“I overheard something tonight,” he starts. “And take it for what it’s worth, but I thought you’d like to know.”
I’m intrigued, so I drop down into the seat Dane left empty. “What is it?”
Sterling sips his drink first, letting it dangle between his fingers after. “I was out getting some air and Southside walked out to take a call.”
Hearing him explain, I remember seeing her rush for the exit right after Joss and I got crowned. Now, I guess I know why.
“She didn’t notice me, but I heard her conversation,” he explains. “From what I could gather, it was her mom on the line, but … I got the impression her life’s pretty screwed up.”
My jaw tenses. “What’d you hear?”
He sighs and keeps his eyes trained on the pool below. “Sounded like her mom was asking for money. Then, Southside got triggered, started talking about how she can hardly pay bills and provide for her sister as it is. They went back and forth like that for a bit, before Southside finally got fed up and ended the call.”
I don’t say a word, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel every single thing he just said to me.
“But anyway,” he pipes up again, “just seemed like the kind of thing you should know.”
I see right through him. This isn’t an act of loyalty toward me, to my cause. This is an appeal, a one-man intervention with hopes that I’ll go easier on her.
Of course, he’d want that because he doesn’t know what I know about her. Doesn’t know how our lives are connected to hers.
With that thought, her words creep inside my head again and I hate that I’m not so sure anymore. Hate that she’s made me doubt what I had been so certain of not so long ago. But I can’t unsee that pic in my dad’s phone. It isn’t something I just dreamed up; it’s real and there’s only one explanation for it being there. And while I may not know Southside all that well, I sure as hell know Vin Golden.
Sterling stands and slaps my shoulder before taking the balcony steps by two. Then, he pulls off his shirt and dives headfirst into the pool, leaving me here with my thoughts.
I refuse to feel for that girl. She doesn’t deserve our sympathy, no matter how pathetic her life is. The only thing Sterling has done here is expose Southside’s motivation, the likely reason she attached herself to my father.
It’s simple.
She needs cash, he has tons of it.
My father has a knack for sensing people’s weaknesses and exploiting them. This is no different from every other stunt he’s pulled.
Anger fills me, but I’m shaken by where it’s stemming from. It’s not even aimed toward Southside this time, but my father. For manipulating yet another person just because he can. And, as much as I don’t want to sympathize with Southside … I do.
Because I’ve been in her shoes before. No, not the same situation, but bound to my father because he’s good at what he does—negotiating deals.
Despite myself, I can’t help but wonder if she simply got entangled in something she didn’t see a way out of with him.
God knows I could relate to that.
On so many fucked up levels.
Chapter 29
BLUE
Just a few days ago, it was too cold for Lexi and me to eat underneath what we’ve dubbed ‘our tree’, but today I wish we were inside, enjoying the AC. Late-October heatwave, I guess. We’re stuck out here, though. All because he-who-shall-remain-nameless is sitting in the lunchroom with his crew.
The second I lose the battle to keep my eyes away from the window and sneak in a glance, he laughs, and I’m disturbed by how much I like his face.
Stupid face.
Stupid hot body.
A flashback from Homecoming rushes to mind and I zone out for a sec. Doesn’t matter much that it was a few weeks ago, I haven’t forgotten. When his hands graze me by accident during our forced swim lessons, we’re both quick to back off and regroup. He hasn’t been as forward—as open—as he was that evening, and I thank God for that every night.
Because I’m, admittedly, kind of weak for him.
Just as I start to turn, he finds my eyes and it’s over for me. Right away, my lips feel warmer than the rest of my face, like he’s touching them, and I’m completely immersed in the memory now. His voice lingers in my ears, like he’s whispering something to me at this very moment.
‘Come on, Southside.’
Every second since he asked and I refused to follow him into that classroom, I’ve regretted it.
“Ok, I give. What the heck is it with you and him? I’ve played along, pretending not to notice the whole … love-hate thing going on between you and Golden, but seriously. What gives?” Lexi pops a grape into her mouth after asking, and I don’t miss the suspicious grin on her face, either.
I swallow the last of my leftovers from Uncle Dusty before speaking. “The short version? He hates me for reasons undisclosed, and I hate him because he’s a dick. Mystery solved.”
She’s already shaking her head, disagreeing. “You two need to just bone and get it over with.”
Water sprays from my mouth and Lexi screams, trying to dodge it.
“What the hell, dude?” she asks, laughing as she reaches for a napkin to clean off her arm.
“I’m sorry, but that was all your fault.”
“It’s true!” she insists.
“Nope. No way. West is a definite no-go for me. For starters, dude’s mean as hell, which is generally a turn off.”
“Maybe it’s like the mean boy in kindergarten,” she muses. “You know, the one who’s got it bad for a girl, but the only way he knows how to express himself is to pull Little Susie’s hair and make her cry.”
I lean back to rest on the heels of my palms. “Well, unfortunately for West, that tactic stops being cute once we all learn
