It took longer than I’d hoped, but eventually they’d settled for menacing glares and silent seething.

“How could you not tell me?” Alex asked after five minutes of heavy silence. He’d retreated to the corner of the room and was fisting a purple stress ball. After mashing it in his hand several times, he hummed it at the wall and threw himself onto the couch.

“Oh, because you shared all your secrets with me?” Frigging hypocrite! He looked away, guilty.

“I do not like this.” Kale had stopped pacing and settled against the far wall by the door. Maybe he thought to block it in case I made a mad dash to Denazen or something. Who knew.

“The Six is out of the bag now. Dad already knows what I can do, so there’s no turning back. I screwed up yesterday. Got caught snooping. I needed something drastic or I never would have been allowed back inside.”