"Hustler," I mumbled, pulling over to get out my wallet.
As I handed her the cash, she surprised me by grabbing my wrist and sucking my index finger into her mouth. "Are you sure you don"t want some? I"ll let you do me however you want."
Despite her protests, I"d definitely come to the right s.l.u.t. "Tempting," I teased. "But I"m saving myself for twenty-four karat p.u.s.s.y."
"Jerk." She s.n.a.t.c.hed the money out of my hand, shoving it into her bag. "You"re lucky I"m broke."
"We"ll have to figure out a way for you to meet him when Gianna isn"t around."
Hailey waved a hand at her body. "What? You don"t think he"ll want this if the princess is there for comparison?"
Well, no, but I wouldn"t say it aloud. "It"ll have to be soon. I need my girl back."
"I need my girl back," Hailey mimicked snidely. "Pathetic. Take me home before it rubs off on me."
I also wouldn"t say aloud that nothing was more pathetic than turning tricks. "Sure thing."
After I got rid of Hailey, I"d drive to Dante"s. If Cece was acting strange, it might have something to do with Gianna.
GIANNA.
I knocked on my bathroom door from the outside. "You almost done?"
"Almost!" Cece called from inside.
Gathering the empty bottles of Gatorade from my dresser, I tossed them into the trashcan by my desk. One hand shook as I ran it through my hair. I tried to appear calm as the bathroom door opened, but my mind was freaking out for my best friend.
"Well?" I prompted.
Cece looked ready to burst into tears. Rushing to her, I drew her into my arms. Her shorter frame trembled against me. "It"s positive!"
"Do you want me to go buy another one?" I asked, knowing it was no use.
She sniffled. "No. I"m two weeks late, Gianna. I don"t need another test to tell me I"m pregnant."
"What do you want to do?"
She shrugged, moving to sit on my bed. "I don"t know. This is such a mess. I accepted the invitation from the academy yesterday and now I"m knocked up. My career will be over before it"s begun."
"So you"re going to have the baby?" I asked, silently relieved she wasn"t thinking of an abortion.
Her head dropped into her hands. "I don"t know! I"m not ready to be a mom!"
"Maybe you should talk to Dante."
Her head snapped up. "Not yet! I have to decide what I want first."
As much as I wanted my friend to have her shot at becoming a professional ballerina, I didn"t like the idea of her getting rid of the baby. She and Dante would have the most adorable baby.
Sitting on the bed next to her, I put an arm around her shoulders. Her gla.s.sy brown eyes pleaded with me for advice. As if I were in any position to give it. My own life was a different brand of disaster.
"How about you take a few days to think about it? Do some research about your options. I"ll even go with you to Planned Parenthood, if you want."
"Am I a bad person if I get an abortion? We"re Catholic. My parents would kill me." Tears streamed down her face, making her mascara run.
I brushed her unruly hair away from her face. "You don"t have to tell your parents, Cece. But Dante has a right to know, no matter what you choose."
"I suppose, but I"m afraid to tell him, Gianna. We"ve been together for almost a year, but we"ve never talked about this type of stuff."
"He loves you," I a.s.sured her. "He"ll do the right thing."
CHAPTER NINE.
"Don"t change on me. Don"t extort me unless you intend to do it forever."
-Tupac Shakur CALEB.
The football player stood menacingly over the cheerleader in her matching blue and gold uniform. Her eyes were closed, her face covered in blood. She resembled a broken doll, sprawled out on the hard floor. The football player"s eyes were wild, his face twisted in uncontrollable anger, his fists clenched as if to inflict more pain.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the image. I hadn"t been there at that exact moment, when Josh had hurt the girl I loved, but it was etched in my mind nonetheless.
Setting down my paintbrush, I stepped away from the painting.
I hated it.
I hadn"t realized how much I"d despise it until it was finished. Jim was expecting me to deliver it to him next week. After working on it furiously over the past two days, I"d completed it sooner than he"d antic.i.p.ated.
I had to get out of here before I burned the thing.
Grabbing my keys and tugging a t-shirt over my head as I pushed my feet into a pair of unlaced Converse, I locked the apartment door behind me. It was Tuesday evening and the summer sun was just beginning to lower in the sky.
I slipped on the sungla.s.ses I kept in my car as I pulled out of the parking garage. I needed food. My mom had been at work all day and I hadn"t eaten since lunch when I had a sandwich and chips. I was tempted to go to my favorite diner, but the last time I"d been there had been with Gianna. I swung by a drive-thru instead, getting a hamburger and fries.
I"d resisted for four days since getting out of juvie, but I couldn"t any longer. Entering the address I"d memorized while locked up into my phone"s GPS, I got directions to Gianna"s dad"s house.
It was only twenty minutes from downtown, in an area of Englewood I was vaguely familiar with. Swallowing my food without really tasting it, I washed it down with soda and got onto the freeway.
Their house wasn"t far from the Denver Tech Center and Fiddler"s Green, where I"d been to a few concerts. Normally in the summer, I"d have tickets for concerts at Red Rocks, Pepsi Center and Fiddler"s Green. Sometimes even at the seedier venues downtown.
This year I"d be stalking my ex-girlfriend instead. Hailey was right, my life was pathetic.
But letting go of Gianna would be like taking my last breath. And I was too young to die.
The house was in a very expensive neighborhood, even for Englewood. I"d known Gianna"s dad came from money, but d.a.m.n. No wonder Julie had been p.i.s.sed when he"d divorced her a.s.s. My dad made a good living, but not enough to afford a house like this.
I circled around the block, returning to park my car down the street, cursing its bright red color. Next time I"d switch cars with my mom.
Yep. Pathetic.
The question was, should I try to win her back if she really did love Gage? What if he made her happier than I could? Did I blame her for moving on when I hadn"t been there for her the past eight months since the attack?
It was impossible to be sure of the answers, but one fact was more important than anything else.
No way did Gage love her as much as I did.
My world revolved around that girl. I got locked up for her, I fought for early release for her and I"d keep on fighting for her.
Somehow I knew that no separation could dim my love for her. I could go without seeing her for a decade and one glimpse would have me falling all over again.
I had a whole lifetime with her planned out in my head. I wouldn"t let a sleazy dips.h.i.t like Gage steal the love of my life.
I"d even find a way to forgive her if she"d let him touch what was only mine.
But he"d have another beating coming.
The sky had darkened into night when a white Honda pulled into the driveway. I"d been playing a game on my phone, patiently waiting for a glimpse of Gianna. The Honda"s horn honked and she came out the front door wearing a clingy yellow dress that went to her knees. I"d had my hands full of those curves, leisurely licking every inch of smooth skin.
I was hard at the memory. I"d have to take care of that myself again tonight.
Gianna got into the pa.s.senger side of the Honda, proving Gage was a c.r.a.ppy boyfriend for not getting out of his car and going to the door. He just sat his a.s.s in the car, waiting for her to come to him.
Our first date after we got back together, I would make sure was amazing. My girl deserved the best.
The image of Gage"s hands on her curves flashed in my brain and I started my car to follow them. It wasn"t sane or healthy, but I didn"t need to feel good about myself, I needed to figure out how Gianna could choose this guy over what we"d shared.
He took her to McDonald"s. Holy s.h.i.t, the idiot was with a girl like Gianna and he took her to a s.h.i.tty fast food restaurant? With the money Ian had paid him, he could afford better.
I slouched back against my seat as I waited for them to eat their food. Sure, it was only a weeknight, but if Gianna were with me, I"d have at least taken her to a chain restaurant. Better yet, when I got her back, I"d cook for her myself.
Their booth sat against a window and jealously burned in my veins as she talked animatedly with Gage in a way she hadn"t done with me since last October. He reached out to touch her hand and I had to push down the desire to get the baseball bat I kept in my trunk and take it to the windows of his girly Honda.
After tossing their trash, they stood in front of a Redbox, browsing through the movies. How often did they rent movies and watch them alone in the dark? Dammit! It hit me that compared to the short time we"d had, Gage and Gianna had spent a lot more time together. Was her bond with him stronger than it"d ever been with me?
Psycho Josh and being thrown in juvie had messed up my life in ways I hadn"t expected.
"I"d take ninety-nine problems over b.i.t.c.h problems any day," Dante grumbled from the pa.s.senger seat.
"Amen," I replied, more than feeling his pain. Although, it was more like I had ninety-nine problems all having to do with Gianna. I should write a list like I made her do when we"d first met.
Gianna still hadn"t responded to the last text I"d sent two days ago. It was bad enough I"d followed her and Gage last night, trailing them back to her house where they watched the movie. Surely Gage was limited with her dad being home?
When Dante called to hang out, I"d agreed to keep myself from driving past Gianna"s house again. I a.s.sumed she"d be with her new boyfriend tonight, but Dante thought she was with Cece. Not that he was positive since Cece had been dodging him all week.
"Man, you"re contagious," Dante said. "Everything was fine with my girl until you came home and got dumped. Now the same thing is about to happen to me."
"Thanks," I muttered. "That makes me feel really good about myself. Did you do something to p.i.s.s her off?"
"Not that I know of. We were fine on Sat.u.r.day, then she started ignoring my calls on Sunday and texted she"d be busy for awhile. It"s summertime! Until she starts at the ballet academy, she doesn"t have s.h.i.t to do but be with me. She isn"t even working at her family"s restaurant this summer so she can concentrate on her dancing."
"So your solution is to get high?"
"Get high, watch South Park, eat a giant burrito. Wanna join me?"
"The burrito part sounds good, but I can"t get in trouble again. The judge will throw my a.s.s back in juvie until I turn eighteen."
"Alright, man. I just need to stop by Ruben"s apartment."
I turned at the next left, heading in the direction of Ruben"s apartment. I hadn"t seen the guy in over a year. Marijuana might be legal in Colorado, but it was still illegal to buy for anyone underage. The area of Denver he lived in was worse than I"d remembered. His apartment was one of four on this side of the building.
I parked my car on the street and followed Dante up the stairs to knock on the door. Music blasted from inside but turned off when Dante kicked the door several times.
The chick who answered was almost as tall as me and Dante, but way skinnier. The bags under her glazed eyes told me she was strung out, probably had been for days. "Who are you?" she slurred. Stringy brown hair hung to her shoulders and she wore no bra under her bright orange tube top.
"Is Ruben here?" Dante asked. "I texted him I was coming."
"Damon?" she asked, recognition briefly lighting her eyes.
Dante stepped inside as she backed up, holding the door open for us. "Actually it"s Dante, and this is Caleb."
"I"ll go get him," She smiled, her teeth yellowed from unhealthy habits.
As she disappeared down the hallway, I murmured to my friend, "Sure you still want to get high?"
He grunted, taking a seat on the edge of a dingy couch. "I don"t want whatever she"s on."
The apartment smelled of pot smoke and canned raviolis. A fantasy video game was paused on a enormous television and two ashtrays filled with cigarette b.u.t.ts decorated a scuffed coffee table. This dump made me fill dirty. Avoiding the stained couch, I leaned against a wall painted dark red.
Ruben came out wearing only basketball shorts and sagging socks, his scrawny chest covered in more tattoos than the last time I"d seen him. Unlike the chick, his grin showcased remarkably white teeth for his lifestyle. "Caleb, Dante! Haven"t seen you two in forever. What can I do for you?"
I stayed where I was as Dante stood to shake Ruben"s hand and receive a pat on the shoulder. "Just need a gram."
Ruben"s eyebrows shot up. "That"s it?" He likely didn"t sell much of the stuff nowadays, with his venture into harder drugs and the legalization of marijuana.
"Need to relax tonight," Dante answered vaguely. He didn"t smoke much anymore and knowing Cece"s ambitious personality, she wouldn"t approve. But my friend wasn"t the troublemaker I was and he did well in school. His mom was too strict for him to mess up much.
"Alright," Ruben said, sauntering into the kitchen area to open a drawer. Knives, forks, weed, I guessed. If I ever entered Julie"s house again, it"d be funny to slip some weed into her cookie jar for her find at a later time. Odds were, Chance would be the one to find it, so maybe Julie"s panty drawer would be a better idea.
My dad spent time with Chance sometimes, picking him up for dinner or to see the latest superhero movie. Maybe I"d tag along next time so I could see the kid.