Chapter 292

I finished getting dressed as someone knocked on my door. I walked over, still wrapping my hair in a towel, and cracked it open. Toya pushed a wine glass into my hand and stepped in before closing the door.

“What’s wrong?” I sat down on my bed and took a sip. I knew Toya. She had something on her mind and came in here to talk it out before bringing in the others.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said… about the first families.”

I nodded. “What about it?”

“What if you’re right? What if we were all pushed together by the gods we descended from, and now we are here?” She paced the room.

“What if we were?” I shrugged and took another sip. “Does that bother you?”

“It doesn’t bother you? We were pushed together, forced to be in each other’s lives, and now we are here.” She faced me. “Do we not get free will?”

I eyed her as I took another, longer drink this time. “Do you not like being friends with me?”

She sucked her teeth. “Of course, I do.”

I tilted my head. “Are you unhappy with the others?”

She threw up her hands. “That isn’t it either.”

“Then stop bouncing around and tell me what the issue is.” I felt my anger rise, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek before I said something that hurt her.

She stopped, and I could see panic behind her eyes. She came over and slid next to me on the bed. “What if…” I interrupted her with a wave of my hand. “Never mind the what-ifs. Talk to me, Toya.”

She stared at me for a minute, and I could see her gathering her strength before she looked away from my face. “If we were forced together… wouldn’t that ruin everything?” Her words were soft, and I could see her biting her lip. I watched her for a moment. “Ruin everything how?”

She turned to me, and I could see her anger getting the better of her. “Stop it. Just answer the question.”

I rubbed between my eyes and my forehead. A headache was building, and I just wanted, needed, to relax. “Ruin what? Are you saying you wouldn’t want to be my friend if you knew we were pushed together?” I felt my anger snap. “Are you so willing to throw away the last almost three years of friendship, all because of how it started?” Toya reeled back like I hit her. “No, of course not.”

“So you think the girls would toss all of what we have built together because you felt the need to sit down at my table?”

“Of course not.”

“So, it’s me. You’re afraid that I would walk away because of a little meddling in the beginning. That you saving me, taking care of me, it all meant nothing?”

“NO!” she screamed. I stood and walked out of the room. Toya followed. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to ask everyone.” I looked at her as I started down the stairs. “Girls.” Everyone turned as I walked into the kitchen. Wendy and Micca were putting a meal together, and I was about to cry before Toya stomped in behind me. “We have questions.”

“We don’t have to do this.” Toya shook her head, but I disagreed.

“No, you have questions, and now so do I.” I grabbed the open bottle of wine and refilled my glass. I took another long pull from it before I faced everyone. “If any of you are like Toya, and I know one or two of you might be, you might have questions about what we discussed just now, about the gods.”

Wendy put down the spoon and came to the counter. “What do you mean?”

I looked at Toya and gestured. “You explain, and then I’ll ask.” She glared at me for another second before she seemed to fold in on herself.

“The gods, if we are all descended from them, and we all became friends. It seems too coincidental, too organized.” She tossed her hands in the air.

“What?” Hanna looked at me. “I’m confused.”

“She thinks that if you are all descended from the first families, that it is too big of a coincidence that we all became this close. That it is more than likely that the gods pushed us together.” Toya pointed at me and nodded.

“Exactly that.”

“Okay… so what?” Micca stirred whatever they had in the pot.

Toya reeled back again. “What do you mean, so what?”

“Exactly what I said. So what?” She looked up. “We might have been pushed together, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t given a choice. We decided to become friends. We chose to be this close. And so what if a god pushed me to be friends with you all? You’re my best friends.”

Everyone nodded and turned, one by one, to look at Toya, who was staring back at us in shock. “I thought… I thought you would throw it all away.”