*Updates most Mondays*
Book Two in the Darien Grace Chronicles
"I couldn't hear the music. I knew that it was pulsing all around me, I could feel it vibrate through the air, but I couldn't hear it. I hadn't been able to hear it for a while now. I ju...
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Harry Styles
"Where's Lee tonight?" I asked, closing the fridge with my foot and twisting the caps off of two beers before handing one to Max. He took it with a nod, moving into the den.
He collapsed onto the sofa, taking a long drag from his bottle, before picking back up the black controller. The dull roar of virtual bullets and yelling filled the room. "I don't know—Shit! Mother fucker—," Max cursed at the game as his thumbs tumbled over the joy sticks and buttons in a blur. "She ran out an hour or two ago."
"Know where she went?" I hated myself for asking. Since our return to the city at the start of the summer, I'd felt her pulling away, forcing more distance between us as she grew closer to the youngest McKenney.
"Nope. Didn't ask— Fuck yeah!" Max roared, fist bumping the air and taking another drag from his beer. I'd never understood the obsession with virtual gaming; people invested countless hours on something that had no actual impact on the world. You wouldn't know about his obsession by looking at him, but one step into his and Lee's apartment and it was like setting foot into a best buy. Max had several gaming systems, each more complex than the last. I was honestly surprised that he hand't put on his head set; usually I'd walk in and he'd be yelling at someone across the world.
"Any idea when she'll be back?"
"Nope. I'm not the one who signed on as her stalker," he quipped, jabbing a quick progression of buttons before shooting me a knowing look.
"I'm not stalking her," I sighed in exasperation, pushing the few curls that had fell onto my forehead back and out of my face.
"Dude, she's noticed. We both have. You're stalking her and it's creepy as fuck." He punched a button, effectively pausing the game before tossing the remote onto the sofa next to him. He turned to look at me, watching me over the lip of his bottle as he took a prolonged drag.
I rose from my spot on the love-seat opposite him, moving to pace back and forth across the expanse of the room. "I'm not stalking her. I just need to know when—when they'll be back. I know Jas told her."
"Oh, yeah. I don't know, buddy," Max muttered, his eyes flicking over to me briefly before returning to the screen.
"Max."
"They landed four hours ago."
"Of course they did." At least now I understood the source of my growing unease. Darien Grace was back in New York.
* * *
Leala stumbled through the front door an hour and a half later. Swaying and spinning along the length of the wall, she hiccuped as she hummed a familiar tune.
"Good night?" I asked. It hurt to speak past the knot in my throat. I forced myself to finish off what was left of my lukewarm beer.
"Hallfred." Lee tutted. "You know you're not going to get a word out of me."
