Page 66 of Never His Girl
“This is bullshit,” she hisses, drawing her knees against her chest.
My gaze lowers when it becomes hard to look at her, knowing how royally I’ve fucked this whole thing up.
“For what it’s worth, I’ve never met your dick of a father,” she hisses. “Couldn’t pick him out in a damn crowd even if I wanted to.”
Feeling like shame has me in one hell of a chokehold, I nod. “I think I already realized that.”
I’ve done some pretty ugly shit to her, all in the name of revenge. Not realizing at the time that she didn’t even deserve it.
I peer up and she’s glaring at the photo again, concern marking her expression.
“I did send this picture, but not to your dad,” she clarifies, wiping more tears half a second before she reaches for her own phone, putting it on speaker while it rings.
Late as it is, whoever she’s called picks up on the second ring.
“What’s wrong? You good?” someone answers in a mild panic. Someone I’m ninety-nine percent sure is fucking Ricky Ruiz.
Breathing deep, I beat a spike of rage into submission, convincing myself that’sallI feel when it comes to him and Southside.
But that’s a lie. Anything involving the two of them interacting makes me want to level this entire city, and jealousy is one of the few emotions that packs that kind of power. I feel it bone-deep, and I fucking hate it.
“Everything’s fine,” Southside says back, sniffling a little. “Sorry to call so late. Were you busy?”
“Always, but it can wait if you need something.”
I take another deep breath.Fucking eager asshole…
“You crying?”
When he asks, Southside’s posture straightens as if he can see her and she doesn’t want him to know she’s upset.
“No, I um… I just need a small favor,” she says. “I know we were in kind of a weird, limbo period this past spring, but do you remember what your birthday present was this year?”
Ruiz laughs into the phone. “It’d be kinda hard to forget. Yeah, I remember.”
“Good,” Southside replies. “This is gonna sound really strange, but would you mind telling me what it was? Out loud, please.”
He laughs again. “Damn, you’re putting me on the spot. One sec. I’m around people.” There’s a short pause and then less background noise. “You gonna tell me what this is about?”
“I will,” she promises. “But I just really need you to tell me.”
My brow tenses because I think I’m starting to understand where this conversation is headed. And if I’m honest, I’m not sure I’m ready to hear it.
Ruiz sighs and then gives Southside what she asked for. “All right. Well, itstartedwith that pic you sent, but turned into a hell of a lot more by the end of the night.”
“Okay, that’s all I needed,” she quickly cuts in, letting her eyes slam shut.
It hits me hard and fast that, when she said he’d been the last, I stupidly assumed the sex stopped a while ago. Now, I know they fucked atleastas recently as this dickhead’s birthday.
In spring.
Nice.
Add this to the list of reasons I want to kill his ass.
“Now, you gonna tell me why you called at almost one in the morning to ask a question you already knew the answer to?”
Southside takes a breath, then stares at the ceiling. “It’s hard to explain and I almost feel stupid even asking you this, but… you didn’t share that pic with anyone, did you? I mean, bearing in mind that I would hunt you down and kill you if you did.”