All the Inside Howling (Hollow Folk #2)(51)

“I’m supposed to leave you alone?”

“Look, I—”

“I’m the one who needs to leave you alone? Is that right?”

“Vie—”

“When you showed up, storming drunk, at my boyfriend’s party because you wanted to pick a fight? I had to leave the party because of you, Emmett. Austin’s party. That’s great, right? That’s really good boyfriend behavior. And I did it because I was—” I cut off because I was too angry to continue.

“Because you were worried about me. I get it. I’m a piece of shit. Just, can you please go?”

“No. Now eat your goddamn hamburger.” I ripped open the paper sack, threw his food at him—the fries spilled everywhere, but I was too angry to care—and went to work on my own. After a few minutes, when Emmett still hadn’t moved, I growled, “Eat that fucking hamburger.”

And, somewhat to my surprise, he did. He even picked up most of the fries, the ones that hadn’t gone on the floor, and ate those too. For a long time, both of us sat there, chewing, surrounded by that deep-fryer smell. The park had a single sodium lamp, and it buzzed from time to time. Inch by inch, my anger subsided. I was still angry at Emmett, yes, but I was also angry at myself, and angry at Colton for being right, and angry at Kaden for showing me how poorly I fit into Austin’s life, even though that hadn’t been his intention. Or had it? I wasn’t sure. For the first time all night, sitting with Emmett in silence, I felt comfortable. That set off a little warning bell in the back of my head. What did that mean about Austin and me?

“Thanks,” Emmett said, breaking the silence. “I feel a lot better.”

“Great.”

“I know I messed up. What do you want me to say?”

“Gee, how about sorry?”

He shifted in the seat to look at me, and his look was red-hot. Not angry, but intense, and the kind of intense that could burn me to ash in about twenty seconds. “I’m not sorry.”

“Oh Jesus.”

“I’m not. I’m not happy that you’re with Austin. I’m not happy for Austin. I’m not going to pretend I am.”

“No,” I said, wadding up the trash because I needed to do something with my hands or I was going to shake Emmett until his teeth fell out. “I’m not doing this again. You had your chance. You had, to be precise, two fucking chances, Emmett. You wanted to screw around. Have fun. Those were your words. You didn’t want to date me. Your words.”

He didn’t answer. He just fixed me with that look, and it made me think of tractor beams and lasers and of how Emmett was like a black hole, dragging me towards him, and how the hell do you fight against a black hole?

“Stop it,” I said. “Stop looking at me like that. Stop all of this.”

“Stop looking at you?”

“You know what I mean. You don’t have any right to be jealous. You don’t get to act like I broke your heart when you—” I bit off the next two words: broke mine.

“I’m a messed up piece of shit. You knew that when you met me. You knew that the whole time. All this, that’s just what happens when you get involved with a piece of shit.”

“Well, we’re not involved. You’re dating Hailey. I’m dating Austin.”

“I’m not dating Hailey.”

“You went to Jigger Boss with her last night. It sure looked like you were dating.”

“Now who’s acting jealous?” He shifted, and when I didn’t respond, he added, “Anyway, how’d you know where I was? Are you following me?”

“What happened with that guy you met at the bus station?”

“Jesus, you really are following me. That’s messed up.”

“I’m not following you.”

“What’s going on?” Emmett, even drunk, was still smarter than most of the people in Vehpese. He just preferred to act like a royal ass. Now, his eyes narrowed. “What’s all this about?”

“This is about you giving me the answers I want before I pull your tonsils out.”

“That’s fucking weak, like something out of a bad 80s movie. You want to know what happened last night? ‘Fess up: why do you want to know?”

I could tell him. I could. I’d told him I was psychic, I’d told him about the ghosts and the memories. He’d believed me. Hell, he’d encouraged me. But—but this was Emmett. This was the guy who had told me sure, yeah, let’s mess around, but it can’t go anywhere. This was the guy who wanted me on a leash. But the part that really got me like a kick to the balls was that, in spite of how he’d treated me, I wasn’t going to tell him anything because it would only put him in danger. And, of course, because he was being a dick as usual.

I set my teeth and glared at him. “River. What happened to him?”

“So you do know that fucker. Why am I not surprised?”

“Emmett—”

“Go on,” he said, leaning towards me. He looked like he had sobered a little, but his eyes were still glassy, and his breath reeked of vomit. “Pull it out of me if you want to know so bad. Use that voodoo and mess me up, just like you did last time. Otherwise, I’m not saying shit until you tell me what’s going on.”