Page 114 of Never His Girl
“I promise to make this quick,” he adds, beckoning me to come closer.
I’m shaken and no longer focused on the cold or even the things Ricky and I discussed a short time ago. All I can think about is what a horrible idea this is, and how I would kick Scarlett’s ass if she evenconsidereddoing what I’m about to do, but I feel cornered.
A wicked smile I’ve seen on West flashes toward me when I pull the door handle and climb into the vehicle beside him. Wearing a dark, wool coat, matching scarf, and black leather gloves, I’m reminded of all the mafia movies Hunter’s made me watch over the years. This is the part where I get whacked and no one hears from me again.
Good going, Blue.
The window raises and with how darkly it’s tinted, no way someone will see anything that goes on inside. I clutch both hands in my lap, feeling sick to my stomach as I sit here, face-to-face with a man I believe to be nothing less than a monster.
Yes, it’s our first time meeting, but I know who and what he is.
“You’re taller than I expected,” he says, eyeing me like a prized animal whose up for sale.
This man has seen me naked, keeps a picture of me in some weird, secret phone, and now he’s lured me into his car. This can only go badly.
“What do you want?” My voice is shaky when I ask, and I wish I’d been able to sound stronger, more secure. But truth is, I’m terrified.
He smiles dimly, looking so much like the triplets it’s as though I’ve stepped into a time machine and traveled to the future. Only, he’s soulless, like I used to believe West to be, but this is no mistake.
“My driver was telling you the truth. I don’t want to hurt you,” he says. “But it’s time you and I have a little chat about my son.”
I’m breathing faster than I should be. “What about him?”
He smiles again and it only makes me more uncomfortable.
“That boy is going places, has a bright future ahead of him,” he adds. “So, I’m sure you’ll understand why I need you to keep your distance. You Riley’s are a sinking ship, and I can’t have him associated with your kind of trash.”
His gaze snaps toward me then and it shakes me to my core. I have so many questions, but fear has my throat gripped so tightly I can hardly get air into my lungs.
A breath hitches in my throat when he reaches beside him, pulling up a briefcase from the floor. He opens it unhurriedly, and then removes a folder from inside it. I stare as he pulls out a stack of papers, a mixture of pictures and documents.
I study them from afar at first, before they’re placed in my lap, one-by-one.
A copy of my father’s admittance paperwork for the facility Uncle Dusty checked him into. A copy of my probation write-up at Cypress Prep, breaking down the details surrounding the leaked sex tape. And the nail in the coffin—an image of a blonde whose face I will never forget, but haven’t seen in so many months now.
She’s thinner than the last time I laid eyes on her, and with what little she’s wearing, I can easily see the weight loss is all over—her arms, legs, and face. And I’m not so naïve that I think the car she’s being photographed getting into doesn’t belong to some guy who’s just paid her for some sort of sexual favor. Either in cash, or a quick fix to get her through the day. My mother looks desperate, broken.
She looks like my worst nightmare, everything I never want to become.
“What do you want?” I repeat, struggling to keep my emotions in check after seeing her like this.
“I need your word that you’ll end it,” he reasons. “No more PDA. No more fucking around. It all ends. Right here. Right now.”
My head is spinning.
“This can’t just be about you thinking I’m a danger to West’s future. You know too much about me, about my family. It has to be more than that.”
I don’t bring up the pic West shared with me, for fear of turning his father’s wrath towardhim.I also keep to myself what Ricky shared tonight. There’s an entire web of secrets we’ve all only begun to see the beginning of, but something tells me Mr. Golden is right at the center of it.
“You haven’t answered my question,” I remind him.
Before he says another word, that smile flashes toward me again. The one that makes my skin crawl.
“All I want from you is what I’ve already shared. Just your word that you’ll stay away from my son. Simple,” he adds.
“And if I don’t? What’ll happen?”
My defiance clearly rubs him the wrong way. I can tell as much when the grin slides off his face and the interior of this truck seems a little bit colder.