Page 15

Chapter Fifteen

“I’ve got the next game.” I place a twenty on the ledge of the pool table.

“I’ll be happy to take your money.” Crawl lights up a joint and offers it to Trenton.

“You’re just trying to get me fucked up, so I’ll lose.” He waves him off and lines up his shot.

“Like you need my help to lose. You’re doing just fine on your own,” Crawl replies, grinning around the joint hanging out of his mouth.

“Ready for another round, boys?” Crawl’s flavor of the week, asks.

“Yeah, babe. Top me off.” He mutters, dropping ashes on the felt table.

Hound curses at him, muttering about how he probably can’t even hold his own dick when he takes a piss. Everyone knows Crawl is an asshole and doesn’t treat the women he picks up all that great. None of them last long with him. This Angie chick is the fifth one I’ve met. There’s probably not a woman over thirty in the tri-state area he hasn’t attempted to fuck.

For the first time in what seems like forever, I’m having a good time despite the nagging thoughts about Kiesha that try to push through. Tonight’s that dance she wanted me to take her to. The one she had originally wanted that football douche to be her date for. I shouldn’t be thinking about her or wondering if she found a date.

I made my choice.

My phone vibrates with a text. Probably Sabrina checking up on me. She’s working her last shift at the gas station back home and I’ve just got off gate duty. I was supposed to call her when my shift ended, but I’ve been bullshitting with these sorry fucks for the past half an hour.

The message is from Kiesha. Shit. I doubt she’d be messaging unless it was important. I tap the notification to open the message. What the fuck?!?

Kiesha’s shirtless and straddling some dude.

A sharp pain twists in my gut. Anger and jealousy fill me.

“What are you looking at?” Trenton glances over my shoulder, but I can’t focus on anything other than what’s on my screen. “Is that who I think it is?”

I stare at the picture of her making out with someone.

“Fuck, man. Did something happen between you two?”

I continue to ignore his questions as I get more messages.

More pictures load. Each one is more erotic than the last. Heat flashes across the back of my neck as I see nothing but red. What the hell is she doing sending me these pictures and better yet, why does the stupid little fuck she’s with look like that Jonesy dickhead?

A video comes next, but I can’t bring myself to watch it.

I check to see if she’s still sharing her location with me. She’s about a twenty-minute drive from where I’m at. I snatch my twenty back off the table. “I’ve gotta go.” I fish my keys out of my pocket and jump into my truck. I dial Kiesha as I start my truck, but she ends me straight to voicemail.

I don’t know what I’m doing. I must be out of my mind chasing after her. If she’s with that prick, I’ll rip his damn hands off for touching what’s mine. Only she’s not mine. She can’t be. Link will kill me and any chance I have of patching into the club.

I hit the gas, breaking the speed limit, not caring that I’ve probably earned a ticket or two as I blow through a stop sign and a traffic light.

If she was trying to get my attention, she’s succeeded. I pull up to the house she’s at having to park down the street. Guess she’s at a party. I don’t bother with the front door. I hop the brick wall to the backyard and there she is, shivering by the hot tub, wrapped in a towel and sitting by the fire pit alone.

“Where’s your friend?” Her head snaps up at the sound of my voice.

“What are you doing here?”

“Got your invitation.”

“I didn’t think he’d really send them or that you’d actually come.”

“You got what you wanted. Where is he?” I growl, clenching my fists.

“He left.”

“You better not be lying to protect him.”

“I’m not, and why do you care what I do or who I do it with?” She glares at me full of defiance, daring me to say something I shouldn’t.

“I don’t.”

She winces at my harsh tone. “Then why are you here?”

“Good fucking question. Get your shit. I’m driving you home.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

I grab her by her upper arm, jerking her up from the chair she was sitting in. “Did you fuck him?”

“What? No. We were just goofing around. I was upset and wanted to make you jealous.”

“What goes through your head? Your mom told you he’s bad news, so what? You don’t get your way with me, so you run off to do something reckless. And with that guy, of all people. Are you stupid?”

“I hate you.”

“I wish you did, Kiesha. Would make this a hell of a lot easier for us both.” I loosen my grip on her. “Fuck, you piss me off.”

“Yeah, well. That makes two of us.” Her bottom lip wobbles like she’s about to cry.

“Are you okay?”

“I messed up.”

“Did he do something?”

“No. This has nothing to do with Jonesy. I fell in love with you, stupid.” She shoves at my chest, and I wrap my arms around her.

Fuck. I’m an asshole. “You don’t love me.”

“Don’t tell me how I feel.” She looks up at me with tears brimming.

What the fuck am I doing? I know I shouldn’t be here, but I can’t fight this pull to be near her.

“What are you doing to me?” I murmur, wiping away her tears with my thumbs on either side of her beautiful yet sad face. “Even gorgeous when you cry.”

“Do you even care? You broke my heart.” Her voice cracks and I soften.

“I care. Too fucking much. Get your stuff.”

“Okay.”

I get Kiesha in my truck, having no clue what to do with her now that I’ve got her. She’s next to me, head on my shoulder, one arm strung across my stomach, clenching my shirt in her fist.

My cell vibrates and I know it’s going to be Sabrina and I’m going to lie to her again after swearing I wouldn’t.

I answer the call. “Hey. Yeah. Sorry. Trenton left me hanging, so I’m going to be stuck here a while longer.” Kiesha gives me a funny look but keeps quiet.

“Bummer. I can swing by there when I get off.”

“I don’t want you driving in that fog. I’ll come home soon as I can.”

“Love you,” Sabrina says without hesitation.

“Ditto.” I can’t bring myself to say it back with Kiesha next to me. I end the call with her and dial Trenton. “Need a favor. Can I use your place for the night?”

“You’ll have to come by for the key.”

“I’ll owe you one.”

He should be the one on the gate tonight. If it’s anyone else, I’m fucked. I roll up with Kiesha and grab the key. Trenton gives me a knowing look but doesn’t comment.

Kiesha’s mom thinks she’s staying with friends tonight, so we should be in the clear. If anyone finds out I brought her here, I’m dead.

Kiesha looks around the small apartment. It’s nothing like the nice house she comes from.

“You should take a shower from being in that hot tub.” What I don’t say is I want you to scrub off Jonesy’s touch. “There’s some extra toothbrushes in the top drawer of the vanity.”

“Okay.” She shrugs my leather jacket off and I hang it off the back of a barstool.

“First door on the left.”

She mumbles something in return and shuffles into the bathroom. Only when I hear the water run does some of the tension leave my body. I’m losing my mind. She’s got me so twisted up. It’s taking every ounce of self-control I have not to barge into the bathroom to do the job myself. To make certain there’s no trace of that prick left. The idea of her with anyone who isn’t me makes me rage. Jealousy seeps from my pores.

I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m in over my head with her, but I don’t think I’m strong enough to walk away a second time. While she showers, I have a terrible yet genius idea. I don’t know if she’ll go for it, but right now it’s the only solution I can come up with. A temporary hell.

While I wait for her to get cleaned up, I turn the television on, settling on some horror shit. Tits and gore splash across the screen.

“Hey.” Kiesha pokes her head out of the bathroom. “Do you know if there’s a hair dryer?”

“Doubt it.”

She trudges into the living room, scrunching her hair with a towel.

“Feel better?”

“I don’t know.” She sits next to me, propping her feet on the coffee table. I smile at the sight of her glitter pink nail polish. The same shade her little sister painted mine a few weeks back. Most of it has worn off now. Sabrina was mad about that, too.

“Are you hungry? I can get delivery.”

“Not really.” She pulls the hem of her shirt over her knees then lays her head there.

“If you’re tired, you can sleep in the bed. I’ll crash here on the couch.”

“Is that why you brought me here?”

“Truthfully, I don’t know what I’m doing. But when I saw you with him, something inside me snapped. It was like I couldn’t breathe. Killed me.”

“Then why?”

“Why am I still with Sabrina?”

“Make it make sense. Because when you look at me, I can feel it. I can see it. You don’t love her.”

“I love Sabrina, but I’m not in love with her. Two very different things.” I lick my lips and run a hand over my head. The killer on the screen strikes someone in the chest with an axe and Kiesha screams and turns into my shoulder to hide her face.

“It’s just a movie,” I murmur, instinctively wrapping my arm around her shoulders.

She peers up at me, her eyes wide and glistening. “I don’t like scary movies. Not since…” she trails off and I don’t need her to finish her sentence. She means since the shit with her father went down.

“Why didn’t you say something?” I reach for the remote, killing the eerie music that fills the background.

“I didn’t think it would bother me.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“There’s nothing to say.”

“You’ve had a lot happen.”

“I’d ask how you’re doing, but I heard you and Sabrina are moving in with Smoke and Ember.”