It felt like a quarter of the movie went by before he spoke again. "I'm not so good at this," he whispered. "It was bad enough that that asshole shows up and was tryin' to take you away from me.
"Then you tell me that you went to fuckin' Busty's to talk to 'em? You know what could’vehappened to you? What those worthless pieces of shit do to pretty things like you?They eat 'em for lunch. They would’vetaken you and hurt you just because of who your daddy is, because of who Sonis, Ritz," he growled.
Dex tightened his fingers once more for just a second before loosening them. "It's a fuckin' miracle that they let yougetoutta there."
Well, he had a point but regardless, I was still pissed.
And when I didn't say anything in response to his explanation, I realized that he was still pissed off as well. "Ritz, quit trippin'."
Yup, still not saying a word.
The rest of the movie went by in a blur. It was words and actors, meaningless on top of mindless. If anyone had asked me what happened, I couldn't tell them anything.
The lights in the theater lightened as the credits rolled and I stood up, glancing down at him for just a second.Was that a bruise on his chin? That wasn’t the moment to feel bad for him, if it was. I had more important things to focus on. Like him being a total jerk.
"I get that you're mad because I did something stupid—really stupid, but youwere an asshole, Dex. Maybe other people are used to you yelling at them and talking crap, but I'm not and I'm never going to be. I've put up with too much to put up with you making me feel like crap. So I'm gonna go to Pins and give Slim back his car, and go back to your house. If you don't mind, I'll stay there tonight, and then figure out something else to do."
"The hell you will." His eyes went wide in disbelief and filtered frustration. "You can be pissed off all you want, babe, but you aren't goin' anywhere."
This friggin' guy. I was going to end up in jail if Sonny didn't get back soon. Why couldn't he just say that he was sorry? Maybe I'd still be mad even if he apologized but the fact that he wouldn't say the one word in the English language that I wanted, bothered me more than anything.
"Whatever, Dex."
It was his turn to give me that impenetrable silence. The only difference was, I didn't wait around like he had. I slipped past him and left.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Two days.
For two friggin' days I didn't speak to him. To the biggest pain in the butt I'd ever met.
That first day, after I'd driven back to Pins, I hadn't spared another word in his direction. Even after he stopped me outside and asked, "Are you fuckin' serious?" when I wouldn't look at him. After all, it wasn't like I wanted to be around him at that moment or for any other moment in the near future. If Ididn’t care about pissing Sonny off even more, thenthe situationwouldhave been a completely different story. I couldhave taken a much needed break from TheDick by staying at a hotel.
But that wasn't the way it worked out. I could tell Dex wasfuriousthat I hadn't accepted his puny attempt at an apology—that lacked the keyword: sorry—and since I was mad and hurt, I didn't give a crap. Then he’d gotten even more mad that I was serious about it, which made matters worse.
And the silence.Crap. The friggin' silence sucked.
It might have been made worse because I wanted to find out why Dex had a purple and blue splattering of blood vessels on his chin. I wanted to know how he got it, but it wasn’t like I could ask.
He could stay pissed off for all I cared.
The next day was the same. We'd gotten into such a tight routine that there was no need to communicate. I recognized when he was getting ready to leave every afternoon and we went through the motions quietly, tensely, like clockwork.
At Pins, we'd avoid each other. Anger seeped from his pores, from his gaze, from his body language. I let myself soak in a mixture of embarrassment, frustration and disappointment when I had to face Slim and Blue's pitiful eyes.
Luther had come in for the second time ever—or at least the second time since I'd started working at Pins—and given me a sad little smile before patting my hand.
I got mad all over again. Wasn't that exactly why I hadn't told anyone about my arm? The answer was ablaring yes. Only this time it was because I got yelled at by Dex, the neighborhoodschizophrenicthat got mad when he wasn't immediately forgiven for his transgressions. Jerk.
The night went by in the same way, except Dex made dinner and we ate on opposite sides of the couch, silently.
Even the guys at the shop were quieter than normal, handling me with kid gloves.
Annoyed didn't even begin to describe how I felt. And I hated it.
On top of that, I'd been dodging Sonny's calls. Getting yelled at by one person I cared about was more than enough. Two would just be overkill. It was probably asking to get the pinch of a lifetime when he got back but I'd take my chances with my brother.
Dex on the other hand...
