“So?” Cyrus holds the fork up.
“I eat pretty clean, just wasn’t hungry. But thank you for the food.”
Tara walks past me and pats me on the back as she says, “Food in the Steel family is like a peace offering.”
“Saw the barbecue in the trash.” He cocks an eyebrow at me. “Vegetarian?”
“Dad,” Truth whispers as she stands up and stretches.
“Little bird, what the fuck do you have on?”
“PJs.”
He nods. “Makes perfect fucking sense.” He rolls his eyes and looks back at me. “So, vegetarian?”
“Does he look like a vegetarian?”
“Actually, I—”
“What?” they all say at once.
I feel anxiety rise inside of me like it hasn’t before. These people are supposed to hate me.
“I’m not. Just eat meat before—” I snap my mouth shut.
“Fights?”
“Cyrus,” Tara scolds.
“Birdie, you think I’m gonna change who I am or start pussy-footing now? Too old for that shit.”
“Or just too stubborn,” Truth says, peeking up at him through her thick as hell, jet-black lashes.
“You wanna talk about stubborn? Miss I’m-Not-Gonna-Talk-To-Him-Until-He-Says-He’s-Sorry-Because-I’ve-Been-Fucking-Up-And-Not-Asking-For-Help? Hiding shit because you think we haven’t been through shit before? Newsflash: we have, and we’d like to spare you all”—he looks at me—“the unnecessary pain. And Miss I’m-Not-Going-To-School-Until—”
“Cyrus,” Tara hushes him again.
He waves the fork around. “We get through all this shit being real, or we fall. None of us need skinned knees.” Stabbing the pasta, he pulls it up. “So, you’re a vegetarian?”
I rub my hand up and down my face and shake my head. “I eat meat two days before fights, always lean, and on Sundays.”
“Could have put it in the fridge.”
“You want real and honest? I wasn’t sure you didn’t try to poison it.”
Awkward silence.
I smile, and then they all start laughing like it’s a joke. It wasn’t. But whatever.
Awkward like now, as I walk into school, early for once, taking my time getting to where I need to go, which isn’t my norm, either. But I want to see her, to just look at her. Thinking maybe she decided she wasn’t in it for the slow burn that I am going to need. Knowing if I push past the anxiety that brought on that worry, I’d see the truth.
When I see her walk in, head high, smiling at Justice while she walks down the hall, I step back so I can just watch her. When she looks up, she narrows her eyes slightly as she looks around, past everyone else until she sees me. Then she just stands there, looking like she doesn’t know what to do, and fuck if I do either, so I just wink at her then head to my locker.
All day, we pass each other in the hallway, exchanging glances but never talking. Even at lunch in the gym, she and I don’t say shit, but neither of us are on edge like we have been for a month.
At the end of the day, we end up walking out at the exact same time, and I step a little closer to her the farther we get away from the school. Eventually, we’re walking side by side, not saying a word. When my hand brushes hers, I hook my pinky around hers and glance out of the corner of my eye to see her smile.
“This okay?” I ask.
“Is it okay with you?” she asks back.
“Yeah.”
“Third grade just got so much better,” she says as we get to her vehicle.
I drop her pinky, shove my hands into my jeans pockets, and watch her dig for her keys. She unlocks the door, and I open it for her. She smirks as she slides into her Rover.
I lean in and ask, “See you tomorrow?”
She nods, and then her eyes widen as I lean in closer. She closes her eyes, and I rub my lips over hers, back and forth four times, before pressing a soft kiss to her even silky lips then step back.
“Oh my God, it’s about fucking time,” comes from behind me.
I don’t have to look to see who it is. Gabrielle.
“Shut it down,” I say as I shut Truth’s door, giving her a slight wave as I walk away.
When I get closer to my truck, I see Harrison, Miles, and Kai standing next to it.
“What’s up?” I ask as I pull my keys out and unlock my door.
Harrison slowly claps his hands. “So, you think you’ve won again, do you?”
I open my door, slide in, and then turn to him. “Thing you don’t seem to get is it was never a competition.”
“Up until a few weeks ago, you were all about the competitions. You built this all, reaped the benefits, and now you think you can just bow out?”
“High school is almost over. I’m out. Been trying to be out for a few months now.”
“Since the Steel crew came in,” Miles sneers.
“You’re in the same fucking boat, Jameson. You’re a senior here, heading to fucking Brown; what do you care?”
“He’s got something you never had toward us—loyalty,” Kai replies.
“I got jumped the first day I walked into this place because I didn’t have the right shoes. I defended myself.” I point at Harrison. “You tried your hand at me, wanting something I never asked for. I shut you down, too. You guys think I didn’t know the game you were playing when you all decided to crawl up my ass? Wrong. That game is older than the money you fucks wipe your ass with. Loyal? Fuck you.”
“How about all the people who depend on those fights and the card games to make bank?”
“The playing field is wide open. Start a new game. I won’t fight you for it. I never wanted it to begin with.” I laugh.
“What about the kids in the same boat as you were? You don’t give a fuck about them?”
“Learned a long time ago, if you’re on the take and get used to it, and don’t try to better your situation, you’ll always be on the take. Let’s hope some of them learned from the example I set by busting my ass to get where I’m going, and I’m not looking back. And heads up, you’re all on the take too, and will be the rest of your lives with your attitudes. Same shoes, just a different designer.”
“You doing with Truth Steel now?” Kai huffs.
“That’s none of your fucking business.”
“The minute you leave town, she’ll forget all about you,” Miles taunts.
“If that’s true, then it wasn’t meant to be. But heads-up, none of us are good enough for her.” I turn and start my truck.
“How did it feel to watch me stick my tongue down her throat at the fight? To see her pushing my hand up her fucking shirt at the lake?”
Fucker is trying to antagonize me. And had he pulled that shit a day or two ago, it would have worked.
“Felt like shit knowing she was letting you touch her, wishing you were me. Won’t happen again.”
“Enjoy the rest of your senior year, Easton.” Harrison smirks. “Just remember when the pussy’s away, the mice will play.”
“Not all too worried about the three of you when there are seven of them, and one of them hits harder than you ever did.”