Forever Golden: Dark High School Bully Romance (Kings of Cypress Prep Book 3) by Rachel Jonas (books like beach read txt) 📗

“Set the alarm when I’m gone.”

I nod, letting him know I will, then Scar and I watch as the last of our guests file out the door.

I’m shocked when her head rests on my shoulder. She hasn’t been this sweet to me in a long time, but I’m guessing today was the dose of ‘normal’ she’s been in need of.

“Happy birthday, kid.”

I ruffle her hair and kiss her forehead.

“Thanks,” she says sweetly, adding words I really needed to hear coming from her. “Love you.”

Yeah, she can be a major pain in the ass sometimes, but at the end of the day, I wouldn’t change a thing about her.

Chapter 14

BLUE

Scar tries to help me clean, but I insist that she go enjoy the last fifteen minutes of her birthday, before the clock strikes midnight. Besides, there isn’t much to do.

I toss the leftover pizza in the fridge, tie up the garbage, and round up all the balloons to store them in the laundry room. I’ve just blown out the last candle when an angry knock hits the door.

It’s funny how I can tell such a thing—that the person on the other side of the door is angry.

My steps are quiet as I creep to the window to peek out, only to find it’s Ricky whose nearly given me a heart attack. Well, at least that explains the angry part.

Our last communication was a string of frustrated text messages after he took his sweet-ass time getting Scar and Shane from school. It ended on a bad note and neither of us had reached out to fix it. So now, I have a pissed Ruiz on my porch, rattling the security door with his fist again.

What now?

I turn off the alarm I’d only set a little bit ago, before snatching the door open to glare at Ricky.

“It’s late. What do you want?”

He doesn’t wait for an invitation before letting himself in, reminding me I’d forgotten to lock the security door after West and the others took off.

“We need to talk,” he insists.

“You were just here picking up Shane thirty minutes ago. Why didn’t you just say what you needed to then?”

“Because that was before I ran into fucking Tommy Navarro, Blue. What the fuck were you thinking?”

I shrink into myself and I hate that I do, letting him make me feel small.

“I… did what I had to do,” I confess, pushing strands of hair behind my ear. The gesture makes me look insecure, unsure of myself.

Damn, I guess I’m a little of both right now. My visit to Tommy was supposed to stay between me and Tommy. I suppose I should’ve known better than that.

“So, you get on my case about being two fucking minutes late to get them from school, then you go do some dumb shit like this?” he snaps. “You’ve gotta be smarter than this.”

“I did what I had to do,” I repeat.

He doesn’t get to judge me. As someone whose lived his life exactly the way he wants to, with zero regard for how I, or anyone else feels about it, I’m allowed to do what I think is best for me and my sister without his two cents.

“FYI, I paid the rest of your debt, plus interest, because there’s always fucking interest,” he seethes. “You know Tommy! Which is why I don’t understand what was going through your head. Tommy’s not the kind of guy you go looking for. He’s the kind who comes looking for you. And when he does, you get lost.”

Okay, so I made a bad call going to see him, but where the hell else was I supposed to turn? No one can sit here and babysit me and Scar twenty-four-seven. So, I made a choice. Albeit a desperate one, but it was the only one I had at the time.

“You two were friends once. He can’t be that bad,” I reason.

“B, that was kid shit. Things change. You, of all people, should know that.”

I feel the sting in his words. Whether he means for me to or not, I feel them. In his eyes, I’m one of those things that’s changed.

He looks away, as if hearing and agreeing with that thought.

“You need to tell me what the fuck’s going on.”

“Keep your voice down,” I whisper.

“Then don’t make me say it twice.”

He’s staring again. This time there’s a coldness to the look that hadn’t been there before. It’s telling of his state of mind right now. He’s not in the mood for me to be evasive and guarded.

I waver a bit, knowing West and I agreed to bring Ricky into the fold completely, but I also know him—what a hothead he can be, how he’s known for acting without thinking. There’s a chance that something I say will trigger him to do something reckless, and I’d never forgive myself if that were to happen.

“I already know this is about Vin’s shady ass, but I need to know why. What did he do or say that made you think you needed to buy a gun from fucking Tommy Navarro?” he practically hisses.

I freeze, feeling so, so torn.

“I—”

What if he goes looking for Vin? What if that leads to him getting hurt or worse?

“I… want to tell you, but… I need you to promise me something first.”

The request makes him grow even more annoyed with me than he already was.

“Just tell me.”

“Only if you promise,” I repeat. “I need your word that you won’t… react,” I force out, deciding that’s the phrase that best fits. “Promise me you won’t hear what I’m about to say and then go out and do something stupid.”

His jaw clenches and a sharp sigh leaves him, but then he nods, and I suppose that’ll have to do for now.

My hands are shaking, and I know he sees it. He sees everything, notices all my nervous habits.

“When Vin came by that night, he… made threats,” I confess.

I haven’t even given Ricky the details and, already, I see his rage