Page 15

Hollywood:

Get your ass over here right now.

My lips twitched. So fucking demanding.

I considered refusing, but who was I kidding? I needed to get out of my head. They might force me to talk about shit, which I didn’t want, but if I stayed here, I’d think about it, anyway.

I rolled out of bed and glanced in the mirror affixed to the closet door. Even in the dark, I could tell that I looked like crap, my hair lank, my hoodie wrinkled and stained. Fuck it. If they wanted me, they’d take me as I was.

The room was stuffy. How long had I been lying in bed? How long since I’d spent any time outside? I’d hibernated in here for days. Dad had shown up once to yell at me, but I hadn’t even tried to fight back. He’d run out of steam and left, shaking his head, asking what the hell I was doing with my life.

I’d like to know the answer to that too.

Mom was in the kitchen when I entered the main house.

“Hey, sweetie! Are you hungry?” She ruffled my hair as if I were a small child. “You missed dinner, but I can reheat something for you.”

“Nah, I’m going to a meetup with the Redemption Road guys. We’re grilling out.”

“Oh, well, that’s nice. You’ve spent too much time cooped up in that pool house. Are you sure you don’t want to move back into your old bedroom?”

“I’m sure.”

More than sure. Looking at that room, at the remnants of the stupid kid who’d cared so much about clothes and baseball and a silly crush that he’d thrown a tantrum that damn near killed someone, made me sick. I wasn’t that guy anymore, thank fuck.

Wasn’t sure I was much better in this current form, but at least I knew the world didn’t revolve around me. That I wasn’t entitled to what I wanted any more than the next guy was. That was a lesson I wished I’d learned sooner—or at least without causing someone else so much pain.

I swung open the freezer and dug through the meat. “Where are the steaks?”

“Oh, your father eats too much red meat,” Mom said. “I read about this seafood diet, so I started shopping at the fish counter, and…”

I tuned out her long-winded explanation of saturated fat and omega-3 acids. There were some salmon patties stacked near the back. I grabbed those to take instead.

The guys could buy their own meat if they didn’t like it.

I opened the drawer by my feet and pulled out a plastic bag, then filled it with my booty. Mom rubbed her hand over my back as I straightened up, and I had to fight the urge to duck away from her.

“We miss you. How about you have a proper meal with your parents tomorrow night, hm?”

“I think I’m working.” If I still had a job. I wasn’t really sure, because I hadn’t been too functional since spotting Dakota. “You know how Dad hates it when I miss work.”

“Oh, of course. The next night, then.”

“We’ll see,” I murmured, edging toward the door. “I gotta go.”

I drove out to Clover Leaf Mobile Home Park, where the guys had converted an empty lot next to Ghost’s little camper trailer into their semi-permanent grilling spot.

I parked the Hummer next to Ghost’s rusty Jaguar, then hopped out, the grocery bag swinging from my fingertips. I crossed the weedy lot.

“Here.” I handed Ghost the bag. “You won’t starve now.”

Ghost opened the bag to look inside. “Salmon patties?”

I shrugged. “I grabbed the first thing I saw. My mom’s been doing some sort of seafood diet.”

“All right.” He turned for the grill. “We’ll see how this goes.”

Knight was relaxing in a chair, a beer bottle dangling from his fingers. Hollywood was beside him, eyes fixed on his two-year-old daughter, Ruby, cozied up in Tex’s lap.