Page 104 of Wicked Savage Cruel
We might tolerate him these days, but I sure as shit don’t trust him.
My phone dings and I glance down at the screen.
Aaron: Where you at?
Me: Backyard.
A few secondslater the back door opens, and Aaron walks outside. He’s wearing his usual emo shit. Black pants. Black shirt. Black beanie pulled low over his blond hair. He looks like Justin Bieber had a baby with Machine Gun Kelley. No wonder the dude is still single. “You could use a little more color in your life,” I tell him.
He frowns. “Are you on something?”
“Nope. That’s your MO. Not mine,” I say with a grin.
His scowl darkens.
“Really, man. You wanna go there right now?”
I shrug. Why not? I’m already having a shitty day. But Aaron decides to flip shit around. Smooth fucker.
“What happened to smoothing shit over with Sarah?” he asks, taking a seat in one of the chairs beside me.
“Decided the pussy wasn’t worth the effort. She’s getting too attached.”
He snorts. “You’ve been staying the night at her place almost every night for the last month. What did you expect?”
“You’ve been tracking me?” I ask, remembering he’s hooked up with her, too. “Jealous it was me in her bed instead of you?”
He snorts. “Hardly. I try not to repeat my mistakes. And no, fucker, I’m not tracking you. But you’re not hard in the mornings when you do the walk of shame to your car early enough to get your sister to school.”
I shrug, not meeting his eyes. I don’t like that he knows how often I’ve been here. Aaron’s not an idiot, and he demonstrates that even more with his next question.
“What’s really going on, Emilio? Why don’t you wanna be home?”
I jerk my gaze to his. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” It comes out angrier than I intended, but fuck, he’s got no right prying into my business.
“It means, I’m not stupid. I know you have issues with your dad. Why haven’t you said anything to Roman or Dominique?” Because Roman’s got Allie now. I’m not about to crash in on their happy little life. And Dom… I shake my head. Dom’s got his own problems. Neither one of them needs to worry about mine.
“It’s not a big deal.” I push to my feet.
“Stop fronting. What’s going on?”
“Drop it,” I snarl.
Aaron lifts both hands. “Fine, be an asshole. I was only trying to help.”
“Right, well, the only help I need is a lift to Roman’s. You going to help with that or not?”
He scowls, but nods. “Come on. But just so you know, screwing random girls isn’t going to solve your problems. And getting involved with chicks like Sarah Draven is going to come back and bite you in the ass. I would know.”
FORTY-EIGHT
Bibiana
My palms are sweaty. My knees weak. I don’t know what to say to him. How to break the news or even start a conversation with the guy, so I do the smart thing and avoid him. Okay, it’s also the cowardly thing to do, but it’s not like I have a lot of options here. I only manage to make it two days before I’m faced with speaking to Emilio though, and like all the times before, as soon as I see him, it’s like everything around me stops.
“Hey, beautiful,” he says, taking me completely by surprise as he sits down at the lunch table. It takes me a second to realize he’s not talking to me. His words are directed toward Allie, who is seated beside him, but hearing his voice has goosebumps breaking out across my skin. “Who’s the new new chick?” he asks, his tone suggestive, but he’s still not looking my way and it bothers me. It’s not like we’re strangers. He can say hello. Just as easily ask me for my name instead of asking Allie when I’m literally sitting right in front of him.
Roman smacks him upside the back of his head as he claims his seat on Allie’s other side, but there’s a smile on his lips that says he’s not actually pissed. “Lay off Allie’s new friend,” he comments, not making eye contact, but this time I don’t take it personally. Given all that I’ve learned about the Devils of Sun Valley High and how uncommon it is for anyone new to be welcomed into their inner circle, Roman’s quiet acceptance of me is enough.
