In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,36
have anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. And with a thought, I can change into a two-ton thing that no one in this universe has ever seen. I could have destroyed a city block this morning.”
“But you didn’t. What you need to do is manage that side of yourself like you manage your anxiety and panic attacks. Learn to control it. Like the rest of us do.”
“I’m not like the rest of you. In so many ways.”
“Right. You’re a genius. And if you wanted to, you could create something that could demolish an entire city block.”
Stevie couldn’t help but smirk. That’s what got her picked up by the government when she was still a kid. They wanted her science so they could do just that. Destroy city blocks. But she’d burned all her notes and refused to help them.
“Since your brain is so dangerous,” Shen went on, “maybe we should fix that. Cut out the part of you that makes you smarter than almost anyone else in the world.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it? Because that’s basically what you’re trying to do to yourself. What you are, what you can become, is just as important a part of you as that brain you’re so arrogant about. If someone said they wanted to ‘fix that’ would you want me to stop them?”
Stevie hated Shen at the moment. She hated him because he was right and they both knew it. And she hated him for not letting her do this thing. This thing that would protect everyone. Especially her sisters.
“But Max and Charlie—”
“Would beat the living shit out of you if they knew. That’s why you didn’t want me to tell them in the first place.”
“Will you tell them?”
“Not if you promise not to do it.”
“But basic research—”
“No. I mean it, Stevie. I won’t say anything to your sisters, but if you start down this road ever again . . . I will get a bullhorn and stand in Charlie’s kitchen and yell it while she’s baking.”
Stevie dropped back in her chair. “Fine.”
“Good.” He reached across the table and picked up the melted banana split, holding it aloft for the waitress.
When she arrived he said, “Could you get us a re-do of our orders. We got so into our conversation, we never had a chance to eat.”
“Sure. But you know we’ll have to charge you.”
“No problem, sweetie.” Shen grinned at Stevie and she could see his front fangs peeking out. “It’s my treat.”
chapter SEVEN
She’d stopped speaking to him and they’d eaten their desserts in silence. Angry silence. But that was okay. He was fine with her being angry. He preferred an angry Stevie to a self-destructive Stevie. And what else could he call what she’d been planning for herself but self-destructive?
He parked the SUV and got out. By the time he stepped onto the curb, she had stormed her way up the house’s front steps and now stood on the porch, staring at the swing where Max was sitting.
Shen moved in beside her and turned, quickly taking a step back. “What happened to your face?”
“Don’t get so dramatic,” Max complained, ignoring the large diagonal skin tear from her forehead, across her nose, to the opposite jaw.
“Max,” Stevie said with a shake of her head. “You can’t keep getting into street fights with that cat.”
“A cat did that to you?” Shen asked.
“That fucking thing is rabid.”
“It’s not rabid,” Stevie replied. “Although if you are so concerned about rabies, you really should stop chasing those squirrels.”
Shen pointed at her face. “You really should . . . clean that.”
It was like the cat had dug in all the claws from one paw and just ripped downward at an angle. A few more hours and the wound would go septic.
“Don’t worry about my face.” Max lowered her phone. “Where have you two been?”
Knowing the constant bickering between Stevie and Max, Shen could only imagine the reply Max would get from her baby sister, but he never expected—
“On a date!”
Max raised a brow at Shen but he immediately shook his head. “No, we weren’t.”
“You took me out to eat,” Stevie replied calmly. “That’s a date.”
“I was being nice.”
“That is so cute,” Max said, now grinning. The effort made her wounds bleed. “What else did you guys do?”
“Then he took me out for ice cream.”
“That’s totally a date, dude.”
“We did not have a date.”
Stevie held up her middle and forefinger and said, “Two desserts. He bought me two desserts.”