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“Did you ask Maverick?” Colt says bitterly. I hear his Bic click open as he lights up.
“No,” Duke says. “I don’t care where he sticks his dick.”
“Maybe you should stop caring where I stick mine,” Colt snaps. “I’m not your whipping boy anymore. You don’t get a say in what I do with my dick.”
“We made a truce,” Duke says. “But I find out you crossed me? You’ll be right back where you started. You don’t want that, do you, pussy boy?”
“I am right back where I started,” Colt grits out.
The smell of marijuana smoke drifts in through the cracked window, but I don’t roll it up.
“And you want to stay there, don’t you?” Duke asks. “Just don’t forget who allowed it.”
Colt sighs. “You’re delusional.”
“You’re delusional if you think for one second I couldn’t snap my fingers and send you right back to smoking under the bleachers with Gloria and Harper,” Duke says.
I take a moment to savor the reminder. Gloria’s the loser now. The untouchable skank. She’s the one who doesn’t eat in the café.
Harper could if she wanted, but she chooses to disappear with Lo most days. It’s sad, really, what she’s given up for a snake like Lo, who didn’t think twice about stomping her into the ground when she arrived.Iwas nice to Harper. I’m nice to everyone—until I have a reason not to be. But I’m glad she chose to go down with Lo. I wouldn’t want to fight Harper for the throne. I mean, of course I’d win. I’m not scared of her. Harper lets her heart blind her in everything, just like she’s doing with Lo. I’m just glad there’s one less person to battle.
“You think if you control my dick, by some magical extension you can control my sister?” Colt asks from outside. “And ensure she’s not fucking someone who’s not you?”
“Fuck you,” Duke snaps. “I don’t care about your sister or your dick.”
“Hate to tell you, it doesn’t work that way,” Colt says. “No matter how much you fuck me up, she’s not coming back, Duke. She doesn’t love you.”
I wince at my boyfriend’s harshness. I wouldn’t have told him to take another pill if I’d known he’d be dealing with Duke. I just wanted to soften his edges, but instead it’s made him reckless.
“Sounds like she doesn’t loveyou,” Duke points out. “If she did, she’d come back and help you. And if you loved her, you’d bring her back. Even a dumbass like you must have heard about the murders that have been happening in Tennessee.”
“If there’s a serial killer, I guarantee it’s your brother.”
“You don’t know shit,” Duke growls.
“I know your brother’s a psychopath,” Colt says. “And I know you don’t run away from someone if you love them. You do whatever it takes to be as close to them as they’ll let you, even if you can’t be with them. So maybe Baron loves her, but she doesn’t love him.”
There’s a long minute of silence before Duke asks, “Is that what you do?”
“With Dixie?” Colt asks.
I perk up at my name.
He takes a second to drag on his cigarette before answering. “No. That’s what she does.”
I shrink down in the seat, burning with humiliation and fury. After all this time, he still thinks of me exactly the same he always has. Even though I’m queen, he still thinks he’s better than me. I should have let him stay under the bleachers. Icould have made it happen, even with the Darling name being restored. Just like Duke—especially if I workedwithDuke—I could have. Then I’d be queen and he’d be nothing, and he’d see my worth at last.
But then he’d be under the bleachers with Gloria every day, and I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t risk that they’d hang out, and he’d start to fall for her again, even if he doesn’t remember he did it before. Then I’d never get the ring.
I think I remembered something.
I should have made him talk. At least then I’d know what I’m up against.
As if I don’t already know.
This isn’t about you.
That’s what he said when he was stabbing into me, looking at her while he fucked me.
