Page 43 of Forever Golden

Southside: All good. Ricky stopped by and I gave him the phone. On my way to bed.

I smile and can’t resist the chance to get under her skin a little.

West: On your way to bed alone, right? Or is Ruiz still there?

Southside: Ha-ha. Such a fucking comedian.

Despite the sarcastic response, I know she’s laughing.

West: I’d hate to have to kill anyone tonight.

Southside: Not tonight, but if you keep talking…

West: I’ve got it on good authority your ass isn’t going any-damn-where.

Southside: Oh, yeah? That’s what you heard?

West: True shit. Rumor is, you stick around for the good sex.

Southside: OMG whatever.

West: It’s like that?

Southside:…

West: Fine. Night. Love you.

She takes her sweet-ass time responding, which I know is one-hundred percent intentional.

Southside: Love you back ;) Also, Jules is stuck here in the city for Christmas, so if you want to buy the plane tickets, it’s just me and Scar.

“Get off the damn phone. You’re messing up the rotation,” Sterling complains, shaking the joint at me.

I take another hit, then hand it off to Dane. Right after, I open the app where I’ve had our plane tickets sitting in the cart and pull the trigger on them before I forget.

“You dickheads owe me for your tickets. Joss’s too. No such thing as a free ride,” I announce, letting my head drop back to the mattress.

“Fuck you,” Dane chokes out, making me laugh as he tries to hold in the smoke he just inhaled.

Mentioning Joss’s name with the joke has me thinking about her now, wondering how she’s dealing with the shitstorm X brought into her life last night. With what’s been revealed about her dad, things are kind of a mess over there.

The last twenty-four-hours under her roof have been nothing but chaos—lots of fighting and crying. Most of which Joss has been able to avoid, but of course she’s not completely exempt. We offered to let her chill here for a few days, as a means of escape, but she insisted on being at home. Apparently, she doesn’t trust her folks to be forthcoming with the details, so she’s sticking around to hear it all firsthand.

With all the underhanded shit going on lately, I honestly don’t blame her.

I thought the shift in circumstances might change her mind about coming to Louisiana in a week, but it’s actually had theoppositeeffect. Her original plan was to sneak out and leave her parents a note explaining where she’d gone, but now she wants to just be straight up with them. Apparently, she doesn’t give a fuck what they think about her leaving with us.

Or more specifically, leaving withDane.

The room’s quiet and the weed has me reflecting on other things now.

“As far as fifteen-year-old girls birthday parties go, I’d say that was a success.”

Sterling nods, agreeing with me. “She seems like a good kid. Southside’s done a good job with her.”

It’s strange at first hearing him say it that way, but he isn’t wrong—she raised Scar on her own. Even when it wasn’t just the two of them.

“Parents fucking suck,” Dane chokes out.

---