Toxic Bad Boy (13 page)

This year I’d be stalking
my ex-girlfriend instead. Hailey was right, my life was
pathetic.

But letting go of Gianna
would be like taking my last breath. And I was too young to
die.

The house was in a very
expensive neighborhood, even for Englewood. I’d known Gianna’s dad
came from money, but
damn
. No wonder Julie had been
pissed when he’d divorced her ass. My dad made a good living, but
not enough to afford a house like this.

I circled around the
block, returning to park my car down the street, cursing its bright
red color. Next time I’d switch cars with my mom.

Yep. Pathetic.

The question was, should I
try to win her back if she really did love Gage? What if he made
her happier than I could? Did I blame her for moving on when I
hadn’t been there for her the past eight months since the
attack?

It was impossible to be
sure of the answers, but one fact was more important than anything
else.

No way did Gage love her
as much as I did.

My world revolved around
that girl. I got locked up for her, I fought for early release for
her and I’d keep on fighting for her.

Somehow I knew that no
separation could dim my love for her. I could go without seeing her
for a decade and one glimpse would have me falling all over
again.

I had a whole lifetime
with her planned out in my head. I wouldn’t let a sleazy dipshit
like Gage steal the love of my life.

I’d even find a way to
forgive her if she’d let him touch what was only mine.

But he’d have another
beating coming.

The sky had darkened into
night when a white Honda pulled into the driveway. I’d been playing
a game on my phone, patiently waiting for a glimpse of Gianna. The
Honda’s horn honked and she came out the front door wearing a
clingy yellow dress that went to her knees. I’d had my hands full
of those curves, leisurely licking every inch of smooth
skin.

I was hard at the memory.
I’d have to take care of that myself again tonight.

Gianna got into the
passenger side of the Honda, proving Gage was a crappy boyfriend
for not getting out of his car and going to the door. He just sat
his ass in the car, waiting for her to come to him.

Our first date after we
got back together, I would make sure was amazing. My girl deserved
the best.

The image of Gage’s hands
on her curves flashed in my brain and I started my car to follow
them. It wasn’t sane or healthy, but I didn’t need to feel good
about myself, I needed to figure out how Gianna could choose this
guy over what we’d shared.

He took her to McDonald’s.
Holy shit, the idiot was with a girl like Gianna and he took her to
a shitty fast food restaurant? With the money Ian had paid him, he
could afford better.

I slouched back against my
seat as I waited for them to eat their food. Sure, it was only a
weeknight, but if Gianna were with me, I’d have at least taken her
to a chain restaurant. Better yet, when I got her back, I’d cook
for her myself.

Their booth sat against a
window and jealously burned in my veins as she talked animatedly
with Gage in a way she hadn’t done with me since last October. He
reached out to touch her hand and I had to push down the desire to
get the baseball bat I kept in my trunk and take it to the windows
of his girly Honda.

After tossing their trash,
they stood in front of a Redbox, browsing through the movies. How
often did they rent movies and watch them alone in the dark?
Dammit!
It hit me that
compared to the short time we’d had, Gage and Gianna had spent a
lot more time together. Was her bond with him stronger than it’d
ever been with me?

Psycho Josh and being
thrown in juvie had messed up my life in ways I hadn’t
expected.

*****

“
I’d take ninety-nine
problems over bitch problems any day,” Dante grumbled from the
passenger seat.

“
Amen,” I replied, more
than feeling his pain. Although, it was more like I had ninety-nine
problems all having to do with Gianna. I should write a list like I
made her do when we’d first met.

Gianna still hadn’t
responded to the last text I’d sent two days ago. It was bad enough
I’d followed her and Gage last night, trailing them back to her
house where they watched the movie. Surely Gage was limited with
her dad being home?

When Dante called to hang
out, I’d agreed to keep myself from driving past Gianna’s house
again. I assumed she’d be with her new boyfriend tonight, but Dante
thought she was with Cece. Not that he was positive since Cece had
been dodging him all week.

“
Man, you’re contagious,”
Dante said. “Everything was fine with my girl until you came home
and got dumped. Now the same thing is about to happen to
me.”

“
Thanks,” I muttered.
“That makes me feel really good about myself. Did you do something
to piss her off?”

“
Not that I know of. We
were fine on Saturday, then she started ignoring my calls on Sunday
and texted she’d be busy for awhile. It’s summertime! Until she
starts at the ballet academy, she doesn’t have shit to do but be
with me. She isn’t even working at her family’s restaurant this
summer so she can concentrate on her dancing.”

“
So your solution is to
get high?”

“
Get high, watch South
Park, eat a giant burrito. Wanna join me?”

“
The burrito part sounds
good, but I can’t get in trouble again. The judge will throw my ass
back in juvie until I turn eighteen.”

“
Alright, man. I just need
to stop by Ruben’s apartment.”

I turned at the next left,
heading in the direction of Ruben’s apartment. I hadn’t seen the
guy in over a year. Marijuana might be legal in Colorado, but it
was still illegal to buy for anyone underage. The area of Denver he
lived in was worse than I’d remembered. His apartment was one of
four on this side of the building.

I parked my car on the
street and followed Dante up the stairs to knock on the door. Music
blasted from inside but turned off when Dante kicked the door
several times.

The chick who answered was
almost as tall as me and Dante, but way skinnier. The bags under
her glazed eyes told me she was strung out, probably had been for
days. “Who are you?” she slurred. Stringy brown hair hung to her
shoulders and she wore no bra under her bright orange tube
top.

“
Is Ruben here?” Dante
asked. “I texted him I was coming.”

“
Damon?” she asked,
recognition briefly lighting her eyes.

Dante stepped inside as
she backed up, holding the door open for us. “Actually it’s Dante,
and this is Caleb.”

“
I’ll go get him,” She
smiled, her teeth yellowed from unhealthy habits.

As she disappeared down
the hallway, I murmured to my friend, “Sure you still want to get
high?”

He grunted, taking a seat
on the edge of a dingy couch. “I don’t want whatever she’s
on.”

The apartment smelled of
pot smoke and canned raviolis. A fantasy video game was paused on a
enormous television and two ashtrays filled with cigarette butts
decorated a scuffed coffee table. This dump made me fill dirty.
Avoiding the stained couch, I leaned against a wall painted dark
red.

Ruben came out wearing
only basketball shorts and sagging socks, his scrawny chest covered
in more tattoos than the last time I’d seen him. Unlike the chick,
his grin showcased remarkably white teeth for his lifestyle.
“Caleb, Dante! Haven’t seen you two in forever. What can I do for
you?”

I stayed where I was as
Dante stood to shake Ruben’s hand and receive a pat on the
shoulder. “Just need a gram.”

Ruben’s eyebrows shot up.
“That’s it?” He likely didn’t sell much of the stuff nowadays, with
his venture into harder drugs and the legalization of
marijuana.

“
Need to relax tonight,”
Dante answered vaguely. He didn’t smoke much anymore and knowing
Cece’s ambitious personality, she wouldn’t approve. But my friend
wasn’t the troublemaker I was and he did well in school. His mom
was too strict for him to mess up much.

“
Alright,” Ruben said, sauntering into the kitchen area to
open a drawer.
Knives, forks,
weed
, I guessed. If I ever entered Julie’s
house again, it’d be funny to slip some weed into her cookie jar
for her find at a later time. Odds were, Chance would be the one to
find it, so maybe Julie’s panty drawer would be a better
idea.

My dad spent time with
Chance sometimes, picking him up for dinner or to see the latest
superhero movie. Maybe I’d tag along next time so I could see the
kid.

Dante had cash in hand,
switching it for the baggie from Ruben. A pounding on the door
interrupted whatever Ruben had been about to say. Dante got back to
his feet when a deep voiced someone began shouting threats through
the door.

Great, probably some
junkie with no money.

Ruben ran a hand over his
mouth, his eyes darkening with apprehension. “
Fuck
.”

“
Who is it?” I asked,
beginning to sense it was more than a junkie desperate for his next
hit.

Ruben paced the small
living room. Through the door a new voice yelled, “Open the fuckin’
door, Ruben, or we’ll break it down!”

The girl from earlier came
out of the bedroom, her eyes now more alert. “Is it
Sammy?”

“
I gotta open it,” he
said, his hand on the deadbolt.

Dante snatched my arm and
I let him yank me further from the door. The door flew open the
moment Ruben turned the deadbolt. Four scary motherfuckers barged
in, one of them immediately pushing Ruben against the wall with a
gun under his chin. “I want my money, shithead.”

Another of the intruders
grabbed a hold of the druggie chick, making her yelp as he pushed
her onto the couch and towered over her.

The eyes of the other two
guys zeroed in on me and Dante. One of them pointed a gun at us,
sneering. “Who the hell are you two?”

I felt Dante bristle next
to me. Before he could shoot off his mouth, I answered for us.
“Just customers of Ruben’s. Happy to mind our own business and
leave.”

The gun waved at us while
he spoke. “You’ll just keep your punk asses in the corner while we
deal with this fucker.”

We were forced to stand
there while two of the guys beat the crap out of Ruben and another
one slapped the girl a few times. The fourth guy kept his gun on us
as if we were inclined to play heroes for the drug dealer and his
addict girlfriend.

One thug began rummaging
through the apartment, disappearing into the bedroom for a long
while. He came back looking less hostile, a wad of cash in his
hand. “Found three Gs, Sammy.”

Sammy punched Ruben in the
cheek. “Where’s the rest?”

“
That’s all I got!” Ruben
whined through swollen lips, blood dripping from his newest
wound.

The guy slapped the chick
again while his friend looked on, laughing. I spoke up, hating to
see a woman hit, even one like her. “Hey! Does she look like she
has any money?”

The one holding the gun on
us, who’d mostly ignored our presence up to this point, stalked
closer. “You wanna take the hits for her, kid?”

“
He didn’t mean anything!”
Dante defended, holding up his hands.

Didn’t matter. The barrel
of the gun pressed against my forehead, mingling with the sweat
there. The asshole got in my face. “How about you two? Hand over
whatever you got.”

Threatened with a
gun
and
robbed?
Never again were we buying from Ruben. Hell, after this I’d make
Dante swear off smoking for life. Dante grabbed my wallet from my
back pocket, shakily handing it over along with his own.

The dickhead backed up,
snatching our money and carelessly dropping the wallets onto the
carpet. His grin showed off a gold tooth. “Two hundred bucks.
Thanks, this’ll buy me some pussy.”

I barely resisted making a
smart ass remark. With an ugly mug like that the guy probably had
to tip extra.

Ruben and his attackers
were still negotiating when he’d pay the money he owed them. The
girl on the couch continued crying, her heavy makeup running black
down her cheeks.

Sammy and his thugs
finally left, giving Ruben one more week to pay the five thousand
dollars he still owed. His girlfriend ran to where he slumped to
the floor as soon as the door shut behind them.

Dante tossed his bag of weed onto the coffee table as we got
the hell out of there.

“
He is not a lover who
does not love forever.”

-Euripides

CALEB

I threw the basketball
from half court, watching as it bounced off the backboard, missing
the hoop completely.