Praying for Rain (Praying for Rain Trilogy, #1)(41)

I know the fucking feeling.

Crash!

The sound of glass breaking down the hall shatters our silence. Rain and I freeze, our eyes locking as a chorus of giggles and curse words echo through the house.

“See? I told you they left.” A girl’s voice.

“Damn. I was really hoping I’d get to fuck Carter Renshaw before I died.” Another girl.

“We all were, honey.” A guy.

Their laughter fills the house as the color drains from Rain’s face.

“You know them?” I whisper.

Rain simply nods and covers her mouth with her sleeves.

“I don’t know why the hell he wasted all his time with Rainbow Williams.” The way this bitch says her name makes me wish she were a guy so that I could go out there and bash her face in.

“Uh … ’cause she’s gorgeous,” the guy replies, lisping a little on the last S.

I want to bash his face in, too.

“I guess, if you’re into that whole goody-goody, Little Miss Perfect thing. But Carter was captain of the basketball team. He should have been dating a cheerleader.”

Rain’s eyes drop to the floor, and I see red.

“Oh, like you?” the other girl sasses back.

“Yeah. Duh.”

I hear cabinet doors opening and shutting as the trio continues their shit-talking in the kitchen. With the bedroom door wide open and no other sound in the house, we can still hear them clearly. Too clearly.

“Well, I made out with him senior year, so maybe he just had a thing for blondes.”

Rain’s eyes flick to mine, wide with shock.

“Oh my God, you little slut!” the cheerleader cackles. “I can’t believe you never told me!”

“Are you serious? You would have told the whole school by Monday, and Rainbow probably would have killed herself by Tuesday.”

“Ugh, you’re so right.”

I watch Rain shrink, disappearing into her flannel shirt until only her flushed pink face is visible.

“For real. After we kissed, Carter actually told me he wanted to break up with her, but he was afraid it would, like, send her over the edge. She always seemed so depressed, you know?”

“Oh, I know. And then she dyed her hair black and started wearing that awful hoodie. I wanted to be like, Girl, I know the world’s ending and all, but you are dating Carter Renshaw. Get some highlights and cheer the fuck up.”

My irritation flares with the mention of that fucker’s hoodie but cools as soon as I realize that Rain’s not wearing it today. In fact, she hasn’t put any of his clothes back on since last night.

“I don’t know,” the guy chimes in. “I think Carter should have been on the DL with a certain fluffy queen from drama club instead. Wouldn’t that have just been scandalous?”

I reach over and give Rain’s thigh a squeeze. “You want me to kill ’em?” I whisper, only partly joking.

The corner of Rain’s mouth lifts in a half-assed smile, but the look on her face is one hundred percent kicked puppy.

Crouching down, I look her dead in the fucking eyes and whisper, “Hey, what’s our job?”

The other corner of her mouth quirks up to match the first. “To say fuck ’em and survive anyway?”

I smirk at my star student, feeling a swell of possessive pride fill my chest. “Very good, Miss Williams,” I whisper. “Very—”

“Oh my God, you guys! Corn dogs!”

“That’s it. These fuckers are gonna die.”

The impulse to shoot them where they stand sends a thrill down my spine as I pull the 9-millimeter out of my holster. I let the magazine drop into my open palm and count the number of bullets left—or I should say, bullet.

“Fuck,” I hiss, slamming the clip back into the handle.

Rain shushes me and places a finger to her lips.

I sigh and whisper the bad news, “I only have one bullet left. You’re gonna have to pick the one you hate the most.”

Rain giggles into her sleeves, and the sight makes my heart pound like a fucking gorilla’s fist against my chest. She’s nothing like the girl those bitches described. She’s strong and resilient and sweet and—lucky for one of them—forgiving.

“I don’t want you to kill them,” she admits, looking up at me from under her naturally black lashes, a sheepish smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“Why not?”

“Because they just made me feel so much better.”

Either that pill kicked in way faster than I expected or she’s finally snapped.

“You feel better? After hearing that?” I gesture toward the empty hallway with my gun.

Rain nods, swallowing me whole with her expanding pupils. “If Carter cheated, then that means I don’t have to feel bad anymore. About”—her eyes drop to the floor as she shrugs, but when they find mine again, they’re glimmering with courage—“us.”

Us. Fuck me.

I don’t do us! I want to fire back, but the words die in my mouth as I realize that they’re no longer true. When I look into that beautiful, hopeful, frightened face, the only thing I see is everything I’ve ever wanted.

Us.

From the kitchen, we hear the microwave door slam shut and a plate land with a thud on the counter. “Damn it! I forgot the power’s out!”