She was right to be annoyed. Trying to share a large pizza with Stray and me was an exercise in futility. Leaning back against the couch arm on my side, I nodded toward the kitchen. “There’s one brownie left in that batch from the bakery. It’s all yours.”
“I should think so,” she joked, taking a large bite of pizza. “Now what do we want to watch? No horror.”
“You choose, strawberry.” Stray adjusted the couch pillow behind his back, getting comfortable.
Codie glanced at me with a brow raised. I nodded. “Yeah, go ahead. You can choose.”
I didn’t really care what we watched. I only hoped it helped me zone out. My mind had been scrambling since the encounterwith Ripley earlier. I tried texting her but hadn’t heard back. Not that I’d expected to since I knew she was working tonight.
What was it about that girl? Somehow she had worked her way inside my mind, and now she wouldn’t leave. It took a lot to rattle me. Seeing Ripley so enraged had done it. I didn’t want her to be pissed at me. I wasn’t sure what I wanted from her but it wasn’t that.
Part of me wanted to go to the restaurant where she worked to force her to talk to me. Remembering that Jamie had done the very same thing was the only thing keeping me away. I was nothing like him. Hell, I shouldn’t even care this much. I never did.
Codie scrolled through Netflix for a while before stopping on a dramatic thriller. Something with a lot of action and mystery. I did my best to concentrate and follow the storyline. Every now and then I caught my mind wandering and had to jerk it back to the movie.
On the other end of the couch, Codie cuddled up next to Stray, resting her head on his shoulder, their hands clasped tight. An uneasy twinge in my stomach made me drag my gaze away.
I was not fucking jealous. That wasn’t me. I didn’t want what they had.
I wanted Ripley. Goddammit.
She needed time to calm down. Tomorrow I would try reaching out to her again. If she kept ignoring me, I would show up at her door. I didn’t care anymore. We needed to talk.
My knee bounced as I struggled to concentrate on the movie. I sipped from a bottle of beer, letting the bubbles roll down my throat. It hadn’t been all that long since my last line of coke, yet I still found myself glancing at the tray on the coffee table.
Codie’s phone rang, startling me with it’s annoying little jingle. She grabbed it off the table, looking at the name on the screen before answering. “Hello?”
As she listened to the person on the other end, her eyes grew wide. She fumbled around for the remote, pausing the movie. The color drained from her face. Stray sat up straighter, leaning forward, his brow furrowed as he watched her.
“Yeah, he’s here with me right now,” Codie said. “I’ll tell him. We’ll come right away.”
Tears welled up in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. She placed the phone on the couch beside her before dropping her head into her hands. Stray rubbed her back in gentle circles.
“What’s going on, strawberry?” he asked softly.
“That was Athena,” she explained, choking back a sob. “Ripley is in the hospital. She ODed.”
My entire world turned upside down with those words. I couldn’t believe that I’d heard her right. Her words continued to echo inside my head, proving that she had indeed said that Ripley overdosed.
This had to be my fault. She panicked because I cut off her supply. She took things too far.
“I thought she was working tonight,” I heard myself say.
Codie shot off the couch, vigorously swiping the tears from her eyes. “We have to go to the hospital. I told Athena we were on our way.”
“We?” I repeated. I sat there unable to move, completely shocked.
“Aren’t you coming?” Codie stared at me in disbelief.
“Didn’t you just tell me to stay away from her?” I wasn’t trying to be argumentative. Wrapping my mind around this news was proving difficult.
Now more than ever I wanted to snort a couple lines of blow. What did that really say about me? Codie was right. Ripley didn’t need someone like me in her life.
“Athena called Ripley’s mom. She’s not coming. Ripley only has us. Come or don’t.” Without wasting any time, Codie snatched up her phone and headed for the door.
Stray was right behind her. He paused to glance back at me. “You really aren’t going to come?”
I had seconds to decide. To choose whether I wanted to be a decent person or an asshole. The truth was that I felt fucking terrified.
