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“She’ll live,” I counter, not one bit bothered.
“Yeah, well, I might not,” he grumbles, frustrated. “All I’m saying is now that you’ve got sisters of your own, you should know where I’m coming from.”
“They’re not my sisters.”
My growl is filled with such vehemence that it creates a dead silence on the line. Unbeknownst to him, Derrick just managed to hit a sensitive nerve that has been throbbing nonstop since this whole blended family shit consumed my household. I’m still coming to grips with it, and having people think I’m in any way okay with this altered reality, sets my teeth on edge.
“Is that so?” he rebukes after a long pause, insinuation in his tone.
“It’s not like that,” I defend, not liking where Derrek’s head instantly leaped to.
“Are you sure?”
I bite my inner cheek instead of giving him a reply.
“I mean, I get it. Daisy is something else. Hot doesn’t even come close to defining her. Must be hard to have a girl like that walking around your house all the time and not be able to touch her. I’d have a killer time concentrating on my girlfriend with Daisy all up in my business, too.”
I’m not sure why I do it, but with the mention of Daisy’s name, I let out a relieved sigh, followed by laughter that she’s the one that immediately came to his mind.
“First of all, Stacy is my ex-girlfriend. We broke up before summer break, remember? And second, you don’t do girlfriends, D, so how would you know? Besides, it’s not even like that between me and Daisy. She’s cool and all, but not my type. Too high maintenance, that one.”
But just as the words leave my mouth, my brow arches in curiosity when I hear Derrick release his own sigh of relief.
“Cool. Glad to hear it.” He chuckles, suddenly too fucking upbeat, coaxing my curiosity to heighten further. “Now that that’s settled, how about you get your ass over here? I promised Stacy I’d sweet-talk you into having dinner with us tonight.”
“Pass,” I grumble.
Spending the night with my on-again, off-again girlfriend is not how I want to spend my Friday night. I know how it will go. We’ll end up eating some fancy takeout from a restaurant whose name I can’t even pronounce and then spend the rest of the night listening to her gossip about people I have no interest in. I’ll be bored half to death and end up hooking up with her just to shut her up. As much as my dick would love nothing more than to get some much-needed attention, lately, just the thought of sleeping with Stacy churns my stomach.
She’ll want me to say sweet nothings into her ear and stroke her ego by telling her how beautiful she is, when all I want is to get it over with so I can pull on my pants and get the hell out of there. It doesn’t bode well for our so-called relationship that I want to bolt the minute I’m done with her. Stacy might be a bitch when she wants to be, but she doesn’t deserve being played with. Hence, why I’ve tried to keep her at arm’s length lately. Sooner or later, she’ll get the message that we’re done. For how long, though, is anyone’s guess.
All I know is that right now, I’m not in the right headspace nor do I have the patience to act like the devoted boyfriend she demands me to be. I don’t have it in me. Maybe I never did.
“I’ll make it worth your while,” Derrick counters with a smug tone.
“How?”
“Got a race going tonight. How does a little extra cash sound to you?”
Now this spikes my interest.
“How much are we talking about?”
“The pot should be a couple grand, at the very least. After I get my cut, that is.”
I chuckle at that.
Derrick doesn’t need the money.
Like Stacy, he’s had a silver spoon shoved into his mouth since he was a baby in his crib, but it’s no secret that the fucker gets a thrill from hustling. I guess spending his daddy’s millions can’t compare to the high he gets from his side businesses. If there is an underground fight or illegal drag race taking place on this island, then you can bet your last dollar that it was Derrick Monroe who organized it. There is only so much you can do in Thatcher’s Bay, and bored high school kids like us, who need a bit of excitement in their lives before we have to face what undoubtedly will be a pathetic existence the minute we graduate, need this rush of adrenaline just to get by.
It’s all about supply and demand.
And like the savvy businessman Derrick is, he saw a need that had to be filled and a way to profit off it. It doesn’t matter if you live on the rich side of the island or the poor one, we all need a little something to get us through the day, and Derrick is all too happy to supply that for us. Not that I care how he gets his rocks off. All I care about is how that extra cash will help pay the debt of my mom’s hospital expenses that are still hanging over our heads.
“I’m in,” I’m quick to reply.
“I thought as much. Come over for dinner, make nice with Stacy for an hour, and then we can get down to business.”
