“She’s something,” he muttered, taking off after his sister.
“Feels kind of weird being here,” Zane said.
“Yeah, but we said we’d be his back up.”
Chloe was acting weird, as if last night had never happened. Mrs. Carter had asked Kye to keep an eye on her, and Chloe had interpreted that as Kye spending the afternoon with her.
“I’ve never bowled before,” Zane added.
“Seems pretty simple to me. Roll the ball down the alley and hope for the best.”
He smirked. “Fucking bowling. He owes us for this.”
“Come on.” I slung my arm around his shoulder and guided him inside.
Kye had already paid for our game by the time we reached them. “Courtesy of Mom,” he said. “Come on, we’re on lane five”.
Kye and Zane went off toward the lanes but I hung back with Chloe.
“It’s fancy here, I like it.” She surveyed the warehouse. At least, that’s what I imagined it had been once. “Thanks for coming with me,” she added, dropping her gaze to my busted up knuckles. “And thanks for… you know.”
“Anytime, Clo. You know that.”
“I… I can’t believe he did that. I thought… I thought he really liked me, but he only wanted to fuck me. I’m such an idiot.”
“Guys will do that, Clo. Say all the right things, give you all the right signals…” A sticky trail of regret slithered through me. I’d done it enough. Whispered sweet nothings into a girl’s ear to get what I wanted. But I never forced them to do anything they didn’t want to.
I always, always fucking drew the line at that.
“He won’t hurt you again,” I said.
I’d fucked him up pretty bad.
“Yeah, I know. But it doesn’t change how I feel, in here.” She touched a hand to her chest. “He played me and I fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker.”
“There’ll be plenty more fish in the sea, Clo. Just maybe go easy for a while yeah? I’m not sure Kye will suit turning gray at eighteen.”
“I don’t know, he’s cocky enough to make it work.” She tipped her head over to where her brother was flirting with a girl playing on the lane beside us.
“Does he ever take a break?”
Chloe rolled her eyes, inhaled a deep breath and took off toward them. It didn’t surprise me that she’d confided in me about Dan, rather than tell Kye. She didn’t want to hurt him, to let him think it had affected her more than it had.
I wandered over and sunk down onto the leather seat of the booth. I’d only been here once before, when I’d followed Harleigh. It was strange being back. Part of me half expected to see her appear.
Of course, she didn’t.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Kye said, picking up a bowling ball and skipping to the lane.
“You’ve got to avoid the gutters,” Zane called, and Kye flipped him off over his shoulder, focusing on the lane.
“Ten bucks says he misses.”
“Make it twenty.” Chloe chuckled, flashing me an appreciative smile.
I gave her a small nod, scrubbing my jaw. Chloe was strong. She’d get over what happened with Dan and move onto the next guy. And if things went wrong again, hopefully she knew we’d always have her back.
“You know, Nix… if you ever want to talk to me about Harleigh… I’m here.”
“I’m just here to bowl,” I said, standing to take my turn.
Because I couldn’t talk about Harleigh right now, not after last night, not without feeling that oppressive black cloud swarming me.
“Okay. I won’t mention her again,” she whispered, but I didn’t reply.
What was there to say?
Harleigh hated me. The kind of hatred that embedded in your soul. There was clearly shit we needed to talk about. I didn’t know her story and she sure as fuck didn’t know mine. But would I ever get the chance to make her hear me out?
Did I even deserve it?
Watching Zane lose his shit over losing to Kye and Chloe was exactly the kind of distraction I needed.
“You are such a sore loser,” I taunted, laughter rumbling in my chest.
“Fuck you, man. Fuck. You.” He picked up the cap off one of our soda bottles and threw it at me. I ducked and it ricocheted off the leather banquette behind me.
“This place is all right,” Kye said.
“Told you.” Chloe grinned. She seemed better, back to her usual snarky, sassy self. “They have a games room in the back. Want me to beat your ass at pool?”
“That was one time, Clo. One fucking time and you’ve never let me live it down.”
“Damn right I haven’t, brother.” She glanced over at me. “We can play doubles?”
“I’m in.” Zane stood, drained his soda and said, “Lead the way.”
“I guess we’re playing pool,” I murmured. A couple of people playing on the next lane over watched us, the way people did whenever kids from The Row wandered across the border into Old Darling Hill. But I let their judgment roll off my back.
“What’s up with you?” Kye asked as Chloe and Zane racked up the balls.
“My old man told me that he wants me gone after graduation.”
“What the fuck?”
“Yeah.” I blew out a steady breath. “We got into it… Thought he was going to beat the shit out of me. Instead, he told me he wants me gone.”
“Shit, Nix, that’s—”
“It is what it is.” I raked a hand through my hair. “I always knew it would happen one day. Either that or we’d end up killing each other.”
His expression turned grim. “Don’t joke about that shit. It isn’t funny.”
“Who says I’m joking?”
“What are you two pussies talking about?” Zane joined us.
“Nix’s old man wants him gone after graduation.”
His eyes snapped to mine, narrowed and deadly, and I nodded.
“What are you going to do?”
“Try to get a decent job, save some cash, figure out a plan.”
Sometimes, I fought for Bryson to earn a quick buck, but it was dangerous business and when Coach had found out about it last season, he’d lost his shit. If I wanted to stay on his team, I’d had to promise there would be no more illegal fights.
“Or…” Kye added. “Speak to Coach about Albany U. This is the perfect opportunity to get out of here, Nix.”
“And leave Jessa? Leave you guys?”
“It’s Albany. It isn’t the other side of the country. It’s what, a forty-minute ride at most? You wouldn’t even have to move if you didn’t want to.”
“Can we not do this right now?” I said.
“When then?” Kye challenged. “When can we talk about it? Because burying your head in the sand isn’t the way to go, Nix. You know—”
“Fuck’s sake, Carter, I said drop it, okay?”
“Fine.” He held up his hands. “But I think you’re making a mistake ruling it out. This is your shot, man. Your chance to get out of this fucking place and make something of yourself. Why wouldn’t you want that?”