Faster We Burn

the door. She seemed surprised for a moment and I thought she was going to slam it in my face.
    “I thought my people were going to call your people when I ‘found myself.’” She put air quotes around the “found myself” part.
    “Yeah, well, I figured you’d showed up unannounced at my place enough times that I should see what it’s like on the other side.” She leaned against the half-open door as if she wasn’t sure if she should let me in.
    After a moment of deliberation she rolled her eyes back and sighed as if I was a huge inconvenience.
    “Come on.” She flung the door wide and I stepped in behind her. I would have thought my eyes had adjusted to the amount of pink from being around her, but it was like I was being eye raped by it. She never had given me an answer on why she was obsessed with it.
    She spun to face me, her arms crossed over the pink shirt that draped over her shoulders and hung long over her black pants. “So, what do you want?”
    I swallowed, trying to bring moisture into my dry throat.
    “I got your little note. Took me two showers to wash it off,” I said, gesturing to my chest.
    “That was why I used permanent marker,” she said, her voice icy, but I could see the shadow of a smile tugging at her lips. She leaned back against her bed and sat down. I remained standing.
    Something that powerful is like a speeding train. You can slow it down, but it’s never going to stop .
    I had to keep my distance from her. Even just being in her room and being submerged in her scent was making my head buzz.
    “So what do you want? If you’re here to fuck me, sorry, not in the mood.”
    “I’m not here for that,” I said, although if she would have said, hey, let’s go for it , I wouldn’t have said no. Not this time.
    “Then why are you here, Stryker Abraham Grant?” She stood up and walked until there was only a breath of space between us, our chests almost touching.
    “I have something I have to tell you,” I said, but I was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. I wanted to tell her to ignore it, but she snatched it and was answering before I could form the words.
    “Hey, Kayla. What’s up?” I watched as her eyes went wide, her other hand went to her mouth and she let out a sound as if someone had stabbed her.
    And then she was falling to the floor, as if her legs had decided they didn’t want to support her anymore and had gone on strike. I caught her just in time.
    The phone slipped from her hands and she screamed. No, it wasn’t a scream. It was the sound of a soul ripping itself in half. Pure agony.
    I was finally able to speak.
    “What happened?”
    She was only able to get out two words.
    “My. Dad.”
    I looked down and realized Kayla was still on the other end of the phone call. I picked the phone up.
    “Hello?”
    “Who’s this?” She sounded stuffed up, and I could tell she’d been crying.
    “Stryker. What happened?” I was still trying to hold Katie up. She was silent, as if she’d gone into shock, but her body shook, like she was freezing. I had to figure out what was going on.
    Now.
     
    Katie
     
    Kayla’s words banged in my head over and over like a sledgehammer. I heard them over Stryker talking to me, and Stryker talking to Kayla and trying to figure out what had happened to me.
    Dad had a heart attack .
    We took him to the hospital.
    He didn’t make it .
    Words strung together in a particular order that had dropped me to my knees. Words that made sense, but didn’t.
    “Katie!” Stryker waved his hand in front of my face and then smacked me in the cheek. The little sting of pain brought me around.
    “I have to go home. Right now.” I used his arms to pull myself to my shaky feet. “Where are my keys?” I knew I’d just seen them a moment ago. They had a stupid pink elephant on the keychain that Kayla had gotten for me.
    Stryker wouldn’t let go of me.
    “Let go. I have to go home.” I thrashed, but he wouldn’t budge.
    He shook his head and blinked, as if he was stunned himself.
    “No, I’ll drive you.”
    More words strung together.
    “I have to get there now. We’re wasting time.”
    He didn’t make it .
    He blinked rapidly. “It’s okay, I’ll drive you. Right now. Let’s go.”
    Before I could protest, he was shoving my arms into my coat, grabbing my purse, throwing my phone in it, and dragging me down the stairs. The next thing I knew he was putting me in his car and buckling my seatbelt with hands that shook