Dealing with Devils (Book 2 in the Road to Salvation Series)

CHAPTER 11

Katie threw her backpack down by the door and plopped onto the couch. The anger had drained from her body. Her eyes were heavy, and she just wanted to sleep. But she couldn't get the images out of her head. She turned on the TV, looking for anything that would distract her from the day's events. She finally settled on cartoons, although she wasn't really paying attention to what was on. She thought about the conversation she'd just had with Deb, and the anger flared up inside her again.

How could her best friend say those things to her? After everything they'd been through. Those words were so mean. And they made Katie look like a moron. That really hurt. Deb was so concerned about Katie's wellbeing the day before, and now she was trying to prove she was better than Katie. It made no sense. It made her jaw clench and anger tighten her chest. Katie had enough stress in her life, she didn't need more. And she certainly didn't need to save herself and Deb.

Katie sat up straight on the couch as a revelation ran through her. Why did she think she needed to save Deb? She was old enough and, according to her, experienced enough to take care of herself. Her friend made her own choices, and she was going to have to live with the consequences. Josh was always telling her to stop taking responsibility and feeling guilty for others people's actions, so this was where she was going to start. She gave Deb fair warning about Braden, and if she chose to ignore it, there was nothing Katie could do about it.

Again, it felt like a weight lifted off Katie's shoulders. But even with that decision, she couldn't help but still feel hurt and angry at Deb's words. Katie knew she was naïve when it came to boys and, unfortunately, she had a habit of falling for the wrong ones. She'd pined after Wes for almost her entire life, and that didn't work out at all for her. When she finally decided to get him out of her life, that's when Josh and demons came in. Not only that, she and Wes had gotten into a major fight. She'd pushed him out of her life all right. In fact, in the end, she had been willing to kill him. The other boy wasn't much better. Josh was kind and genuinely interested in her, but he also had glaring faults and issues. Unless, of course, one was willing to overlook the soul taking and the neighborhood where he lived.

Still, who was Deb to judge? In the seventh grade, she'd had a new boyfriend every two months. Then, her junior year, she dated the same guy off and on—that was Caleb from her debate class—for the entire year. When they were off, she would hang out with a variety of other guys. She had no idea what Deb ever saw in the guy. He wasn't very nice, which was why they broke up all the time. As Katie remembered it, he always wanted Deb to do things like start smoking or steal things to prove her love. Deb refused to do them, so Caleb would break up with her then show up later and say how much he missed her. He always claimed to change his ways, and things would be good for a while, then he would go back to his old ways and they would break up again. It drove Katie nuts when they were dating, but she never said anything. What would she say?

Katie rarely ever commented on Deb's relationships because she always seemed happy and having fun. Caleb was the one exception, but Deb got out when it was miserable, so Katie didn't have to say anything. So what if she had a lot of boyfriends? That didn't mean she knew how to have a relationship. It didn't really even mean she knew what boys wanted; she wasn't with them long enough to find out. She could make assumptions, but how did she know if they were true or not?

Katie sighed. No matter how she tried to justify it in her mind, Deb was right. Katie had no idea how to be in a relationship and she was horrible about picking guys.

She settled back into the couch and stared at the screen. Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pocket. It was a text from Josh. She slammed it face down on the cushion next to her. She wasn't in the mood to talk to him either. And that reminded her of the conversation that would occur when her mom got home. She groaned.