Page 159 of Pride High 2: Orange

“It’s all right.” Diego leaned to the side so he could look up at him. “Do you wanna massage something else of mine?”

Ricky frowned, which was cute but disheartening, because it was another wrong move. Diego would keep making them until Ricky gave up like the others had. And it would suck. Even more so than usual.

“My parents are home,” Ricky said. “And nosey. Let’s just go.”

He didn’t say anything else when putting on his coat—a bright red windbreaker with blue and yellow pockets. Diego would never dress so colorfully, but he thought it was cool that Ricky did. He found it alluring, in the same way that girls fascinated him with all their pinks and lavenders.

Ricky remained quiet as they went out to his car. Then he sat in the passenger seat while hugging himself to keep warm. Diego revved the engine a few times before speeding out of the neighborhood so hot air would blow out of the vents even sooner.

The first stop wasn’t far away. “Wait here,” Diego said after popping the glovebox and grabbing an eighth. Most of the people he sold to were his dad’s old friends, or people they had passed his number on to. He rarely sold to anyone at school. The transaction was quick and painless without any small talk. He was back in the car a couple of minutes later. Ricky seemed even more distant than before. He kept staring out the passenger-side window.

“All good?” Diego asked him.

Ricky nodded. “Omar lives near here.”

“Yup.”

“He told me what happened. About the worst summer ever. Anthony did too.”

Diego clenched his jaw. “Then you don’t need me to talk about it.”

Ricky finally looked at him. “Why not?”

“Because it sucked.”

“That’s how they feel about it too!” Ricky’s eyes were already pleading with him to be reasonable. “So why don’t you all finally put it behind you and be friends again?"

“Is that what they want?”

Ricky hesitated.

Diego snorted. “That’s what I thought. They made their decision a long time ago.”

“When you were all younger,” Ricky pressed. “And they were still upset about being grounded and missing the trip to Florida.”

Every muscle in Diego’s body tensed. “Boo fucking hoo! You know what I was doing while they sat around their bedrooms playing video games all summer? I was working. That’s when it started. My dad was dead. My mom was a freaking mess. And then we had to pay five thousand bucks to Omar’s rich-ass family so they could build a fancy new garage. That ate up the rest of my dad’s life insurance. My mom sure as hell couldn’t hold down a job. It was up to me to keep money coming in, so I started fixing cars.” He thought about how patient Jasper had been when teaching him anything he didn’t know. Like his dad used to, except it wasn’t the same. “I was thirteen years old. Imagine that, working a full-time job every single day and literally dreaming of when school would start, so you could hang out with your friends again.”

He remembered seeing them in the hall. Omar had even smiled, until Anthony nudged him and they both walked away, making Diego feel like he’d been buried along with his dad.

“Fuck those guys,” he growled. “They know what really happened. You should ask Omar to show you the tape.”

Ricky’s forehead creased. “What tape?”

“He was always filming everything. Including that day.”

Ricky was quiet as he turned toward Omar’s house again. “So you didn’t burn down the garage?” he asked at last.

“Damn straight!”

“And there’s evidence?”

“It’s gotta be on there,” Diego said.

Ricky’s eyes searched his. “Did you tell the police?”

The mere idea made him scowl. “I’m not a snitch! I sometimes wished I had ratted them out, but I didn’t. I don’t have a problem telling you though. It was Omar. He burned down the garage. I’m sure of it.” Diego huffed in frustration. “None of it matters anymore. Each hand was dealt and I was too stupid to call their bluff. Let it go. Okay?”

Ricky studied him a moment longer. Then he nodded and looked toward Omar’s house. Diego sighed and shifted the car into gear, already knowing that this wouldn’t be the end of it. Ricky was like a pit bull. When he sunk his teeth into something, he didn’t let go again. Not until he drew blood.