For The Win (Gamer Girls, #6) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,68
of months, she packed it, because she had a bad feeling that she'd never be able to come back here.
Braden had said his mom still didn't want to talk about it. That wouldn't work for her, because Rhaven couldn't keep living as a man. What her family couldn't understand was that this was why she'd tried to die. It had taken her a long time to get to the point she was at, and all of this felt like the darkness trying to reclaim her.
Not that she'd let it win, but that was because she got to live as her real self. One weekend every other month wasn't much, but it was a start, and she planned to make it more. There just wasn't any other option. She'd rather be dead than forced to spend the rest of eternity as "Ethan." Maybe it didn't make sense to anyone else, but it did to her, so she had to go. And most likely, she'd never be coming back.
She was working on her computer when the pounding and yelling finally stopped. Carefully, she pulled off her headphones to make sure, but what she heard was almost worse. Through the thin walls of the mobile home, she could hear her brother talking to someone, and it sounded like Kevin.
"Yeah, everyone's seen the paper. I mean, I didn't even know we had a paper until someone asked if that was your brother. Is it?"
"Pretty sure," Tyler said. "I mean, he goes to those, and he said he was doing pretty good."
"Yeah, as a chick!" Kevin shot back.
"Fuck off," Tyler told him. "Seriously? You're making a joke of this?"
"Aw, c'mon, man," Kevin tried. "You know this is funny."
"That's my fucking brother you're talking about, dude. I just want to know who these King people are that are so interested in him."
"No idea," Kevin said. "But think we can get Ethan to put on a skirt for us?"
"Out," Tyler told him. "Go back to work or something. Jesus, Kevin. My brother just had his picture shown around town. You think this is some laughing matter for me? Everyone has fucking seen that, ok? So fuck off, because we need to figure out what is going on."
"Call me," Kevin said. "Pretty sure you're going to need a few beers tonight."
"Maybe," Tyler agreed. "Gotta talk to Ethan first and see what the fuck he's thinking."
"Luck with that." And then she heard the door close.
But her father was evidently in the room. "So, everyone knows?"
"I found out because someone said the guy at the gas station was in the paper," Tyler told him. "You?"
"It was laying in the break room," Dad admitted. "Fucking front page? What are we going to do about this?"
"No fucking idea," Tyler grumbled. "Sounds like this is the hottest gossip Prescord has had in a very long time. Everyone knows, Dad. That means everyone's going to ask."
"He won't open the door," Dad said. "He won't even answer me through it. What the fuck are we going to do?"
"Think he'd do something stupid?" Tyler asked.
"I'm getting a fucking screwdriver," Dad decided.
Which meant she had to hurry. Rhaven began pulling off the cables and attachments. She didn't bother folding them up nicely, just shoved them in a bag. The case went in a box with bubble wrap, and her monitor went in another. Headphones and the mouse went with the cables, along with every USB drive she owned - which was a lot.
She'd just gotten that sorted and was sealing up the box for her computer when she heard something rattling at her door. Her dad was working to jam something in the doorknob to release the lock, which meant he wasn't going to give her time to get ready. From what little she'd heard, it sounded like they were ashamed of her, and possibly pissed. Rhaven glanced at her phone to see she still had twenty minutes, then checked her room one last time.
She had her clothes, her makeup, her computer, and nothing else in her life really mattered except the people in it. She was as ready as she was going to get. All that was left now was to wait, so she pulled out her phone and sent Kate a text.
Rhaven: I'm packed. I'm ready. Dad's trying to unlock my door, and I should have enough time to tell him and Tyler before the car's here, but not enough for them to lose it.