Page 67 of Never His Girl
Another laugh on the other end. “You honestly think I’d show my boys something like that?”
“Just answer the question, please,” she replies.
Ruiz sighs. “I’m not fond of sharing you,period.So, no, I didn’t share that shit,” he answers, making my teeth grit together. “Someone say otherwise?”
“Not exactly, but I’ll get to the bottom of it.”
“I’ll be out for a while if you need me to stop over,” he offers.
“Okay, call you tomorrow.”
She hangs up then and I hate how crazy it drives me that they’re still so close. Hate that I can hear how devoted he still is to her, even over the phone. Fucking dick thinks he’s marked his territory for life.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Southside says, breaking into my thoughts.
“Isn’t there a chance he could be lying?”
She peers over at me then, anger still brimming over in her stare, shaking her head. “No. Not Ricky.”
This guy some kind of saint or something? She said that as if it’s not even a possibility that he’d lie to her.
“I’ve known him since we were kids, and he doesn’t lie. Not to me,” she goes on, singing this guy’s fucking praises. “If he says he didn’t share it, he didn’t share it. Bottom line.”
“Okay, I get it.”
I fight what I feel next—inadequate, knowing I’m on the opposite side of the spectrum when it comes to having Southside’s trust. That’s on me, but it doesn’t mean I have to fucking like it.
“Haven’t you at least asked your dad about it?” she asks next, whipping her head toward me.
“That’s… complicated.”
“Well,uncomplicateit,” she says sternly. “This fucker has a nude pic of me, and I need to know why.”
She isn’t wrong, but I don’t think things are nearly as black and white as we think.
“The other week, when Ricky showed up at the school, he said something that stuck with me,” I reveal. “When I told him I’m trying to fix things, he said the last thing your family needs is another Golden with his hands around their throat.”
Southside’s brow tenses as confusion spreads through her expression.
“Ricky said that?”
“Yeah,” I answer with a nod, “but he left before I could ask what he meant, and I haven’t seen him since.”
She’s deep in thought and I can’t help but wonder if she still thinks he’s innocent in all this. Now that I know the pic was only in his possession, and he seems to know more than anyone else about what’s going on, it’s sending up all kinds of red flags for me.
“He wouldn’t lie,” she repeats, sticking to her guns. “If he says he doesn’t know how the photo got out, he doesn’t know.”
As badly as I want to argue that point, I don’t bother. I’m already in the doghouse as it is. Doesn’t make sense to add to the shit she’s already holding against me.
However, I’m now more motivated than ever to have a one-on-one with Ruiz.
“So, your father,” she says, “you need to talk to him.”
“It’s not that simple. He went out of his way to make me believe you two had a thing, which means—”
“He what?” she screeches. “I thought you said you didn’t mention anything to him.”
“And that was the truth,” I assure her, getting frustrated becauseshe’sfrustrated. “He cornered me before regionals, grilling me about the pic Pandora posted of you and me in the pool. At first, he pretended he just wanted to know why I was fucking around with a girl from this side of town, but then he flipped the script, leading me to believe you two were a thing and you were usingmeto hurthim.”