Page 24 of Montana Falls
“Actually, we already sorted the ring part.” Price’s cheeks reddened. “The second we made this whole plan we all had a chat and made a decision about something.”
“What?” I turned on his lap so I could face everyone better, seeing as he was talking about themallplanning something.
“It’s a surprise,cica.” Kody smirked at me, a wicked glint in his eyes that I did not trust in the slightest.
“A good surprise.” Logan added.
I wanted to prod and push until they caved and told me what it was. But it was obvious from the tone of their voices that none of them would spill the beans and tell me. They were going to keep their little secret until they were good and ready to tell me.
“Fine.” With an over the top sigh, I threw myself back against Price, feigning disappointment. “Keep your secrets from me.”
It was a good thing the doorbell rang, and our food arrived. It saved me the hassle of torturing their secrets out of them.
For now, anyway. I could wait until we’d eaten.
Chapter Seven
Sitting beside Sapphire’s pool, feet resting on the wicker coffee table, I felt the first piece of solace and quiet I had in far too long. Chaos had been surrounding me for ages, and though I swore I was reaching my limit, I was wrong. Now it wasworse. Not because I was in the middle of a gang war, or because I was even doing anything remotely dangerous. Not because Widow and Delilah were missing after Widow had potentially fucked over my diamond. Not even because the rest of the Jester boys had upped and vanished too, before I could get to Sapphire’s house and catch them.
No. It was none of that. It was purely because there was a stripper and aggravating teenager in the kitchen, having fun and making far too much noise. I mean, Yeva and Henley were with Ruby and Rika, too. But Henley was on the couch, busy texting away to whoever it was that had caught her attention, doing herbest to pretend to not exist so I couldn’t question her about her cousin again. And Yeva may have been having one or two drinks, but she hadn’t uttered a single word since Angel and Yumi had taken Diamond to watch a movie, and the trio had fallen asleep in the lounge.
She was my favorite. Yeva, that was. Diamond was tied with her because she was just so… so innocent. She had no personality quirks for me to hate because she was a kid, and she reminded me ofmydiamond, and that was always going to be something I liked. But Yeva? I actually liked her,andshe was a woman.
She was violent. Blunt. Sharp with every word she said. There was a hatred in her soul that I often felt and a single look at her bright green eyes was enough to show you that it was volatile flames that made them burn, not sweetness and sunlight.
It was why I’d picked her to train myself, rather than leaving her to Sapphire and until everything else had been dealt with. It was also why I’d put a few calls into one of Giovanni De Luca’sfriends, who specialized in…nurturingthat bundle of anger and turning it into something useful.
Something wickedly dark and devious that I just knew Yeva would enjoy when I had a chance to speak to her about it.
The other women I could see right now though, were not innocent or sweet or anything other than thorns in my side. The walls of the house throbbed because of them. The glass of the windows and doors quivered with a violent bass, and not a single ounce of me could escape the heady thrum of the horrendous music Rika had stuck on the speaker. RnB. Club tunes. Early two thousands classics. Also known as nonsense noise. Nonsense noise that Sapphire had enjoyed listening to before, so I knew just enough of the lyrics that I hummed along under my breath despite how much it made me scowl.
Leaning back in my chair I sipped my whiskey, the slight burn barely felt what with the half a bottle deep I already was. The night sky stretched above me, a vast canvas of darkness dotted with twinkling stars. Stars that were also vibrating from the music.
Stars that were unable to be truly enjoyed, because of the music. And the dancing. And the cheer.
And the fuckingwomen. In my house. Sapphire’s house. Same difference. There were too many women, and they were not the ones I could tolerate. None of them. Not even a little.
Okay, maybe a little. But still.
I took a long sip from my glass again, the slightly spicy taste soothing my restless mind as I shut my eyes. Or at least it was meant to. In reality, it just made me drunk and sad, not just sad. Though, everyone knew drunk and sad was better than just sad. It made the original sadness feel… just feel less. It pushed it off onto tomorrow to be future Beau’s issues.
Barely two minutes into my pretend nap, the door creaked as it slid open, a set of heels click clacking against the patio as their owner tried sneaking up beside me. For a second, I froze entirely. Partly out of nerves, a little out of annoyance at being disturbed. The only good thing for me was that when they clicked a lighter wheel far too loud, some of my stupid stress went away. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know who was there. There was only one person who smoked now that Widow was gone and wore stupid heels. Plus, she didn’t last a single moment before opening her rarely closed mouth.
“Is the old man so tired already?” Rika snickered a laugh as I heard her drag a chair beside mine, scraping the legs on the floor and making my jaw clench. “It is not even late yet, and you are sleeping away outside like the babies do.” She mumbled more bullshit in Hungarian, as I refused to acknowledge her presence.
True to her form, she smoked for a few minutes as I continued to ignore her jibes and prodding. She spoke far too often for my liking. It was constant and random and pointless. I hadn’t had an ounce of peace since stupidly deciding to let her stay in my spare bedroom until she started college. Purely just so Sapphire had one less thing to worry herself about whilst dealing with the bullshit. But I knew it had been a stupid offer. I should have known the second I met Rika.
Even when she was quiet, her presence was loud. Feminine. Pink and garish. It reminded me a little of Ruby and just… just…
I sat up, opening my eyes to glare at the pink-haired hellion and her smoke fumes. Glare at her for daring to remind me of the red-haired demon who was currently cheering as the others did shots, as she helped celebrate Aiden’s birthday a little late, but better than never.
Myboyfriend’s birthday. Because he was mine before he was hers and I had that childish fucking dibs thing that Sapphire’s bratty boyfriends liked to shout.
Myboyfriend, who I couldn’t even fuck tonight because he would no doubt want her too, and I couldn’t stand having her near me for something like that. Not now. Not ever.
“Are you thinking about how much you hate me again?” Rika snatched a full bottle of beer from the outdoor mini fridge, uncapping it and sinking half in a single moment as she continued to smile at me like pissing me off was fun.
You could tell she hadn’t grown up around us. That she wasn’t someone who lived in Diamond Grove for long enough that she knew how things worked. She didn’t fear me, respect me or anything in between. She just saw how easy I was to annoy and ran with it, like she did for everyone else.
