Devils' Day Party: A High School Bully Romance - C.M. Stunich Page 0,177

it before, I'm ready now. It has to be today. “Not when I still do.”

“Karma …” Calix starts, hesitating just briefly before he steps forward and curls his fingers around the glass of the window. “I’ve never stopped loving you.” My heart lodges in my throat, and the tears come, even though I don’t want them to. Even though I want to enjoy the day without feeling sad, without thinking about what I need to do. “Not for one single second.”

“What the fuck happened here?” Raz asks, as he usually does, coming to a stop beside Calix, Barron at his side.

“I’m sorry we spent so much time fighting,” I say to Raz, looking up and through the glass, finding his ruby red eyes narrowed on me in confusion. “I love you, Raz, just as much as I love Calix.”

He freezes up, but the snide expression on his face disappears, leaving a much more vulnerable looking Raz than I think I’ve ever seen before. My attention turns to Barron next, sucking on his lollipop and holding his sketchbook under his arm.

“You draw me,” I tell him, smiling as his eyes widen, almost imperceptibly. “Almost every day. You’ve been doing it since freshman year.” My throat threatens to close up and choke me, keep me from saying the rest of the words I need so desperately to get out. I fight through it, knowing I’m not going to get another chance. “I wish you’d told me that sooner. Because … I’m in love with you, too. Despite your cruelty, despite everything that’s happened, I care about all three of you.”

“I don’t … understand,” Raz starts, blinking in confusion and reaching up to ruffle his dirty blonde hair in frustration. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying … I want you to come and pick me up after school, for the Devils’ Day party tonight.”

If it’s going to end anywhere, it’ll be there, in the woods, around that bonfire.

“And Calix?” He’s still watching me, fingers curled around the glass of the window. “You need to find Erina Cheney and talk to her. She has a video of us from last year’s party.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Raz growls out, but I’ve got to nip this in the bud before it gets violent. I don’t want that video getting out and messing up whatever future it is that Calix has planned for himself, that wouldn’t be fair. Especially since …

Since I won’t be there to help him through it.

“How do you know about that?” Calix asks, dropping his hand to his side. I shake my head, because there’s no easy way to explain things, not right now. And I only have so much time left. “Is she threatening you?” I ignore his questions, fighting back tears, my hands curled so tight around the steering wheel that my knuckles have turned white. I look at him, at all of them, pausing on Barron’s face before switching my attention back to Calix.

“Please don’t hurt her. For me? You’ve hurt me enough over the past three years, and while I’m willing to forgive you, I can’t let you hurt anyone else. Talk to her, Calix. You were childhood friends. Let her know that some part of that has stuck with you.”

Before he can answer, I roll the window up and peel out of the parking lot, heading straight home with a sense of determination burning inside of me. Today is Devils' Day, and tonight, tonight is the Devils' Day party. It's a night of magic and strange happenings, of sacrifice and ugly beautiful things.

I can make anything happen tonight, if I want it badly enough.

On the way home, I dial Luke's phone and notice that she's out of breath. Glancing at the time, I figure she's probably already naked in bed with Sonja.

“Hey, are you too busy to talk?” I ask, and there's a long pause before Luke answers.

“I'm okay to talk for a second, what's up?” Now that I know where she is and what she's doing, the hesitancy in her voice makes so much more sense.

“I just … want you to know that I’m here, if you need to talk. About your parents or Sonja or anything else.” Luke is silent for a long moment, her breathing loud as I switch to speakerphone, setting my phone in my cup holder as I make the drive back to the Diamond Point Mobile Home Park. “If I was judgy, or self-centered or … anything else before, I’m sorry.”

“Karma,