Shine - Lauren Myracle [96]
“Hey, fantastic, ” Beef said. “The more, the merrier. Get on up here, Cat.”
His words came fast. He sounded manic and not like himself.
I moved fully into the clearing.
“Cat,” Christian said under his breath, but I kept going, and he was smart enough not to try to stop me. Beef thought I was by myself—at least as far as we knew—and that was good. I didn’t know how it was good, because what was Christian going to do? Ride back down the mountain and fetch the sheriff himself? Nonetheless, the knowledge of Christian’s presence was one thing we had that Beef didn’t.
I had to cross the swimming hole to get to the climbing side of the mountain, so I kicked off my flip-flops and dog-paddled through the cool green water.
“Why, look at you,” Beef said when I climbed, dripping, onto the opposite bank. “I can see your titties! Look, Robert! Cat has titties!”
“Yep, it’s a flippin’ wet T-shirt contest,” I said, my face flaming. I wanted not to care. I knew better than to care, because that’s what Beef was after: power.
Playing on that, I pouted and said, “Would you let go of Robert’s mouth so he can breathe, please?”
Beef wasn’t broad-shouldered and imposing like Tommy, but he was strong and quick. He had a wrestler’s ability to twist people into all sorts of positions, and I wanted his hands off Robert. “Seriously, Beef. What’s he going to do, scream?”
“You gonna scream?” Beef asked Robert. Violently, Robert shook his head. Beef shrugged and removed his hand. “There. You happy now?”
Robert didn’t reply. He probably thought that Beef was talking to me. But Beef kneed him in the back of his legs, making him cry out and crumple a little.
“I said, you happy now?” Beef repeated.
“Beef, quit it,” I said sharply.
“Cat, I ain’t having fun,” Robert whined. “I want to go home.”
“‘I wanna go home,’” Beef mocked. “Dude, you sound like a little girl.”
I started up the face of the rock. The angle made it so that I couldn’t see Beef and Robert anymore, but I could hear them.
“So, little girl,” Beef said. “Now that Cat’s here, want to tell me again how I’m not a man ’cause of my . . . now, how’d you call it? My faggot ways?”
The rock was slick, and I lost my footing. The moss coating the surface was spongy in places, almost gelatinous, and when my bare toes squelched into it, I thought of cow tongue. I shuddered, and it gave me just enough adrenaline to shout, “Of course, you’re a man, Beef. Nobody’s ever said you aren’t.”
“Yeah, and I’m not a little girl,” Robert piped up. Apparently, my phony bravado had kicked his into gear. “You’re the one who kisses boys. That makes you the girl.”
“Robert?” I said. “Shut. Up.”
“But he did! You told me so! You told me he kissed Patrick!” I couldn’t see what happened next, but I heard, “Ow!”
“Beef, please,” I said. “Nobody cares that you and Patrick . . . you know.” I made it to the jumping rock. I hauled myself up and took a breath, leaning forward and resting my hands on my quads. “I mean, God. Patrick’s awesome.”
“’Cept when he was harping on me,” Beef said, his voice coming from above. “I told him to leave it, but he wouldn’t.”
I straightened my body. To get to Suicide Rock, I had to climb five or six more yards. You can do it, I told myself. I knew better than to look down, but like an idiot I did anyway. The far away water swayed.
“He was worse than his own granny, the way he got into my business,” Beef kept going. “Don’t do this. Don’t do that. You’re ruining your future, you worthless sack of shit.”
“Patrick would never say that,” I said. I found a crevice for my right foot while my fingers fought for a grip. My skin was clammy from sweat and creek water, and there was a good chance I might throw up. Or pass out.
No, I told myself. Not allowed.
I steeled myself, and with a grunt, I hiked my forearms over the ledge. My face was within kicking distance of Beef’s feet.
“Move so I can come up,” I panted.
“Why? So we can chat some more? I don’t think so.”
“My muscles are giving out,