HORNS (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 9

Author's Note: This chapter's quite a bit longer than usual. Enjoy!

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Chapter Nine

The ride home was a quiet and uncomfortable one.

I'd taken the window seat on the right side of the car with Kip sitting between Erika and myself because, honest to God, I didn't want to be near her. I was sloshed to the point of lunacy, I was upset for all the wrong reasons, and I just wanted the night to be over with.

I watched the lights flash by, head resting on the cold glass, horns clicking against the window through the wig with every bump in the road.

"Are you kids okay?"

I twitched, turning to stare blankly at the cab driver, a plump woman with a short blonde bob cut, very dark brows, and pale blue eyes with the slightest hint of age. She looked like a soccer mom and was studying us with a concerned face.

"We're fine," Kip said politely, setting a hand on my arm. "We had a bit of a fight, is all."

My nostrils flared when I caught the scent of her curiosity and a strange emotional hunger.

"I see," she murmured, gaze flicking back to the road. "Would you like to--"

"No," I grunted, not even bothering to let her finish. "We wouldn't. Please just drive us home. I wanna go to bed."

"You don't need to be rude to her," Erika muttered. "She was just being nice."

"Like you know what that means," I snorted under my breath.

"Okay, what the hell is your problem?" Erika snapped, and I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath so I wouldn't lose my temper. "You've been a total downer all night long."

Everything went hazy.

I could feel my pulse pounding in my gut, and throat, and wrists, and head, and with every thunderous beat of my heart, my ears and lips twitched involuntarily with anger. I tried to ignore the question, listening to my breathing to stay calm, barely aware of my surroundings.

"Horst! Hellooo?!" Erika drunkenly growled, literally flopping down across Kip's lap and smacking my arm. "Are you going to answer me? Speak up?"

"Don't wanna," I growled. "Leave me alone."

"Horst, listen to me," she growled right back, visage darkening almost immediately. "You need to cheer up. I know why you're upset, and maybe... maybe it was too soon to hang out again--"

"Too soon?" I rasped, tensing as a flash of anger lit my insides up. "Erika... you cut me out of your life for an entire fucking year after breaking my heart into pieces. When I called you, I never got an answer. When I texted you, I never got a response. You literally dropped off the planet and acted like I didn't exist anymore for an entire... fucking... year. Do you know how sick I felt after that? Knowing that the reason you abandoned me was because I told you I fucking loved you?"

"Dude," Kip tried to say, but I slammed my fist on the window and sat up straight, glaring down at my lap. Street lights danced across me, but rage was rising up through my neck and into my head with a wave of heat. I took a breath and let it out, trying to stay calm and collected.

"Easy on the taxi," the driver warned, giving us a stare. "It's not your property."

She was right. I had to calm down and be careful. I wasn't going to explode and let my anger out the wrong way. I wouldn't make the same mistake my father made with me when I was seven.