Before The Storm ( wlw / lesbian )

Chapter 9

Toni raced home, the whirring of her motorbike the only thing cutting the thick tension between the air and her own thoughts. She hoped off her bike the second she saw the lights of the trailers, dropping her helmet in a flurry, slamming open the front door to Wonderboy's  trailer, emotions and thoughts pushing her up the three steps and into the mess she stumbled through.

"Toni?"

Shasta and Wonderboy looked up in surprise, worry and confusion etched into their expressions. Toni suddenly, and for what felt like the first time, went into full-fledged panic mode, pacing around the living room, her heart beating irrationally fast. What if the town found out what she did? She would be screwed. Oh God, what was she going to do?

Beating or even killing another gang member or someone of lower class wasn't a big deal, and Toni never worried about it. But the Lawrence's held more power than anyone in the town combined, and could easily make her or even Dakota disappear. Oh god. Her stomach was bubbling what little food was in it. 

That was never a thing she would even think of risking, and her here she was, with Lawrence blood physically on her hands.

"Toni, what the hell are you doing?" Wonderboy asked, standing from the couch and rounding up on her. He quickly grabbed a rag from the counter and wrapped her hand up.

"I messed up Wonder. Holy shit, I messed up bad." Toni replied, running her free hand through her wind-matted hair shakily. She grabs a handful of it for purchase. 

"What are you talking about?"

Wonderboy grabbed his friend by the shoulders, holding her in spot but her eyes refused to meet his own.

"I did something really bad, man." Toni whispered looking wistfully at the back of the Ravens coat hanging on the door. The concern in his demeanour made her want to break down. The Ravens, namely Shasta, Coen and Wonderboy were the only people in her gang that had always gotten her, understood what she had to do to protect the ones she loved. They had been acting like brothers, even if they questioned her actions at times.

"Tiny, you're starting to scare me. What happened?"

Toni slumped down onto the couch and put her face in her hands. "You know who hurt Grace, yeah?"

"That shithead Fergus, wasn't it?" Shasta chimed in, grabbing a bag of ice from the freezer and sharing a careful look with his roommate.

"Yeah. Well, today when I was driving home from the hospital, I went past their house and I saw... a light was on.."

"Toni, what did you do?"

"I got so, so fucking angry, guys. You have no idea. I've never been so angry in my life and so... I knocked on the door and Beatrice was the one who answered it. Fergus wasn't home, which wasn't a shocker. I think maybe I was looking for him but I- he's probably hiding, right? Her car was there so maybe I wanted to find her- Anyway, we argued a bit and-and the next thing I knew, I was punching her and she was on the kitchen floor and there was blood everywhere."

"Jesus Christ, Deere." Wonderboy slumped down on the other side of the girl.

"You didn't... you didn't kill her did you?" Shasta's voice was eerily calm, despite the words he said