It pushed me to do what I needed to.

I went through the same ritual I did with Diana’s room before making my way back downstairs. Keenan was inhaling his last bite when I walked in the kitchen.

“Took you long enough,” he remarked without looking up from collecting his trash.

“Well, you know how we girls like to primp.”

He cut his eye at me and pursed his lips. “So it would seem.”

He was suspicious but didn’t press further. I shrugged and followed him out to the living room where we watched movies until it was no longer safe for me to be there without running into Keiran.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Keiran

August 17th

Dear Diary,

I wouldn’t dare speak the words aloud. Not even to Willow, and yet I’m having trouble admitting them to you even.

Today, I experienced the strangest feeling of my life. Fear has evolved into something much scarier.

Something much more potent and dangerous. One school year had ended and now another begins.

I missed him. How pathetic is that? To miss someone who hated me more than he cared to breathe.

But that wasn’t it, was it? It was what I felt when I saw him again.

* * *

“What the hell!”

It was the middle of the night when I was woken up. Screaming erupted soon after, and I immediately jumped up from the couch where I’d fallen asleep.

I scrubbed a hand down my face before trudging up the stairs to see what was causing all the ruckus. I definitely knew who, but the what was unknown.

All the lights upstairs were now on, and when I reached the landing, I saw my uncle and Keenan standing in the guest bedroom doorway.

“What’s going on?”

“Well, you’re little girlfriend is screaming down the house,” Keenan snapped.

Coming home did nothing to ease our relationship. He refused to talk to me, but when he did, it was always a sarcastic retort. Wrong or not, I was growing tired of it. How many times could I apologize?

I pushed past them to enter the bedroom. Diana was standing in the middle of the room slapping at her skin. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

I was growing fed up with her. She had undoubtedly overstayed her welcome, but until I was able to bring Mario in, I had to deal with her. Yesterday, when I saw her exit the store with Monroe and wearing a conspiratorial grin, I felt the urge to strangle her. I knew she said something to her when Monroe emerged from the store as pale as a ghost. She spotted my car as soon she left the store, and though she couldn’t see me through the dark tint, her glare was just as powerful. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

Diana brought my attention back to her when she started running her hands furiously through her hair and running in place while shrieking and groaning. I rushed to her and grabbed at her hands and when I did, I noticed all the tiny jumping spots. Her entire body looked as if it was infested with them. Some of them jumped onto me, and I released her quickly nearly causing her to fall backward.

Why the hell was she covered in fleas?

“Why are you covered in fleas?” I asked, repeating my question out loud. This would have been funny if it weren’t late and if I wasn’t annoyed by her very existence.

“You tell me,” she screamed. “It’s your house!”

“Calm down,” I ordered.

“No! This is gross. You don’t even have pets!” She ran from the room to what I assumed was the bathroom.

I looked back at John and Keenan, who still watched on silently. I walked over to the bed whose sheets were crumpled. I could see even more fleas jumping about the sheets.

“Did you do this?” I asked Keenan. Diana was right. We didn’t have pets, and with the amount of fleas present, I knew they had to have been planted.

“And why would I?”

I watched him before figuring he was telling the truth. Even though he didn’t care for Diana any more than I did, he was on bed rest. If not him, then who?

Another shriek sounded from the bath and I took a deep breath before leaving the bedroom. I pushed open the bathroom door without knocking. If she were naked, then she would just have to deal. She had been trying to get into my bed non-stop for the past three months anyway.

“What is it now?”

The curtains were ripped back, and she nearly fell out of the shower in her haste. She held a bottle of shampoo in her hand where more fleas jumped about. There were even more on her face and hair. She was crying hysterically. I cursed and grabbed a towel to cover up her naked body.

“Keiran, what is going on? Why are there fleas in my house?” John asked, speaking for the first time.

“I don’t know, but they had to be planted.”

“Who did you have over here?”

“No one.” I wracked my brain but continued to come up empty. Between school, basketball practice, and gathering as much evidence as possible, I had barely been home.

“Keenan?” John asked.

“No—” he started, and then stopped as a smile spread across his face. He shook his head and then burst out laughing. It came out strangled due to his condition, and while I wanted to order him to stop, I knew he wouldn’t listen. Sometimes I think he wanted to die.

“Oh, this is rich. You really picked a winner.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Lake came to visit me today.”

“She did what?”

“She came by. We watched movies, and she left, but when she got here, she said she had to use the bathroom, so she came up here.”

I tamped down my jealousy over her visiting my brother to concentrate on the pressing issue at hand. “And she didn’t use the guest bathroom downstairs why?”

“The shrieking bimbo covered in fleas might be my first guess.”

“Son of a bitch…”

* * *

I had one thought when I arrived at school the next morning. A thorough inspection of the house revealed that the little bitch had not only infested Diana’s room with fleas, but mine as well. We spent the entire night attempting to clean Diana and control the infestation until an exterminator could be called.

For whatever reason, Monroe liked to get to school ahead of everyone else. I never knew exactly why, but my guess would be to avoid me in the hallways. It worked to my advantage now.

The only hiccup would be if Willow were with her. I knew they carpooled together every day.

I scoured the entire place for her, starting with the library, but when I couldn’t find her, I grew even more agitated.

If her car weren’t outside, I would have given up, but I knew she was here. Luck was apparently on my side because, when I rounded the corner, I caught her coming out of the bathroom minus Willow.

By the time she spotted me, it was too late. I was on her. I dragged her to the nearest classroom, and she surprisingly followed without a fight.

When I turned to lock us inside, I caught the smirk on her face.

“You mind telling me what the hell you were doing in my house yesterday?”

“I was visiting a friend—not that it’s any of your business.”

“But you weren’t just visiting a friend, were you?”

“Keiran, what are you getting at?”

“That little stunt you pulled is going to cost you.”

“I have no interest in your mind games.” She spun around quickly, her hair flying around her shoulders, and I caught a whiff of her intoxicating scent. It set me off.

I bent low and lifted her to my shoulder, ignoring her struggles as I carried her across the room to the teacher’s desk. It was large enough and the perfect height for what I had in mind.

“Put me down!”

I did as she demanded but spun her around to bend her over the desk. The ruler sitting in a coffee mug near the edge of the desk caught my eye. I grabbed it and tested the strength of it against my palm. She tensed each time the ruler hit my skin.