Lunacy Read online

  There was a sudden noise like popcorn cooking that emanated from one of the microphones on stage, drawing everyone’s attention to Battousi. Somehow, I’d been so distracted by my conversation with the girls that I didn’t even notice they were done getting all their equipment in place.

  Kenshin’s voice was silken as he leaned forward and said with a purposely bad Transylvanian accent and an arched brow that would have made Bela Lugosi proud: “Good evening…”

  The resounding female squeals of “We love you, Kenshin!” almost made my ears bleed. He flashed a smile towards the crowd in the direction of the most noise and the intensity in his gaze almost made me blush.

  “There’s a face that could melt butter,” I said with a little smirk.

  “To hell with just his face! His voice alone could do it. And don’t even get me started on that sweet ass of his…” Aya grinned wolfishly.

  We were fairly close to the stage, so apparently the boys could hear us talking. It seemed odd to me that Gavin heard us way back at the drum kit over all the background noises, though. “But, Aya! Don’t you love me anymore?” he asked with a pouty look.

  “You know I do, but Ken’s got a nicer ass! Sorry, luv!”

  Anyone near enough to hear the exchange laughed. And Jynxx’s next action only made the whole situation more awkward. For me, at least.

  “Damn straight he does!” My classmate laughed as he smacked the rhythm guitarist on the backside hard enough to make him wince.

  Ken rubbed the pained spot to soothe the sting. “I like it rough and all, but Jesus… Go easy, tiger!”

  My ears were burning with embarrassment, but luckily my hair covered them so no one else noticed. “Is homoeroticism a normal part of the show?” I asked Aya, my voice unintentionally squeaking.

  She snickered. “They’re just playing. Those boys have been close since they were in diapers. It does tend to feed the rabid fan girls, though…”

  I nodded, still having a squeeing fan girl moment of my own on the inside. Then something hit me that had slipped right past initially. “Aya, are you and Gavin..?”

  “Together?” she laughed. “No. We… you know, sometimes. But we’re not together. That boy’s way too wild to be tamed.” Aya was trying to play it off, but there was a sorrow in her eyes that I knew all too well. She wanted to be the one to tame him, but he was too stupid and blind to see it.

  God damned playboys…

  Jynxx’s voice brought me from my thoughts of slow and painful premeditated murder. “For all you cherries out in the crowd, we’re Battousi. This is a fairly new song for us, so forgive us if we screw it up. It’s about being pushed too far, and it’s called The Limit.”

  Unsurprisingly, the song started out with some heavy guitar and a light piano melody on the keyboard in the background. The drums and bass picked up, nothing but pure synchronization between the five of them for a moment before all but the guitar and keyboard faded away and Jynxx began to sing. “Chained and barred, collared and fettered, I am a thing to be toyed with…”

  I gasped. “I remember seeing him writing that at school a few days ago!”

  “I can believe it,” Aya agreed. “He’s got one hell of a set of pipes…”

  “You mean his arms, or his voice?” We both chuckled.

  “Used and abused, beaten and bruised… Soon you’ll learn that my limits don’t go very far.” The drumbeat slowly began to pick up the background and I found myself leaning forward eagerly, feeling every note produced by both the instruments and Jynxx’s voice reverberating somewhere deep within me.

  “How far… will it go today? Just make…this pain… GO AWAY!” Jynxx’s voice rose to a crescendo, not quite screaming, but as close as you could get without actually yelling. His voice was softer than before as he went on. “I’ve… got nothing left to say. Since I can’t go… I guess I’ll stay.”

  A few screams broke out in the crowd, shouts of encouragement from the fans. Jynxx couldn’t fight the smile on his lips as he went on, the other boys now playing again. The whole tempo was slowly picking up, bringing the crowd’s energy with it, like being carried away by the ramblings of a madman.

  “And I know you won’t admit it… But I... just won’t submit. My personality’s... been split.” Everything stopped other than Kenshin’s guitar as Jynxx roared into the microphone, “Can you push me to the LIMIT?!”

  There was a short span of about fifteen seconds when the music continued to play at the loud and heavy pace, none of them singing. I was almost afraid to breathe watching the perfect union between the boys and their instruments, frightened that a heavy exhalation might break the spell they had wrapped around us. Everyone was silent with awe until Jynxx took his place at the microphone again and more lyrics he’d been writing only a few short days ago spilled from his lips.

  “I can only bleed so much before I am BROKEN. Before the daemon is loosed and the beast is AWOKEN… Those who know try to keep me apathetic.

  “And then there are those who just whip me HARDER…” His voice went from harsh and guttural to nigh-angelic in less than two seconds flat. “Thinking that since they are free... They are smarter… If released, I would rule them all…”

  They hit the chorus again and no one spoke as they went on, the whole atmosphere louder and full of rage unlike in any of the previous verses. “They keep me locked up; feel like I’m in a cage. They know my imprisonment strengthens my rage… as I sit here, day after lone-someday…

  “But one day I’ll break free. I’ll make them pay; I’ll make them see that NO ONE can imprison ME!” Everything slowed down and the beat became softer, Jynxx’s voice following suit. “But until that day comes, I’ll keep sitting here… Chained and barred, collared and fettered… Still a thing to be toyed with…” Everything silenced but Jynxx’s guitar and Teigan on the keyboard. “Used and abused, beaten and bruised… We’ll see if they push me to the limit… Today…” He held that last note like a drowning man with his last breath, his voice shaking as he finally let it go.

  The entire crowd was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop, and then everyone burst into an uproar of applause and cheers that could have shaken the building off its foundation. “Thank you!” They all spoke into their microphones as one before going into the next song.

  I was stunned, but didn’t have much time to revel in it as their next song was apparently a crowd favorite, and a get-your-ass-kicked-in-the-pit tune. Although I had help from Take My Revolution, I still took a few solid elbows to the ribs and back, along with having to duck under a windmill kick. When their set was done, they said their thanks again and started packing up their gear.

  “You alright, girly?” Aya asked, lightly nudging me with her elbow.

  I nodded, inhaling deeply to catch my breath now that the crowd had spaced out a bit so I could try to return my core temperature to normal. I was sweating like I’d been doing laps in the river of fire, and I was fairly certain that my hair was frizzy as fuck. I sighed and told the blonde girl that I was going to go grab a drink before the next band, Blunt Trauma, played.

  “Want me to go with you?” she asked. I just shook my head, mouthing “I’ll be ok.”

  Outside of the crowd, the air was so much cooler than it made me shiver, telling me that I was much more soaked in sweat than I’d thought I was. Gross! Not exactly a good state to be in to try to impress Jynxx.

  Wait… Since when did I give a damn about what he thought? Especially when it came to the way I looked. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, stopping before a vending machine and frowning as I saw that it contained nothing but soda and energy drinks. I decided that a strawberry soda would be the best thing to restore all the sugars I’d been sweating out, so I leaned down to extract my wallet from my left boot, earning a whistle from someone behind me.

  It startled the hell out of me and I spun to face the guy, wallet in hand behind me as though I was going to make a projectile out of it if he tried anything funny. Seeing w
ho it was, I was reluctant to lower the improvised weapon at all, but I did so slowly. I turned away from him just long enough to pop my money in the machine and hammer on the button for the soda with my closed fist. Spinning back to face him, I ducked down and blindly grabbed the bottle from the machine with one hand and slipped my wallet back into my boot with the other. Coming back to my full height with the boots on, I was nearly as tall as he was.

  “What in the hell do you want, Alain?” I made a point of letting him know that I wasn’t pleased, and had no reason to be friendly.

  He smirked a little, his expression telling me that he liked that he’d unnerved me. He held up his hands as if to show me that he was unarmed, but I wasn’t fooled. He’d changed a lot in the last ten years, but so had I. He’d been pudgy before, but the onset of puberty, dieting induced by his mother, and lots of time in the gym had filled Alain Reece out in all the right places. His hair was blond on top with black beneath it, fashionably mussed as if he’d just spent an hour or two in the backseat. His dark eyes that matched his natural hair color set into that tanned skin were alluring enough, but it would take more than a pretty face and a fat wallet to draw me in.

  We’d had minimal contact as we’d been growing up even though he lived right next door, but I’d still never forgiven him for trying to kiss me when we were eight. And although it had healed properly, I could still see the small imperfections where I’d broken his nose in two places. Aside from that, I didn’t like anyone who was under the assumption that every person had their price, and could indeed be bought. It seemed to be something they taught you at Savage Academy, where money talked.

  “Now, now, Kaysh. No need to be unfriendly…”

  I cut him off before he could try buttering me up with innocuous lies. “Bullshit, Alain. And don’t call me that. You have no right to use nicknames, much less pet names, with me.”

  He sighed, cool and collected, which only fueled my anger more and more by the second. Why in the hell wasn’t anyone else happening to wander past right now? It was between sets for Christ’s sake… The fact that he made me uneasy enough to fear for my safety, because he was definitely stronger than me now, made me want out of there. And fast.

  He walked forward and I had no choice but to back up or have him bump into me, and that was the last thing I wanted. My back hit the vending machine quicker than I’d been expecting and he leaned forward, one hand supporting his weight pressed against the front of the machine just by my head. “So hostile, Kacea. And for what? For me being a silly little boy who was infatuated with your pretty green eyes and long hair? Surely, you can’t still harbor such hatred over something so simple.”

  I scoffed. “I’m more scared of the fact that you could do anything you damn well pleased to me and your parents’ money could make it seem like nothing ever happened.” I looked up at him and it was terrifying from this close. There was something about him that creeped me out, and I knew better than to ignore my instincts about people.

  He tutted softly and reached out his other hand to trail very smooth fingers down my cheek and cup my face, not allowing me to look away. Heat rose in my face as I looked directly into his eyes, not liking the dark yearning I saw in those obsidian depths. “Let me go, Alain… Right. Fucking. NOW.”

  He chuckled and brought his face closer to mine, almost close enough that it was hard to focus on his features, the smell of his cologne from this close was something expensive and delicious. “Or you’ll what, Kacea? Kick my ass like you did when we were kids? I dare you to try, sweetling. I’m not the chubby simpleton I was then.” He dragged his thumb across my lower lip and his dark gaze followed it. “I’ve learned a lot of things since then. And I’d love to share them with you…”

  His eyes started to close and I was about to drive my knee into his groin when he was yanked away from me with such force that it staggered me and I fell back against the vending machine. Looking up to see my savior, I was half expecting to see fists swinging and have to call the cops. Jynxx was standing there, barely contained rage practically flowing off of him in waves as he had the smaller boy lifted onto his toes by a fistful of shirt. Alain was like a mini-clone of Jynxx, with sharper and more genteel features. Both of them were pissed, and if it came to blows, I knew that Jynxx would clean Alain’s clock better than I ever had.

  “No means no, Alain. Or did you think today was opposite day?” Jynxx said simply.

  I fought hard not to laugh, but I really didn’t want them to hurt each other. I moved over to them, my soda bottle held behind me to use as a club if need be. “I‘m alright. Just let him go, Jynxx. He’s not worth it, and he’s gotta go up on stage for Blunt Trauma’s set, anyway.” He looked down at me and I swear I saw his eyes flash golden again. My blood sugar must have been dropping, so I opened my drink and took a long swig. “Come on. I need someone who can take better care of me in the pit if they’re gonna get more rowdy than they have been.”

  Reluctantly, he let go of Alain with a flick of his wrist that made the other boy stumble. Alain straightened and brushed absently at his shirt as though Jynxx might have wrinkled it. He looked to the taller, paler boy with distaste. “Haven’t you stolen enough already?”

  “What?” Jynxx and I were equally perplexed by that one.

  He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Never mind. Peasants…” he muttered, going off to help his band set up.

  I took another long swallow of the soda now that he was gone, glad that the cool air and the sugar were helping me feel more normal now.

  “Are you okay?” Jynxx asked, reaching out to touch my arm.

  I cringed and looked down to see that the fresh gauze had a touch of pink leaking through from getting knocked around all night. In good news, the first aid tape around the bandage had kept sweat from pouring into it and making it sting. “I should clean this up. Is there a first aid kit here somewhere so I can throw some clean gauze on this until I get home?”

  Jynxx led me to the table where Feign was still seated, his booted feet tossed nonchalantly up on the chair next to him. The orange haired pretty boy nearly jumped out of his skin at my injury, which seemed weird. It wasn’t much blood at all compared to what it had been initially. He grabbed the first aid kit, pulled the old bandage off and swabbed it with an antiseptic wipe. The sting of the alcohol made me suck air in through my teeth at the sharp pain it brought with it. Feign quickly slapped some salve and a piece of gauze on over the gash in my arm.

  “You really should be more careful, you know.” He said, breathing more through his mouth than his nose. The smell of blood must have bothered him.

  “I’ll try. Thanks, Feign.”

  Jynxx nodded his thanks to the other young man and we went back out into the concert area. “We’ll hang here by the back for this set. You’ll end up needing stitches for sure if we go back to where we were.”

  That sounded just dandy to me. So while we listened to music befitting its name, Blunt Trauma continued to prove that they were a first-class medical nightmare with their growling vocals and discordant hardcore music.

  Once their set was finally done, it took a few minutes for my hearing to return to normal, a heavy ringing finally fading away. The other boys from Jynxx’s band joined us, talking about going to an after party. Lots of underage drinking and various other fun things would occur. Definitely wasn’t my cup of tea, especially because I knew Alain would be there. With my luck, I’d end up drinking a roofie colada and wake up next to him naked tomorrow. Thanks, but no thanks.

  Jynxx summed up what had happened with Alain, saying he’d catch a ride home with me rather than going to the festivities. The boys agreed it was a much better plan and we were in my car and driving before I knew it. I was a hefty haul from home, and his place wasn’t too far out of my way.

  We’d been driving in comfortable quiet for a few minutes when he turned and said, “This is going to sound ridiculous after what just happened with Alain, but… Take me home with you?”


  Nervous laughter sputtered from my lips. “…What?”

  “My kid brother’s having his sixteenth birthday party, and once that nonsense is all done, everyone else’ll be home and ridiculously drunk. I’ve never been a fan of that part of the whole band scene. It’s Friday, so we don’t have school tomorrow. I can even get a ride home in the morning if you don’t wanna take me back out there. Please, don’t make me go deal with them when they’re being drunken assholes…”

  I glanced away from the road for a second, and the pleading expression on his face was undeniable. I sighed. “Alright. But I have to sneak you in because my dad will kill you if he sees me coming in with you this late.” I glanced at the clock on the dash. It was two in the morning. “And we’ll figure out sleeping arrangements when we get there. Alright?”

  “Deal.”

  I was calm and collected on the outside. On the inside, my stomach was doing somersaults and I was on the verge of a minor coronary.

  Chapter 8

  Mission Impossible music was playing in my head as we hit the edge of my sloping driveway. I popped the car into neutral, killed the lights and engine, and coasted to the garage. I hit the automatic door-opener on my visor and my car eased right into the garage without a sound.

  “Think ninja,” I said to Jynxx with a grin. He rolled his eyes at my badly faked Asian accent and I frowned as I looked out my window into the garage. Mom’s car was here, but Dad’s wasn’t, which meant they still weren’t home. “What in the hell..?” I murmured to myself. Pulling my phone from my boot, where it had been set on silent all night, I saw that my Mom had texted me.

  “StayN @ Lindas. C U in mrn. luv Mom.”

  I rolled my eyes, but was glad they were smart enough not to try driving home while they were totally plastered. I sighed aloud with exasperation. “That was a waste of a totally cool ninja sneak-in!” I crossed my arms and pouted, causing Jynxx to burst into laughter.

  Ignoring the fact that he was laughing at my expense, I went on. “Since they’re not home, guess we don’t hafta be sneaky anymore.” I led him to the doorway that separated the breezeway from the house, pausing for a second. “I’d usually say shoes off and leave them here, but we’ll take yours to my room, just to be safe.” We went inside and I shut the door behind us, twisting the lock on the knob and the deadbolt without looking behind me.