Read Vengeance Bound for Free Online Page B

sad.
    Bleached Blonde makes a rude sound, but when I glance at her, she isn’t even looking in my direction.
    One of the boys shoots me a sheepish grin. I can’t remember if it’s Tom or Adam. Either way, that little bit of friendliness makes me feel better. “Hey,” he says, “maybe you can help me with my report for history. I’m doing an essay on the causes of the Civil War. You know, from each side’s perspective.” I note absently that he’s pretty cute. Brown hair on the longish side, freckles across the bridge of his nose, wide brown eyes that remind me of a puppy dog. I bet most girls would love to go out with Puppy Boy.
    Me, I couldn’t care less. With Them in my head boys are off the menu. It’s hard to think about kissing someone with Their constant noise.
    Still, I have to be nice. “Sure, I’d love to help.” I shoot him my megawatt smile, and he flushes. Even if I wanted to, I can’t return his interest. The last time I kissed a boy, he ended up in intensive care. Kevin Eames. He had eyes the color of honey, and sweet lips to match. He lived next door to my grandma, and always smiled at me like I’d hung the moon. The night after I handed down my first-ever justice, he caught me sneaking back into her yard. He thought I was sneaking out to meet him like he’d asked me to. Kevin was two years older, and I thought I was in love every time he looked in my direction.
    Unfortunately, They didn’t feel the same way, and all it took was a single kiss for Them to burst forth in a hail of rage and heat. My control wasn’t so great back then, and by the time I reined Them in, he was unconscious and my grandmother’s azaleas were charred to a crisp.
    Still, it shouldn’t hurt anything to help a guy with his homework. Nothing screams “Not a psychotic killer” like a little tutoring.
    Bleached Blonde turns her glare on Puppy Boy. I wait for her to strike, for her to let loose with an angry barrage of words, but she says nothing. She reminds me of a hyena. I can even imagine her large nose replaced by a spotted snout. I file that fact away for later. Hyenas are sneaky and unpredictable.
    “Hey, what’d I miss?”
    Mindi squeaks and jumps up from the bench. She scurries around the table and throws her arms around a tall boy with midnight hair who appears from out of nowhere. He stiffens and pats her back awkwardly before extricating himself. Everyone at the table shifts uncomfortably, like a distant uncle from prison has just crashed family dinner. Mindi turns around, and he adds another few inches of space between the two of them. She doesn’t see his look of panic, and her face glows with joy. “Cory, this is Nikolas. Niko, this is Cory. She’s new, all the way from Savannah.”
    I wait, expecting more from her. She says his name the way someone would say “my boyfriend” or “the love of my life, who I absolutely cannot live without, ohmigod, isn’t he wonderful.” But there’s no other label attached to his introduction. I glance around the table, studying everyone’s reactions. They all look anywhere but at Mindi, who’s grinning like she just won a reality show competition. Even Nikolas looks a little uncomfortable that she’s so glad to see him.
    I ignore the tension and stand, holding my hand out to shake. Nikolas looks at it a long moment before wrapping his fingers around mine. His hand is large and warm, and my much smaller one disappears. “Nice to meet you, Cory. Sorry you’ve been exiled to the boondocks.”
    A warm blanket of calm settles over me, and my mind is silent. Completely and utterly silent. Not even a hint of Their whispers. I take a deep breath. I haven’t felt this way since I was in Saint Dymphna’s. Then, I was heavily medicated. Now I’m just holding a hand. A guy’s hand. I clear my throat. “Yeah, thanks. It’s nice to meet you, Niko-Nikolas.” I say it as much as a joke as to give myself a moment. Holding his hand is doing upsetting things to my