Faster We Burn

Before I could say anything, she picked up another picture of Zack and me and ripped that too.
    “Here,” she said, handing me another one, where Zack was giving me a sloppy kiss and not even trying to hide his beer bottle anymore.
    I stared at my giggling face for a second and then tore it apart and threw it back on my floor. Kayla found another one, and then another, and another. We got up and played a twisted version of ‘Where’s Waldo’, trying to find any picture that had Zack in it. There were quite a few.
    When we’d ripped up all of those, I started on the other pictures. Kayla sat back and let me go at those ones. She pulled the trash can over and we piled the torn pictures of my former self up and then dumped them in.
    When the floor was bare and the trash can was full, I stopped and sat back, bracing myself against the wall.
    “Thought you were leaving,” Kayla said.
    “I was. I am. I just wish he would call me. Trish said he hates apologies and that I need to let him cool off, but I just want him to contact me in some way.”
    She came to sit next to me against the wall. “You’ll work it out. I swear.”
    “I wish I had your confidence.”
    “Comes from being the older sister. So, are you going to stay or go?”
    I shook my head. “I have to go. I can’t stay here with Mom.”
    “She’ll come around.”
    Not likely. “I wish I had your confidence about that too.”
     
    ***
     
    It was nearly ten when I pulled up in front of Stryker’s apartment. He wasn’t alone. There was another car there, but I didn’t know whose it was.
    I tried calling him one more time before I knocked, but he didn’t answer, so I knocked and waited.
    No answer.
    The lights were on upstairs, so he must be home. I stepped back and saw someone peek through the curtains, but they were gone before I could see who it was.
    I banged on the door again and footsteps pounded down the stairs.
    “Katie,” Stryker said as he yanked the door open. No, he didn’t just say it. He breathed it. In those two syllables I heard hope and shock and even a little anger.
    “Who is it?” A female voice said from his open door at the top of the stairs. I heard her start walking and when she came into view I had to swallow hard.
    Ric.
    “What are you doing here? I thought you were home with your happy little family,” she said, coming to stand behind Stryker and putting her hand on his shoulder. Marking what she thought was her territory. It only took me a second to assess the situation and know that Stryker had done this on purpose. Not that I was that cocky, but I knew he thought this would piss me off, which was the exact reason I wasn’t. Nice try, Stryker Grant, but I don’t play that game.
    Stryker smoothed his expression and spoke in the hard voice he’d used when he stormed out of my house earlier. His douchebag voice.
    “I thought I told you to leave me alone.”
    “Yeah, and I thought I told you it wasn’t just the sex, so we’re even.”
    Ric’s eyes narrowed when I mentioned the sex. They both smelled heavily of alcohol, but they were both fully-clothed. Well, Stryker was. Ric looked like she’d just come from clubbing.
    “Yeah, well, I changed my mind. I don’t want to do this anymore, Katie.” If he clenched his jaw any tighter, he was going to damage some of his teeth.
    “I didn’t come here for that. I came to say I’m sorry. I know you hate apologies, so I hope you like grand gestures instead.” Without another word, I went to my car and grabbed two grocery bags. My trunk was full, so it was going to take a few trips to bring everything in.
    In my head this had gone different, mostly because I expected him to be home alone. I’d written out this whole script on my way up, and he’d decided not to follow it.
    “I’m making you dinner,” I said when I came back holding the bags. “So let me in because I need to preheat the oven if we’re going to eat before the sun comes up.”
    Stryker stared at me as if he couldn’t figure me out.
    “You’re not pissed that Ric is here and I’m drunk and we might have messed around?” Ric smirked at me from over his shoulder.
    “Not really. You gonna let me in or not?”
    He moved aside and I pushed past him and Ric and marched up the stairs. I heard her saying something to him, but I couldn’t make it out. I set the bags down on the kitchen floor and started unpacking them.
    Finding a turkey on Thanksgiving was something I deserved a medal for. I