Page 98 of Prince of Pain

“Yeah, she’s fucking hot, right?”

“I’ve seen photos of her before,” he said lightly, clearing his throat. “Yeah, she’s hot.”

I took it away before the poor kid busted in his pants, replying to her.

Ryder: I want more videos like that tonight. Tell Mase to send me the cream pie finale.

She didn’t reply straight away, and I went to put my phone away when she finally answered.

Tempest: I’m staying at the hotel. The guys aren’t answering.

Ryder: I’ll try to track them down.

Tempest: Or you could sneak out and come cream pie me yourself. The hotel’s paid for until morning anyway.

I chuckled, putting the phone away. “Girls are nothing but trouble, but I like trouble. Seriously, there’s plenty of good pussy around here. I have no idea what the academy produces these days, but it was good when I was there.”

“You’re a legend there. You all kind of are, it’s a little daunting going there when people know I live with you guys.”

“Bet you made friends easily because of it too,” I sighed. “Don’t trust anyone, man. Take it from me. They only want you for the money they think you have.”

“I know. I have a couple of friends, but everyone else just wants to know if I’m throwing parties and stuff. It’s kind of annoying,” he said and scrunched his nose, tossing his cigarette butt on the ground. “How did you deal with it?”

“Easily. I threw parties, fucked all the pussy that let me, and didn’t believe for a second that any of them gave a fuck about me. Girls are gold diggers and guys are status chasers.”

“It’s not like I have money.”

“No, but if you stick around, it kind of comes with the territory. Jett ended up being fostered by my parents as a kid, and look at him now. A house and car that’s paid for, a bank account, and he gets to fuck my sister without dying,” I said dryly, glancing over my shoulder as someone called my name.

Diesel walked towards us, his eyes fixed on me as he spoke. “Noah, inside.”

“Aw, man. We were just talking,” Noah scowled, and I frowned.

“I didn’t do shit. Can’t I talk to the kid?” I jerked back as he firmly grabbed my chin, silently staring at me for a moment before stepping towards Noah to do the same. “What? You think I got him fucking high?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” he said bluntly, releasing Noah. “Inside. Now. Don’t think I didn’t see you smoking out here either.”

“See? Fucking tyrants,” Noah huffed at me as he stalked off, leaving me with Diesel, who gave me a dirty look.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re on or try to avoid it like you did earlier with your mom and the guys?”

“Why? You want some?” I grinned, getting to my feet and stretching.

“Ryder, this isn’t a joke. You were doing so good. What happened? People relapse, it sucks, but it happens. We can put you back on the right path if you let us though.”

“You’re not blaming Tempest?” I bit out.

“No. Tempest is bad for you to be around, but you chose to get back on it. Weak moments happen, I know. I relapsed multiple times when I was younger, so I know how easy it is on the bad days to give into it. Sit, tell me what happened,” he said gently, and I hesitated before sitting back down. He sat beside me, my eyes flicking to his.

“I had my drink spiked at a party. Just with party pills or something. I was rolling pretty good since it had been months since I’d touched anything, so I got cocky and did some lines. I got twitchy again after that, and it went downhill from there.”

“Who spiked your drink and where?”

“I don’t know. I was at Mason’s. Channing’s furious about it.”

“Channing Blackwater? Are those boys where you’re getting your shit from?”

“Dad, don’t threaten them to cut me off. I’m an adult.”

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