Predestined (Existence Trilogy #2)(24)
“She called you a what? I wonder if Leif knows about that. Since he seems to think you belong to him I wonder how he’d feel knowing his little evil sidekick called you such a vulgar name,” I paused and took a deep breath. Raging while I held a very sleepy and exhausted Pagan in my arms wasn’t a good idea.
“I should have disposed of her right then,” I muttered angrily to myself.
“No, you shouldn’t have. Besides I was just being a jealous girl. If I’d kept my cool none of this would have happened.
“Hmm, I like you jealous.”
Giggling, she pinched my nipple through the thin cotton of my shirt and I burst out laughing. The sound was still so new to me. Before Pagan I don’t think I’d ever laughed.
Pagan
“So what are you and your sexy rocker boyfriend planning for Valentine’s Day?” Miranda asked coming up beside me as soon as I stepped out of my car. I’d forgotten about Valentine’s Day but I doubted Death actually acknowledged that holiday. Besides Dank had left again this morning. Gee would be here soon. I’d left her eating the leftover waffles and strawberry topping Mom had put out for me on the kitchen table before she’d left bright and early for a writer’s convention in Chicago. She’d be gone all week. The way things were going at the moment that was probably for the best. This way Gee could remain in human form and roam my house freely while we waited on Dank to find an answer to my problem.
At the thought of Leif, I glanced over to his parking place and stopped walking at the sight of his truck parked in his spot. Ohgod he was here. What did that mean? Everyone had forgotten him. Now he was back.
“I know you broke up with Leif but, dang, you don’t have to glare at his truck like it’s the worst thing ever. So he’s back from his trip up north visiting his grandparents. You’ll get used to being around him again. No big.”
His grandparents? What? And she remembered him. My head started pounding. This was too much. Nothing made any sense.
“There’s my girls,” Gee’s voice broke into my internal panic attack and I swung my horrified expression toward her. She understood. Her eyes flickered over to Leif’s truck and then back to me. “Well, lookie lookie, the king has returned or should I say ‘prince,” she smirked at her own joke and squeezed my arm. “Won’t today just be loads of fun?”
I started to shake my head and she squeezed my arm tighter.
“Smile and be nice Peggy Ann. That’s all you need to do. I got this,” she hissed and led me toward the doors of the school. Miranda silently followed behind us which in itself was a miracle. But then Gee always freaked her out anyway.
Gee didn’t stop pulling me until we reached my locker. Miranda had said her goodbyes and gone to wrap herself around Wyatt as soon as we entered the hallway. I was thankful for her departure because I needed to talk to Gee alone.
“What am I going to do?” I whispered as I glanced around frantically for any sign of Leif.
“You’re going to act like everything is fine. He’s your ex; act like girls do around their exes,” Gee blew a bubble with the gum in her mouth as if this weren’t a big freaking deal.
“Gee. You are aware that he’s after my soul,” I snapped angrily.
She rolled her eyes, “You are aware that he ain’t got nothin’ on Dank.”
“But Dank isn’t here.”
“I am Peggy Ann. Besides he’s here because Dank disposed of his little helper. He has no one to report back to him.”
Little helper? What? “Can you elaborate on that one please?”
Gee leaned against the locker beside me and pulled a string of gum out of her mouth as she rested one booted foot on the bottom locker. “Kendra was soulless, sweetheart. Now she’s no more. Dank was on a rampage when he got you back from New Orleans. He isn’t a fan of the French Quarter you know. All those old French buildings bug him to no end. But me, I like all the alcohol. Except then there are the naked women. That can get a little annoying.”
Kendra was soulless. I rested my forehead on the cool metal in front of me while Gee continued to prattle on about New Orleans. Of course, Kendra was soulless. That made complete sense. If Leif was so enamored with me then he’d never really be in a relationship with someone else. Her taunts were all meant to feed me right into Leif’s arms. And Dank, he’d pretended with her because he was protecting me from her. God, I was an idiot.
“So, she’s gone...” I muttered mostly to myself.
Gee stopped talking about beignets and their gift to the world and sighed, obviously frustrated that her attempt to change the subject had failed.
“Yep, and Dank does his clean up. Not a soul will remember her. No pun intended.”
“Gee?”
“Yeah.”
“I need a coke and a candy bar. Lots of chocolate.”
Gee laughed and shoved off from her perch against the lockers. “I’m on it. I’ll meet you in class.”
“Thank you.”
I watched her as she headed down the hallway toward the teacher’s lounge.
Leif’s laughter rang down the halls and I turned to see him standing among the same group of boys that always surrounded him. He didn’t glance my way and the cheerleaders hung on his every word. It was as if nothing had happened this year. This was very similar to the same scene I’d witnessed the first day of school. The day I’d met Dank sitting in the back of my homeroom. Smiling, I turned and headed for homeroom. Things might be all screwed up now but just thinking about how sexy Dank had been that day while I tried so very hard not to stare at his adorable little dimple made things better. I’d thought he was just another soul back then. One that could actually talk. So much had changed. The soul I was convinced was stalking me wasn’t that at all. He’d been here to take my soul because I was meant to die. But something changed his mind. I liked knowing I’d affected him in a way no other human ever had. He’d broken all the laws of the universe for me. He’d let me live.