Just when I thought the next sound I’d hear would be a gunshot, Pike pried his lips open and spoke.
“Ca… can I ask you some… something first?” His breathing sounded more labored than before. Linc’s answer was to press the nozzle of his gun harder into his temple. “Can you watch over my sis… sister and mother?”
“Now why would we do that?” Marek asked, confusion and annoyance vying for top spot.
Pike’s eyes landed on Prez’s before he closed them. “Because they’ll go after them. And they’re in… innocent. Just like Maddie.”
Silence descended, heavy with unspoken words. I thought for sure someone would’ve immediately refused his request, but it appeared no one had an answer.
Linc grumbled something under his breath, and just when I thought he’d crossed over into a world he might not be able to come back from, he lowered his gun and said, “Yes.”
Five seconds later, Pike took his last breath, the gunshot his club inflicted on him the cause, and not us.
2
“Are you sure? Because you can stay here as long as you want. I enjoy the company.” Tucking my legs underneath me, I relaxed into the couch and took another sip of my drink, hoping Riley would change her mind. I didn’t realize how lonely I’d been until she came to live with me, and while I never expected she’d stay forever, I hoped her time here would last a little longer. It was like the sleepovers we used to have when we were younger, only better because now we could eat as much junk as we wanted and wash it all down with some delicious wine.
“I would, but I think it’s time I take the plunge. Kaden has been after me to move in with him, and since I’m over there more than I’m not, it just makes sense.” My bestie tucked a wayward strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, smiling at me as if her grin was gonna serve to lessen my impending solitude.
I’d been a loner by nature, even though it didn’t seem that way to most because I loved to party and have a good time. Growing up, my dad was in and out of my life due to his gambling addiction and his love for all things alcohol. He’d make promises but never keep them, and it didn’t take me long to learn not to trust him.
I was only twelve when I realized the only person I could rely on was myself, Riley a close second.
My mom gave my dad chance after chance until she decided enough was enough and kicked him out for good when I was fourteen. Afterward, it was just the two of us until three years ago when she got remarried and moved across the country to Michigan. I’d only met her husband, Joe, a handful of times, and while he seemed nice enough, I didn’t care to get to know him. If he treated my mom well, I wouldn’t have any issues with him.
“What happened to waiting because you two just got back together?” I finished off the rest of my drink, setting my glass down on the side table next to me and throwing the fleece blanket over my lap for extra warmth. Riley wiped away a drop of wine that dribbled down her chin, shrugging instead of giving me a verbal answer. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just got a lot on my mind, that’s all.”
“With Kaden?”
“Partly.”
I nudged her leg with my foot before slipping it back beneath me. “Out with it, woman.”
It didn’t take much prodding for her to start talking. “This whole thing with my dad is really bothering me. I hate that I’m the reason he’s still not staying at home and every time I try to talk to my mom about it, she either cries in frustration or starts yelling about how she’s sick of him being so pigheaded about the situation.” She took a short breath before continuing. “And forget about talking to him about anything. He can barely look at me, let alone sit down to discuss it like adults.”
“He just needs more time. It hasn’t even been a month, Ry. You know how he is.” Because I’d grown up with Riley, I’d been privy to countless scenes between her and her dad, his over-the-top reactions the topic of many of our discussions. On one hand, I completely understood why she got so frustrated with him, but on the other, I envied their relationship, wishing I had a father who cared enough about me to want to protect me. The last time I heard from my own was two years ago when he called to ask if I had any money. I didn’t believe he even said hello when I answered the phone before he dove right in. He got my number from my mom. She’d been naïve, believing him when he told her he wanted to mend his relationship with his only kid. She got an earful right after I hung up on him and blocked him from calling me again.
“It feels more like years.” She chuckled, the weight of her worries making me want to wrap her in a big hug.
Wanting to take her mind off her parents, I switched back to the man who’d stolen her heart. Again. “When are you gonna tell Kaden?”
“As soon as he’s finished with whatever he’s doin’. I texted him about wanting to talk whenever he’s free. That was two and a half hours ago.” She shifted on the couch next to me, repositioning the pillow resting in front of her. “I just hope he’s not where I think he is.”
“And where’s that?”
She gave me a look like I was stupid for even asking. “Around those…”
“Naked bitches?” I finished, smirking when she narrowed her eyes into tiny slits. “Even if he was, you know he wouldn’t give them the time of day. He only has eyes for your scrumptious butt.”
Riley laughed before tossing her throw pillow at me. “I hate that he slept with one of them. It makes me sick to think that every time he goes there, she might be there, too.”
“I know it’s hard, but you can’t think like that.”
“How do you deal with it when Ace goes there?”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. For as close as Riley and I were, there were some topics I didn’t wish to delve into because I didn’t even know what was goin’ on myself, so to express that to her would only confuse me more.
My logic makes sense tucked away inside my head.
“What do you mean? Why would I care if he’s around a bunch of strippers?” A tightness in my chest gripped me as soon as I asked the asinine question.
“Why won’t you just admit you like him? What’s the big deal?” My bestie finished nursing her drink and set it on the coffee table, pulling at the blanket on my lap to cover her lower legs.
“What’s to admit? We’ve fucked around, but that’s as far as it’ll go. I don’t care much beyond that.” I didn’t even believe my own lies. I liked Ace more than I wanted to admit, but I shoved those ill-placed feelings way deep down, drowning them under the heaviness I constantly felt where he was concerned. If I had to get all psychological, I’d say my reservation toward Ace stemmed from trust issues, being that I didn’t trust any man.
“I call bullshit,” she said, grabbing the blanket and stealing the rest of it for herself. “You like him, otherwise you wouldn’t’ve gotten so upset at him.”
“When?”
“When you two got drunk and you started throwing things at him because you thought he wanted to sleep with Natalie.”