ALL THE RAGE (writer: T.M. Frazier)(27)

Protecting him. That was the real joke.

Except, standing there in his grandparents’ living room, cleaning his fan…it wasn’t all that funny.

I continued on the fan. “You laugh now, but wait until I go to town on that refrigerator of yours. When I got the beer earlier, I saw an inch of mold in the crisper drawer that needs to die. Like yesterday.” Nolan leaned as far forward on the couch as his cast would allow. In a loud whisper, I added, “I’m pretty sure one of the piles of green fuzz winked at me.”

Nolan dropped back onto the cushions and let out the loudest and longest laugh I’d ever heard. It was one of those genuine laughs you didn’t just hear, but you felt. It made me laugh too, as I made quick work of the fan, while Nolan mumbled to himself about me being a weird and funny chick. He clicked away on the remote, probably attempting to find a less predictable movie than anything Statham.

“Why are you letting me stay here?” I asked, focusing my attention on the fan. I hadn’t wanted to ask but my curiosity was getting the best of me. “You should be mad at me for running your girlfriend off, but you’re not. Why is that?”

“Talia? She’s not my girlfriend,” he said, not answering my question.

“I’m just curious why you let me stay here after I did that.” I paused my duster and looked down to Nolan, who was absent-mindedly rubbing Murray’s stomach. His huge head hung off the edge of the couch, his tongue hanging out, covering one of his eyes.

“I don’t know. Maybe I wasn’t mad because she’s not important. Or maybe I wanted to talk to the girl who pulled me from the pool and saved my life.” He shrugged and went back to the TV. “Doesn’t matter why. You’re here now,” he said like that answered everything.

“Then she’s your friend?,” I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.

“I wouldn’t exactly call her that.”

“Then why was she coming to see you?” I asked. The second the question left my mouth, I regretted it because I was met with Nolan’s hazel-eyed stare. He wasn’t looking at me like I was a freak, which I was used to, but like he was genuinely confused by my question.

“I don’t know if you’re f*cking with me, or if you really don’t know? Either way I’ll tell you, just answer me honest.”

I shifted my gaze back to the fan. “I sort of know,” I said. Followed by, “But I sort of don’t.”

Nolan remained straight-faced when he said, “I invited her here after my doctor’s appointment because it’s been a while since I’ve gotten laid and I was all messed up about almost dying. You see, this beautiful girl in a white bikini saved me and then ran away. Couldn’t get her out of my head. Talia’s always been down for a good time. So, to answer your question, Rage, she was here this afternoon…to f*ck me.” My eyes dropped to his. “I realize it’s not the most chivalrous answer, but it’s also not a bullshit lie.”

Beautiful

He thinks I’m beautiful.

“But then why did you let Talia leave and why did you let the girl in the white bikini stay?” I asked, continuing to refer to myself in third person as Nolan had.

He shook his head like he couldn’t believe what he was about to say. “Because, I couldn’t NOT let her stay.”





CHAPTER ELEVEN




Rage


Nolan was asleep on the couch by the time I was done cleaning the fan, and then the refrigerator, and then the surfaces, and then the floors.

I’d tapped out a quick text to Smoke letting him know what Nolan said about having no idea where his parents where. I was disappointed, yet not surprised by his immediate response.

He could be lying. Need more. Stay.

So much for being done.

I threw my phone in my bag and noticed that my other one had a blinking red battery on the screen. Knowing my parents would freak out if they called and it went straight to voicemail again, I plugged it in to the only outlet I could find in the living room. Then, with my bag in hand, I made my way down the little hallway that only had two doors. One was a small bathroom, the other was the only bedroom. It was a good thing I didn’t sleep.

My shower took an hour. Mostly because I scrubbed the tile with borax first and disinfected every single inch of the porcelain before I would even consider stepping one flip-flop-covered foot inside the rim of the tub to actually bathe.

Thankfully, there were clean towels on top of the counter. When I was done with my shower, I wrapped one around me and had just finished brushing my teeth and combing through my hair when I heard a familiar ring tone.

I grabbed clean shorts from my bag and reached in farther for my phone, but when I pulled it out the screen was black. Shit, it was my other phone. The one I’d left charging in the living room.

Right next to Nolan’s chair.

I didn’t even bother getting dressed. I scrambled out of the bathroom, still wrapped in the towel, but by the time I made it out there, the ringing had stopped.

I was too late.

Nolan was still on the couch, only now he was wide awake. A huge grin on his face. His dimple on full display. The cord that had been plugged into my phone was dangling over the armrest of the couch. My phone was up to his ear as he laughed and chatted away.

With my parents.