What if somehow their souls were linked and whenever they connected it drained Wyatt’s power a little more until he was almost human? Every touch, every time she ran her fingers through his silky hair, it just dragged him down into the darkness until it consumed both of them.

Wouldn’t it be tragic for the hero to be in love with the one girl who could ruin him? What if one kiss was the end of the world? One sweet indulgence, a ray of light in her darkness, and all it did was bring on the ruin.

That was what it felt like as the scrap of metal told her Brett was using a knife to unlock the bathroom door. She screeched when it burst open.

“I didn’t tell him,” she chanted in blind panic. “I didn’t!”

“Come here.”

Brett stormed in after her, looking bigger than Wyatt at that moment, even if she knew it wasn’t true. Terrified, she pressed herself back in the small gap in the corner between the wall and the toilet. He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her out from her hiding spot, but she fought him, kicking out, trying to hit him in the balls because that was what Wyatt and Clay told her to aim for. She slashed with her free hand, going for his eyes, another soft spot they had told her about, but she was still trying to stop the bleeding, and eventually she opted to make her body limp and leaden. She slipped out of his grasp and fell into the tiny space next to the toilet, her small frame finally serving well. She kicked every time he got near her.

“I didn’t tell him!” She was screeching it now, kicking with all her might, making him jump back defensively. “Leave me alone!”

“You shut up and stop fighting me, or I’m gonna let Vaughn come in here and do it for me.”

She kicked him again, because she didn’t trust him not to hand her over anyway. “I don’t care ’bout your stupid drugs! I didn’t tell him!”

“Back up, Brett. I’ll get her.”

Tabitha kicked at Brett again, this time getting him between the legs with the heel of her sneaker. He doubled over, groaning in pain just as Vaughn pushed into their small bathroom behind him.

“You kick me like that, and I’ll make sure you pay for it.” Vaughn reached over the side of the toilet, grabbing her arm like a vise and tugging so hard she was afraid he’d pull it right out of the socket. “You’ll feel it for days, you little cunt.”

Tabitha screamed, knowing she should’ve taken Wyatt up on his offer. The foster system was looking pretty good about right now.

Vaughn was going to force her to do something horrible. She just knew it.

After months and months of avoiding Vaughn, now her mother wasn’t home, and there were no superheroes in sight to save her. Usually Brett stopped him before he could do anything, but now he was worried about his drugs and his pocket change, and that made her an easy sacrifice.

She’d done this to herself.

All because of one stupid kiss! Why did she think she could reason with her brother? She really was kryptonite, to herself as much as the rest of the world.

Then the most amazing thing happened; the long grinding sound of her mother’s old truck pulling into the driveway echoed past the cracked window. She opened her mouth to scream, but Brett slammed his hand over her mouth before she could.

“You shut up ’bout this, and I won’t tell her ’bout you and the Conner kid.”

Tabitha’s breathing was heavy. Brett’s hand smelled like cigarettes. She wanted to gag from it, but her eyes remained wide and trained on her brother. She should bite him, but she didn’t. She really didn’t want her mother to find out about Wyatt. That was stress she didn’t need. Brett must have sensed some sort of defeat in her, because he removed his hand, brown eyes meeting brown over the rim of the toilet seat.

“Get him away from me.” Tabitha’s gaze darted to Vaughn, who was still holding her arm. “And keep him away, or I’m telling her, and I don’t care what you say to her ’bout Wyatt.”

“Fine.” Brett’s eyes narrowed. “But if you keep seeing Conner, I’m gonna turn Vaughn loose on you, brat. I ain’t protecting you anymore when all you do to repay me for the effort is talk trash behind my back. Don’t think I won’t do it.”

“I’m not seeing him,” Tabitha reasserted once more. “He was just being nice.”

“Yeah, being nice by shoving his tongue down your throat. Fuck the sheriff’s brat, Tabitha, I dare you,” Vaughn said tauntingly, repeating Wyatt’s words from earlier. “I don’t have a problem with sloppy seconds.”

Tabitha didn’t even know what that meant, and she certainly wasn’t going to ask. Both boys backed up at the sound of car door being opened. Tabitha curled into herself when they quickly rushed into the living room to pretend all was normal. The bathroom door slammed, leaving her alone, and her entire body started shaking in response. She buried her head against her knees and let out one choked sob before she started fighting to keep her crying silent.

She hated being a teenager.

Ever since she’d gotten boobs and hips, the threat of Vaughn had been looming around every corner, and he wasn’t the only one. Lots of her brother’s friends harassed her. The thought occurred to her that maybe she wasn’t as ugly as she once thought she was, and it wasn’t a pleasant realization.

She had to start hiding these things better. She needed baggier clothes. Maybe she should hack off her hair too. Wyatt was always saying how pretty it was. It could be part of the problem. She shakily got to her feet when she heard her mother’s voice from the living room.

She went to the sink and worked at washing herself up. There was blood all over her white blouse. It soaked her hair and was still running down her face and ear. The water turned pink when she tilted her head and put it under the faucet to get it off. She really needed a shower, but she didn’t have a change of clothes in the bathroom.

She jumped at another knock on the door, hitting her head against the faucet. She hissed and cursed under her breath, “Shit.”

“What the heck are you doing in there?” her mother called. “Trying to drown yourself?”

“Sorry, Mama. I need a moment.”

“I got to pee. Been holding it since work.”

Tabitha sighed and turned off the water. She grabbed more toilet paper and held it to her head as she reluctantly opened the door.

Her mother gasped when she saw her. “What the hell happened to you?”

“I tripped.” Tabitha pressed harder on the toilet paper, hoping to soak most of the damning evidence. “It’s nothing.”

“It don’t look like nothing. You’re bleeding like a stuck pig. Look at your shirt.” Her mother frowned and leaned forward to stare at Tabitha’s forehead. “Well, lemme look at it.”

Tabitha removed the toilet paper. Showing off the injury. She studied her mother’s face, seeing her frown in concern.

“Dang it, Tab, I think you need stitches.” Her shoulders slumped in misery. “There goes my paycheck. How do these things always happen to you?”

“I don’t think it’s that bad,” Tabitha argued and took another shuddering breath. “We’ll just put a bandage on it.”

“Sheriff’s been sniffing round here. I think that Powers kid’s been talking to him. Can’t believe you still hang out with that trash.”

“Nah, Clay doesn’t say anything to anyone. You know he’s quiet.”

Her mother wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, tugging Tabitha forward rough enough to make her flinch after the event in the bathroom, but she didn’t notice as she pressed a finger to the tender skin above the wound. “Looks like it’s mostly stopped bleeding. Maybe a bandage will do.”

“Yeah,” Tabitha agreed. “Definitely.”

“You been crying?” her mother asked. “You’re all flushed, and what the heck happened to your arm?”

Tabitha looked at her arm, seeing the red marks left by Vaughn’s vise grip from earlier. “Um,” she stuttered and then choked back the rise of fear when Brett coughed from the living room. “B-Brett tried to catch me before I fell.”

“Yeah, he’s a good brother. Always saving you from yourself. Wish you were more like him. Your head’s in the clouds ninety percent of the time. You’re always tripping over something.” Her mother seemed appeased with that as she let Tabitha go. “Let me pee; then I’ll doctor it myself.”

Tabitha couldn’t help but snort in disbelief as the door closed behind her. She narrowed her eyes as she looked over at Brett and Vaughn sitting on the couch, giving her similar looks of challenge as if daring her to say something.

She started cleaning before her mama got out of the bathroom. She held the tissue to her head and worked on the enormous mess in the living room one-handed. Usually she was good about keeping it clean, but she’d been caught up with the start of school and let it get out of control. They’d had a party here last weekend, and no one had bothered to pick up afterward.

Surprisingly, Brett got up and started helping her.

“Is he sending the state out?” Brett asked her under his breath as he grabbed a pizza box off the counter while Tabitha worked on sweeping the cigarette ashes off the coffee table.

She shuddered at the amount of dirt and grime that landed on the carpet. She needed to clean out this wound on her head with something really antiseptic. The carpet was going to need at least five rounds with the vacuum cleaner, and she still needed to get the blood out of it.

“Can you try and fix the vacuum cleaner?” she asked him rather than answer his question. “It smells like smoke whenever I use it. I think something’s caught in it.”

“Damn it,” Brett growled, catching her hidden hint.