I feel Joss staring, knowing she thinks I should pump the brakes a little, but I’m going with my gut on this one.
“We should come with you then,” Dane says, already standing from his seat.
“Agreed,” Sterling adds. “If something’s wrong, at least you won’t walk in without backup.”
“I’m coming, too,” Joss chimes in. I glance toward her as I shrug into my coat. A breath leaves me, knowing there’s nothing I can say to talk these three out of tagging along.
“Fine, but trail me,” I insist. “That way, if everything’s cool—which it sure as hell better be—you can just take off.”
Sterling nods, not taking issue with that.
Three sets of footsteps follow me to the elevator, and the ride down to the parking structure feels like it takes hours. Not hearing back after having reached out so many times has me on edge, feeling like there are continents between me and Southside, instead of a few miles.
I’m in my car with the engine revving to life as my own words echo inside my head. Three words I said only last night. Three I’ve never said to any other girl in my entire life.
I told Southside that I love her, and I swear I feel it even deeper now that I’ve said it out loud. It’s what’s driving me tonight, what has me ignoring Joss’s advice and tearing out of the lot with my tires screeching.
If something is wrong, if I am walking into danger… she’s worth it.
“Fuck.”
I glare up at the red light that’s costing me precious seconds when it changes, but it gives me a moment to check my phone.
Maybe she called back and I missed it.
Maybe she texted to say she’s fine.
The only notification is one from Pandora, which has my jaw ticking with frustration. Typically, I ignore her B.S., but for some reason I don’t dismiss it so easily this time. Instead, I click the familiar pink and black, tiger-print icon and… I’ll be damned if my heart doesn’t sink.
‘You get Pandora’s latest update?’ Dane’s text pops up and I can’t even respond because now Sterling’s calling.
“I see it,” I answer, feeling my blood boil despite the near-freezing temperature outside and in the car.
“Looks like you were right. Vin’s up to his usual shady-ass ways.”
Hearing Sterling’s words, my heart races ten times faster because I know he’s right. It isn’t far from my mind that Vin’s recently been in contact with Parker and Casey as well, which means he likely sees Southside as another loose end to tie up.
I have no idea what my dickhead sperm donor has just said or done to her, but I know it’s nothing good.
Never is when it comes to him.
The light turns green and I peel out into the intersection with reckless abandon. There was already a spark inside me, urging me to get to her as fast as I can. But now, after seeing Pandora’s post, that spark’s turned into a raging blaze.
I swear, if he so much as breathed on her wrong… I’ll be standing over that asshole’s coffin.
@QweenPandora: What have we here, lovelies?
Now, I can’t say for certain, but this SUV looks rather familiar. Could it be one from BigDaddy’s fleet? If so, it appears he may have taken a sudden interest in KingMidas’s love life.
Someone captured this gem a little while ago, and I admit that I held off sharing it, hoping someone might confirm BigDaddy’s identity. Don’t fret. I haven’t gone soft on you.
However, it would’ve been nice if others had come forward with more details, additional images to give us a point of reference.
I mean, all we get here is NewGirl climbing out of an SUV I suspect belongs to BigDaddy, and she looks pretty distraught.
But I have questions!
Ok, let’s say the visitor is who I think it is; are they coming back from somewhere or did they simply have a meeting in NewGirl’s driveway, mob-style?
How long was this visit?
What the heck were they chatting about?
Does this have something to do with NewGirl and SeXyBeAsT being seen dining out together this evening? Making this strange meetup a warning of sorts, on behalf of KingMidas?
While the rest of us know all too well that our beloved QB-1 can hold his own, perhaps BigDaddy simply decided to take matters into his own hands tonight, demanding that NewGirl put some respect on the Golden family name.
This is all speculation of course, but as soon as I know more, you’ll be the first to hear about it.
Later, Peeps.
—P
Chapter 2
BLUE
West blowing up my phone means he’s about to lose his shit. Hell, if he hasn’t already. By now, he’s probably started thinking the worst and I’m honestly not sure ‘the worst’ isn’t what just happened—getting cornered and threatened.
He’ll want an answer for why I’ve ignored his calls and texts tonight, an answer for why I broke our plans to connect once he returned from visiting Casey. But I can’t get into that with him. The less he knows the better.
And the quicker I can get out of this fucking city, the better off we’ll all be.
On cue, Jules rings in, followed by Lexi, then Scar. I ignore all three calls and keep moving. There’s an invisible clock over my head and, according to Vin, it’s winding down.
If I know West, he’s probably already resorted to scouring the streets of Cypress Pointe looking for me, hunting me down. Suddenly, I regret not at least texting back to say I’m okay.
Which is a complete lie, by the way. I’m anything but okay. I’m a wreck.
Such a wreck that the moment I could see through the rage-induced tears, I immediately ripped suitcases from the closet and stuffed them with anything I deemed essential. I held it together for a while, but the tears came back. Then, packing turned into a crying frenzy, that turned into me wrecking shit with my fist purely out of anger.
My phone buzzes again and it’s West, like I assumed it would be. It
