Page 80 of Never His Girl
“Perfect. Just old enough for me to kick your ass and not feel guilty about it,” I growl. “Now, what happens next is up to you, but choose wrong and I swear I’ll be your worst fucking nightmare.”
Kid’s shaking in his boots, taking a few more steps back.
“We were only playing,” he reasons.
“Worst. Fucking. Nightmare,” I say again.
He taps one of his little friends. “Let’s take off,” he announces, prompting the others to parade behind him, but I don’t miss their conversation as they’re walking away.
“Isn’t that the guy from the porno with her sister?”
If I knew which one said it, I’d trip the little bastard, but they’re already pretty far away now.
I turn to Scarlett.
“You good?”
She’s still a little shaken, but nods. “I’m okay.”
I raise a brow at her friend, having a hard time reading him. “You all right?”
“I had it handled,” he snaps, and it takes a second to figure out why he’s pissed atme,but then I get it.
He’s got a thing for Scarlett and I just stepped on his toes.
My bad, kid.
“Yeah, I saw that,” I lie. “I just came over as reinforcement. I’m sure they would’ve backed off either way.”
He straightens his jacket, and his face turns bright red. Since he doesn’t seem to appreciate my clean-up job, I leave him alone and only speak to Scarlett.
“This kind of thing happen often?” I ask, recalling the situation from the other week, when Southside had to rush to her rescue.
She smooths her hair, taking a deep breath to calm down. “Only since, well… you know.”
Fuck. Idoknow.
She means since‘the porno with her sister’,as that little shit put it.
I feel like the biggest fucking asshole right now, knowing this is my fault, so I’m glancing down at the bags in my hands.
“Here, take this,” I say, handing over the game system that was supposed to be Joss’s to Scarlett.
Next, I nod at the other kid.
“What size shoe do you wear?”
“Eleven,” he grumbles.
I glance down at Sterling’s size thirteens in the bag. “Here, you’ll grow into these.”
I hand off the gifts and know I’m kind of a walking contradiction right now—using presents to make up for shit I messed up. Like Vin does.
Scarlett beams from ear-to-ear when she realizes what I’ve just given her, and the other kid’s smiling a little, too, now.
“Holy crap! Thank you!” Scarlett screeches, coming in fast for a hug. I embrace her lightly, so I don’t smash the few bags I still have left.
“Don’t mention it.”