“Skid, yes. The boy is just crashing. Prez has a strict no kid lives here rule.”
Finally something Dusty and I agreed on.
The gate opened and Skid’s bike roared away. A wave of nausea hit me hard.
“Why is the boy’s presence making you so grumpy?” Owl asked.
I was asking myself the same question. The lump in my throat and the squeeze around my heart were inexplicable.
Liar. You know exactly why you feel like shit right now.
The voice in my head had returned. The nagging asshole that kept calling me on my shit. Great. I gritted my teeth. “Can you make sure he doesn’t play around here?”
His eyes narrowed at me, as if he’d finally seen my concern about the safety hazard. “Yeah.”
I stomped away before he’d ask more questions or see through my shield. The boy hurting himself around the repairs wasoneof the reasons I felt like this—the least that mattered.
“Where are you going, princess?” His footsteps crunched the gravel behind me.
“Looking for Dusty.”
“He’s not here.”
I spun on my heels. “I don’t suppose you’re gonna tell me where he is?”
He shook his head.
“Fuck you.”
“That will get us both killed, princess.”
My hand balled into a fist. “Whatever, asshole. And fucking stop calling me that. I wasn’t born here.”
He smirked. “Prez said to treat you like royalty. He also said you were allowed a ride if I came with you.”
“Allowedme a ride?” I snorted a bitter laugh.
“Hey, you like you need one. I know I do. So why don’t you just tag along and clear your head?”
Despite how enraged I was, I loved the idea of a ride. However, the last time I saw my Harley it was covered in piss and trash. “Well, I don’t have a bike.”
“Yours has been in the garage for days. But you can’t ride with the cast.”
“Wait, what?”
“Dusty sent two prospects to bring it here for a fix on the same day of the assault. It’s running, clean and as shiny as new.”
Thoughts spiraled in my head. I never asked Dusty what he was doing at my apartment that night when he was supposed to be here in Rosewood. The picture was getting clearer now. He did come to SLO to apologize like he said. He must have waited for me at school, and when I didn’t show up, he called…Ash…and found out about the vandalizing. Then he sent for the prospects, waited for them to take the bike…
You’re not Dusty.Ash’s last words burned through my brain.
She knew he was coming. He must have told her. That was why she pretended to forget her purse so she wouldn’t lock the door, easing the way for him to get in the apartment. That was why she waited a little until he’d have arrived before she returned. Perhaps she even got me that pregnancy test so I’d take it when Dusty was with me, so we could find out together and be happy. Only Dusty was late, and Rush was the one there, because Dusty was waiting for the fucking prospects…so he could do something nice…for me.
My chin quivered, and tears threatened to spill from my eyes. Swiftly, I snapped them shut, my nails spearing my own palms.
Not now. You can’t fall down now. Please.
I pleaded with my brick wall, fighting back the tears. I needed the numbness. I needed the dark.