Page 60 of Hell on Wheels
“Mina, you don’t belong here. Just leave and stay away from me. We can go our separate ways and this will be over. Isn’t that what you want?” Rogue mirrors the crossed arm position, but Ifeelthe pain radiating off of her. Mina’s words hurt her, and she doesn’t want her to know.
The ex-team member grins evilly again, tilting her head. “Why should I? You deserve everything I have to give you for using me. I’m owed tribute.”
“Wow,” my girl breathes softly as she pinches the bridge of her nose. “Okay, I don’t even knowhowto respond to that. What the hell are you talking about, Mina?”
“I brought in all the fans. My socials made ticket sales spike. I’m the reason people are paying attention to this team, and you never gave me credit for it!” she screeches.
Holy Baphomet’s hairy sack, I wouldn’t believe this if I hadn’t heard it myself.
Rogue skates over to the bleachers and I move down to the bottom row to stand closer to her. She looks at the boards for a moment, clearly trying to figure out what she’s going to say inresponse. The anger and hurt coming from her is provoking my demon, but I have to let her handle this herself. I’m not Rebel and I know she can do this—what’s more, I know sheneedsto do this.
“You are so full ofshit,” Rogue hisses as she pins the witch with a glare. “I let you get away with all your nonsense because you were my best friend. Ithoughtgiving you a pass on all your bullying, abuse, and slacking was what a good friend would do. But all it got me wasthis.”
Mina opens her mouth, but Rogue growls, “Silence.It ismyturn to speak finally.”
A trail of magic zips from her fingertips, and a glittery gag appears over her ex-friend’s mouth. My eyes widen because our girlneveruses her magic offensively outside of her official duties. She barely used it enough to defend herself when Mina and her cronies attacked her.
“For the past few years, I’ve let you take the spotlight, claiming all the glory for yourself. You told everyoneyoubuilt the team—when you couldn’t be bothered to show for try-outs. Then you saidyoutrained their skills despite skipping most drill practices. Every social media post you made both on your accounts and the official team one featuredyouand laudedyourcontribution. You made every win aboutyourperformance in the match—unless you screwed up, then you blamed everyone else.”
I chuckle as Mina struggles with the gag, trying to get it off with her own magic as she makes muffled protests. “Keep going,mi alma.”
Rogue smiles softly at me, then turns back to the witch. “We had good people quit or leave because you treated them like shit.You spent most of the locker room talks bad mouthing other players from every team in the league. Your persecution complex was so bad that you constantly whined about them ‘copying’ you online and on the boards. But it was never true—it was just your inferiority complex.”
She needs this… she has to find closure to defend herself later on.
“And I let all of it go, even though Iknewthey were red flags. If I was dating a complete narcissist like you, I would have dumped them before I ever got into a team partnership, but… I enjoyed having a friend for once. Especially one that wasn’t Reb and was a female—that’s how you reeled me in. Once you had me, you made sure I stayed below you for as long as possible, so you didn’t feel threatened. You didn’t leave the Bombers because I’m talentless and sponging off you.” Rogue pauses, sucking in a breath, then letting it out slowly.
Her body is stiff as a board and I know whatever she says next is going to be the most telling piece of information yet. Hopefully, this doesn’t make her lose her temper. I don’t know if I could stop her if she pops her wings. She’s pretty fucking powerful and I might not be immune.
“You left because the team voted you out as co-captain. They didn’t want to deal with your shitty attitude, your lazy work, and the poorly honed skills you displayed in matches. They kept me and told you to fuck all the way off, so you planned this shit with your new minions.”
Motherfucker. She didn’t tell us—any of us—that.
Rogue waves her fingers, letting her gag drop from the witch’s lips as she stares. “And when you left because I set boundaries…you used your platform and your cultish followers to call me crazy, fat, stupid, talentless, abusive, a thief… anything you could to keep the attention off ofwhyyou joined the Sickos. You depended on the fear of all the past and current players who skated with you to keep your real face secret. But I won’t be held hostage anymore.”
Stepping out of the rink, Rogue’s skates clack on the concrete as she stalks over to her former friend, getting in her face. “I refuse to let you bully and abuse me anymore. I don’t care if you have a zombie mob to send after me. Your self-proclaimed ‘fame’ doesn’t intimidate me. I’m not your punching bag, Mina, and you’d better believe I’m going to show people what you did if you don’t fuck off.”
I hop over the last bleacher, coming up behind her just enough to show support. “You heard the lady, Mina. Grow up and get lost. Rogue is nicer than me, and I’m far nicer than the rest of her supporters. We didn’t know what you were doing to her, but now that we do, you can believe that your cutesy public reputation is done.”
“If you sayone wordabout our past, Rogue Kelly, you’ll be sorry. You can’t compete with me—I’ve corralledallthe stupid sheep in my pen.”
Rogue snorts and waves her hand at the woman. “Nice villain threat. Now do as my boyfriend says…fuck. off. Mina.”
The blue-haired girl screeches, then stomps out the back in a huff. I lick my lips, then look at my girl.
“Yeah, I know. She’s not done.”
“Not by a long shot,” I murmur. “We have to be careful.”
“Until we figure out how to remove her from the game, yes.”
I was thinking of removing her from the planet, but we can broach that topic later.
Burn It Down
As predicted, the guys aren’t happy when we get home.
“D, what thefuckwere you thinking?” Angelo snarls, stalking forward with fire in his eyes. “Someone could have attacked—thatputa?1 broke into the rink without an issue, which meansanyonecould.”