By the time Tabitha made it to the door, she was already lost in her wonder world. The weird defense mechanism kicked in the second she knew she was in a situation beyond her ability to mentally cope with.
When Brett grabbed her arm and tugged her past the entryway, she was half expecting Wyatt to burst in and rescue her, but of course, he didn’t. Heroes weren’t perfect. She’d learned that a long time ago, and they all had weaknesses. What sort of weakness could a man with superstrength and speed who was built like solid steel possibly have?
The door slammed. Brett pushed her into the living room so hard she tripped and hit her head on the sharp corner of the coffee table. The pain was white-hot, and she immediately put her hand to the injury. She pulled it away in shock when she felt the warm, sticky blood seep through her fingers.
She looked at the bright red against her scarred palm.
What if she was his weakness? His kryptonite? What if somehow his destiny was tied to a woman who was never more than ordinary and always ended up on her knees bleeding for the villains? What if she was one of the villains? But not by choice; she was just related to them.
“Fuck, Tab!” Brett cursed. “You’re the clumsiest chick in this whole dang town. It’s like you’re not even here most of the time. Now Mama’s gonna think it was my fault!”
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, still caught up in her strange world.
“Have you been talking to Conner ’bout us? The sheriff’s been sniffing round here more than usual. Is it ’cause of your big mouth?”
She shook her head as she got to her knees, looking at the fresh stain of blood in the carpet. She would have to clean it before her mother got home.
“Are you fucking him?”
“No.” She looked up at him, forcing her head to clear. “He just rode me home.”
“Yeah, I bet he rode you home. We saw you making out with him.” Vaughn took a long drag off his cigarette as he looked down at her from his seat on the couch. “I know you’re giving it up.”
“I’m not,” Tabitha said, this time more forcefully because giving Vaughn even an inkling of the idea that she was interested in that sort of thing was just asking for problems. “It ain’t like that. He was just being nice.”
“Bullshit.” Vaughn snorted, his voice filled with malicious glee. “You like letting that big, stupid asshole fuck you?”
“No!” Tabitha got to her feet, feeling the violence threatening. “I need to wash up.”
She dropped her backpack and ran into the bathroom. Luckily they let her go. Her hands were shaking as she locked the door and then turned on the faucet. She looked at herself in the mirror, seeing the blood running down into her ear. She leaned in closer, studying the cut, trying to determine if it needed stitches. Not that it mattered. She’d never force her mother to pay for Dr. Philips when they didn’t have insurance.
She poked at it, feeling strangely detached from the throbbing as she listened to the voices in the other room.
“She’s giving it up to the sheriff’s kid. I’ll betcha a hundred bucks.”
“Fuck.” Brett cursed. “My mama is gonna freak out.”
“She probably told him we’ve been dealing.”
“You think?”
“Hell, yes. The sheriff’s been riding our asses for weeks now. He’s stopped us four times since school started,” Vaughn said with a bitter laugh. “You better figure out a way to shut her up, or I’m gonna do it for you.”
“I got it,” Brett said defensively. “She’s my sister.”
Tabitha grabbed toilet paper and held it to her head, willing the bleeding to stop. Her heart was still beating the hell out of her ribs, and she took slow, even breaths to try to still her panic. She tossed the toilet paper in the toilet when it became soaked with blood and unrolled more. She pressed harder, desperate to have this problem solved so she could deal with the larger issue.
When the doorknob started to jiggle, tears filled her eyes as she reduced herself to begging. “Please just leave me alone. I didn’t say anything to him about the drugs.”
“Open the door, Tab.”
“No,” she whispered as she tears rolled down her cheeks. “Just gimme a little bit.”
“We need to talk.”
She scrunched up her eyes, trying to hide from her reality as her mind slipped back to another reality, but this one wasn’t much improved. She imagined a world crumbling under the rule of an evil overlord. There would be a battle between the light and darkness. She felt trapped in the middle, the ultimate Achilles’ heel to the one person who was supposed to save them all from a horrible reality ruled by greed and indulgence.
What if somehow their souls were linked and whenever they connected it drained Wyatt’s power a little more until he was almost human? Every touch, every time she ran her fingers through his silky hair, it just dragged him down into the darkness until it consumed both of them.
Wouldn’t it be tragic for the hero to be in love with the one girl who could ruin him? What if one kiss was the end of the world? One sweet indulgence, a ray of light in her darkness, and all it did was bring on the ruin.
That was what it felt like as the scrap of metal told her Brett was using a knife to unlock the bathroom door. She screeched when it burst open.
“I didn’t tell him,” she chanted in blind panic. “I didn’t!”
“Come here.”
Brett stormed in after her, looking bigger than Wyatt at that moment, even if she knew it wasn’t true. Terrified, she pressed herself back in the small gap in the corner between the wall and the toilet. He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her out from her hiding spot, but she fought him, kicking out, trying to hit him in the balls because that was what Wyatt and Clay told her to aim for. She slashed with her free hand, going for his eyes, another soft spot they had told her about, but she was still trying to stop the bleeding, and eventually she opted to make her body limp and leaden. She slipped out of his grasp and fell into the tiny space next to the toilet, her small frame finally serving well. She kicked every time he got near her.
“I didn’t tell him!” She was screeching it now, kicking with all her might, making him jump back defensively. “Leave me alone!”
“You shut up and stop fighting me, or I’m gonna let Vaughn come in here and do it for me.”
She kicked him again, because she didn’t trust him not to hand her over anyway. “I don’t care ’bout your stupid drugs! I didn’t tell him!”
“Back up, Brett. I’ll get her.”
Tabitha kicked at Brett again, this time getting him between the legs with the heel of her sneaker. He doubled over, groaning in pain just as Vaughn pushed into their small bathroom behind him.
“You kick me like that, and I’ll make sure you pay for it.” Vaughn reached over the side of the toilet, grabbing her arm like a vise and tugging so hard she was afraid he’d pull it right out of the socket. “You’ll feel it for days, you little cunt.”
Tabitha screamed, knowing she should’ve taken Wyatt up on his offer. The foster system was looking pretty good about right now.
Vaughn was going to force her to do something horrible. She just knew it.
After months and months of avoiding Vaughn, now her mother wasn’t home, and there were no superheroes in sight to save her. Usually Brett stopped him before he could do anything, but now he was worried about his drugs and his pocket change, and that made her an easy sacrifice.
She’d done this to herself.
All because of one stupid kiss! Why did she think she could reason with her brother? She really was kryptonite, to herself as much as the rest of the world.
Then the most amazing thing happened; the long grinding sound of her mother’s old truck pulling into the driveway echoed past the cracked window. She opened her mouth to scream, but Brett slammed his hand over her mouth before she could.