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No. But that was all I would ever admit to because admitting more meant I would lose him too. I couldn’t lose them both. In a sense, I had already lost Kye, but he still texted me sometimes. He didn’t act as if I were invisible, the way Bowie did.
I reached for the beer in his hand and took a drink, then handed it back to him. “You’re the only best friend I have left. I don’t want to ever ruin that. I can’t lose you, Kye.” And it was true.
Maybe that would change once I was gone. I was leaving for college next summer. I had to get away from here. From all I had lost. That we had lost.
Kye squeezed my arm. “Starting now, I’m going to change. I’m going to be the best friend you deserve. I’ll make up for all I did. I swear it.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. I wasn’t sure he could do that, but I knew Kye meant well. He wanted to be the good guy. He’d just always let Bowie hold that title. Kye excelled at being free, unpredictable, and unreliable. Yet I loved that about him.
“I just have senior year left, and then I’m going to college in Savannah, Georgia,” I told him.
The last time we had spoken over the phone, I’d mentioned moving away for college. I knew Kye wouldn’t be leaving. His future wasn’t college. Kye had been born into something much darker. His father and his grandfather were both in the Mafia. The one south of the Mason-Dixon line. Kye was already in that world. He’d grown up in it when he visited his dad. It was all he’d planned on in life since he had been a kid.
“Damn, Baby Doll, I was hoping you wouldn’t go farther than Gainesville,” he said, turning his head to look at me.
That was an option I’d thought about, but it was too close. I was sure that Bowie would be going to Gainesville.
“If I want to pursue fashion design, then I need to go to a college that can help me.” That was also a reason.
He nodded and pulled me against his side, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Yeah, I get it,” he said softly. “I’m just gonna fucking miss you. I swear I’ll be around more this year. I won’t let you down.”
Kye—Twenty Years Old
June 1
Using my key to unlock the door, I walked inside my mom’s old house, which Genesis was renting during her summer break. My mom had remarried and moved to Key West three years ago, but she’d kept my childhood home for visits here. Genesis using it made me fucking happy.
The vanilla-cinnamon scent hit me, and I smiled. I tossed my keys on the counter as I passed the kitchen and headed to the living room.
“Honey, I’m home!” I called out teasingly.
“You’re earlier than I expected. I just got out of the shower.” Genesis’s voice carried down the hallway. “Give me a few minutes.”
My gaze swung over to the coffee table, covered in snacks. The usual was there—chocolate chip cookies, brownies, Rice Krispies Treats, which she didn’t bake, but bought from a bakery in town because Baby Doll didn’t bake or cook. There was a bowl of regular M&M’s—my favorite—a bowl of popcorn, and the mandatory bowl of fruit that neither of us ate but was there in case we might want something healthy.
The cupcakes in the center of it all were new though. I could tell from here they were my favorite chocolate cake with vanilla icing. Again, those had come from a bakery—no way Genesis had made them. They looked fucking delicious, and when my girl tried to bake, it was rarely edible. The one in the center had an unlit candle. Grinning, I grabbed a cookie and flopped down on the sofa to wait on her.
“I thought I’d have time to finish my shower before you got here. I figured the party with the Lords of the Underworld would keep you out later,” Genesis told me as she walked around the sofa and took a seat beside me.
She’d been calling the family the Lords of the Underworld since I’d told her about them when I was sixteen.
My dad had gotten me my first tattoo, and I’d been so fucking pumped. Genesis was shocked that my dad would let me get one at my age. Then, Bowie said something about a tattoo being the least of the things my dad would let me do. Genesis had always known how to make me talk. She wouldn’t let that go. Finally, I caved and explained the family to her.
When I was done, she had stared at me and said, “So, you are telling me that instead of college, you’re going to just join the Lords of the Underworld in organized crime?”
