Her eyes narrowed, staring daggers into me. “You lie almost as badly as you drive, and that’s saying something.”
Eyes fixed ahead, I held my middle finger up between us. She swiped at it before resuming her passenger driver duties diligently. After a prolonged silence, she shifted and sighed.
“What’s going on with you and Reno?”
A sharp sting zapped through me. I drew in a breath of air, puffing my cheeks and holding it there for a second before releasing.
“I don’t know. He’s been avoiding me. Won’t answer my calls or texts. He hasn’t been home, hasn’t tried to see me. I just... I don’t know. I don’t know if we’re over, if we’re not, you know. He hasn’t said. But I’d say he’s desperately trying to forget everything right now, including me.”
“And that’s what he’s doing tonight? Forgetting about you?”
The tiny sting intensified, gaining momentum and spreading through me, twisting my insides and squeezing my chest. My hands clenched around the wheel. I couldn’t answer her, couldn’t trust myself to speak.
Still chewing on her thumbnail, face contemplative, her concerned gaze swept over me as I eased the car to the side of the road and shifted into park.
“He’s hooking up with some girl in there?”
Tears stung the backs of my eyes. I blinked, squaring my shoulders. I could see a run-down house up ahead. Cars lined the street out front, music blared from the open windows, people staggered around in the yard, laughing and smoking and clutching plastic cups. Leon wouldn’t tell me where they were. Mack had told Facebook, though.
“I don’t know,” I said quietly, knowing it was a lie. “Maybe.”
Her hand squeezed my shoulder, resting there as she spoke.
“He loves you. Anyone with eyes in their head can see that. He just can't see past his own pain.” Clear blue eyes held mine. “But are you sure you want to go in there? Because you won’t be able to forget whatever you see.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, I whispered, “I have to go in.”
Her eyes flushed with sympathy and her fingers gripped mine. “I know. I had to try.”
Narrowed gaze shifting to scan the neighbourhood slowly, she cocked her head and a low whistle sounded from her lips. “Not many people I’d take a night-time stroll through the dark side of Richmond for.”
“Yep,” I breathed, my eyes copying hers.
We exited the car and began making our way down the uneven sidewalk. Trash and dull shards of glass littered the ground. Broken toys scattered the street. A kids' trike lay at the side of the road missing all but one wheel. Claremont was fairly neutral ground. No major discrepancies in wealth. Some were better off financially than others, lived in bigger, nicer houses and had newer cars. The trailer park was as bad as it got, but even then, it was a decent place and well-managed, unlike many others.
Richmond, though, was a tale of two towns. Richmond West, about a twenty-minute drive from Claremont, was super affluent; gated homes with sculpted landscaping and multiple expensive cars lining the drives. But this side, the East side, less than a ten-minute drive away, was a collection of run-down dilapidated shacks, more boarded windows than you could count, and yards overflowing with all manner of crap, surrounded by chain link fencing that made it look like one giant prison.
A rough scraping noise sounded just before a massive black dog burst forward through a jagged hole in the metal fence, lunging for us with its snout drawn back and teeth bared as it barked and snarled. We both screamed at the top of our lungs, immediately jumping back and clutching onto each other, fumbling to run until we noticed the leash holding the beast back. It twisted and pounded its paws against the sidewalk, half of its huge black body inside the yard, the other out.
Bending forward, I planted both palms on the tops of my thighs and inhaled heavily. Liss rested a hand on my back, eyes lasered on the demonic mutt wrestling with the chain that prevented it mauling us to death.
“Jesus-effing-Christ,” I wheezed, shooting a quick glance over my shoulder. “What the hell kind of dog is that?”
“A scary ass motherfucker, that’s what! Look at the thing! It’s legit eyeing me up like it wants to rip my pretty head from my body and snack on it!” She flipped it off, before dragging me up and brushing herself off, glancing warily around before muttering, “Nearly lost my fucking cool there, didn’t I?”
I shot her a sardonic look, eyebrow hiking. “Nearly?”
She bumped me with her shoulder and pinched my arm. “Um, ouch!”
“Do not test me, Riley Mason. I’ve almost died twice tonight already, and that’s before we head into Gangster’s Paradise.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let you die,” I murmured, not entirely sure I could follow up on my promise as we neared the metal gate hanging on by one hinge. Skirting around it, we were met immediately with a combination of hostility and interest. Sounded about right.
A heavy arm landed around my shoulders before I’d walked three steps inside the yard.
“Damn, baby, you are fucking fine.”
Curbing my eye roll, I resisted shoving him off and causing a scene. I wanted access and I needed someone to escort me inside without question. Might as well be this guy, even if the stench of alcohol and weed rolling off him was overpowering. Glancing back at Liss, I could see she had her own admirer. Lucky us.