Chapter 18
Eighteen
Wolf
Crickets chirped in the bushes beside the porch, silencing when I dropped the shoebox of penguins to the step. I lit a joint, took a seat, and stared out over the dark yard.
Jade’s Jeep turned onto the street, followed by Cassie’s Honda. They parked across from the house and both got out, yapping about something on their way across the front yard. My gaze dropped to her bare legs in her red shorts, and I shook my head. I had no control when it came to that woman.
“Hey, Wolf,” Cassie said, stepping around me and onto the porch.
“Hey.”
Jade’s gaze met mine, but she said nothing before following her friend.
The door closed, and one of Dog’s high-pitched screeches drifted through the open window. TwinkleToes123’s welcoming committee… Even though I was bitter, I still found myself wondering if it would be wrong for me to sleep in bed with her again.
I put the joint to my lips, watching the wisps of smoke waft into the night.
“Get your shit together, asshole,” I mumbled to myself.
I felt like Alice in Wonderland, chasing a white rabbit who worked at Roller Burger and had Lonely Fans…
Jade Anderson, with Lonely Fans. I couldn’t take it any longer.
The step creaked when I leaned to the side to fish my phone from my jeans pocket. I went straight to the app store, downloaded that stupid-fucking-site, then signed up with a random username: FeetFeetFeet.
My heart rate ticked up as I typed in TwinkleToes123. Using my goddamn nickname for this crap…
The profile picture that popped up was of feet. Feet with bright-pink toenails. The girl hardly ever painted her toenails, but when she did, it was always dark blue, shimmery black, blood red…not Barbie doll pink.
I stubbed out the joint on the step and swiped through the public photo album. All pictures of her feet on fluffy pillows. After I’d swiped to the last photo, an option to see more “Exclusive Twinkle Toes content” popped up.
I should have put down the phone, but the word exclusive could mean anything from her toes without toenail polish to her tits.
And I was a glutton for punishment. I pulled my bank card from my wallet, put in my information, and paid the five bucks to view more albums. All footage of feet.
One in bubbles, another in Jell-O. But to be honest, they could have been anyone’s feet.
If not for the little pattern of freckles on her ankle that looked like the Cancer constellation—or so she’d told me—I wouldn’t have been able to say, definitely, that they were her feet.
Weird what people would pay for…
Headlights cut down the street. I grabbed the box and pushed off the steps, cramming my phone into my pocket as I crossed the dark yard.
An old jalopy stopped at the curb, and the driver lowered the window.
After a quick exchange of the box for a wad of cash, he drove off, and I headed back to the house.
More of Dog’s high-pitched screeches drifted through the open window.
The door clicked shut behind me just as Rogue’s high-pitch scream joined Dog’s.
“Jesus Christ…” I mumbled. When I rounded the corner into the kitchen, Rogue was crouched by the fridge, while Dog tried to squeeze his chubby, screaming ass between the appliance and the wall. “What in the hell are you doing?”
“I just saw a rat the size of a chihuahua scurry behind here.” He pushed to his feet while scratching his arm. “I’ll be happy when I see one of those fuckers in that trap. Look—” He held out his reddened arm. “I know this rash is because of them! My whole body itches.”
Footfalls descended the stairs. Seconds later, Jade rounded the corner.
My attention dropped from the empty glass in her hand to her tight tank top, then to her sleep shorts.
Pink with llamas. The same ones she’d been wearing the first time I slept with her back in high school.
The ones I’d peeled off her many times since.
Clearing my throat, I redirected my focus to Dog, who was still trying to wedge himself behind the fridge.
“Why is Squishy so excited?” Jade asked.
“Because there’s a fucking rat!” Rogue shouted, still clawing at his arms like a crackhead.
“You know,” she said. “Just because you’re rich doesn’t mean you have to be eccentric.”
Rogue shot an offended glance at me, like I was responsible for what came out of her mouth. “Are you telling me that you’re okay with rats?”
“Sure.” She grabbed a glass from the cabinet. “If there are rats…”
“I just said—oh, fuck!” Rogue jumped onto the counter when a black and white—very non-wild-looking—rat darted out from behind the fridge.
Dog was already screaming and scrambling after it, his feet wheel-spinning on the linoleum like some kind of cartoon sketch. “Get it!” Rogue shouted. “Get the rat!”
Dog’s screams reached a fever-pitch.
“I told you idiots there were rats!” The smug look on his face fell, his confused gaze pinging between us. “Why aren’t you two freaking out?”
“You haven’t been sampling your own product, have you?” Jade glanced from him to me, the look of confusion on her face pretty damn convincing. “You know it can cause hallucinations.”
I bit back a laugh. I should have helped him out, but it was his fault the girls were here in the first place. He deserved to think he was insane for a day or two.
“What do you mean, there aren’t any rats?” He pointed toward the dining room. “You saw that thing! Why else is Dog losing his shit?”
He did have a point there, but watching him lose his shit was too good.
Jade’s gaze met mine, a silent agreement to screw with that asshole passing between us.
“Because you said ‘ get the rats.’ You know he loses it anytime we say ‘get’ anything. Watch.” I snapped my fingers at Dog, who was currently crouched down, ass in the air, and nose wedged beneath a cabinet.
“Get the Bent Neck Lady. Get it!” I pointed toward the living room, and Dog took off. “See?”
Rogue threw his hands in the air. “I know what I fucking saw!” Then he left the kitchen in a huff.
As soon as his footfalls hit the steps, Jade laughed. “God, I struggled not to jump when it ran toward me.”
“Hate to hand it to Rogue, but they are gross. Their tails?—”
“Right.” The smile on Jade’s face fell. “Lot of that going around…”
I had called her gross, hadn’t I? Not that I’d meant it. It just came out. Now I felt like a dick. The last thing I’d wanted to do was hurt her feelings, but jealousy was a bitch. I scrubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “I’m sorry I called you gross. It’s just, you know, not safe and shit.”
Her attention dropped to the floor. “You’re sorry, and you’re going to try to justify it, but you still think I’m gross.” God, she could sound pitiful when she wanted to.
“I do not. I was…” Jealous. Possessive. “Look, I get it. You need money.”
“Yeah, and I hate doing it, right along with stealing. I feel like I’m betraying my dad every day. I’m pretty sure he’d rather lose his house than see me get arrested, so call it the lesser of two evils.”
Pretty sure he’d rather see her get arrested than find out she was on Lonely Fans, but like hell I was saying that. “You aren’t getting arrested.”
“That’s not my point. I just mean…there are people who earn a lot on Lonely Fans. Legally.” She frowned. “Granted, they’re probably doing more stuff. ”
The last thing I wanted to think about was Jade doing more stuff. One way I could prevent that, make sure she was making more than enough money to help her parents so she didn’t go down that road. Jade would sacrifice damn near anything for her mom and dad.
“I told you I would help you. Then you don’t have to worry about what other stuff people are doing.
” The need to fix the whole situation ate away at me.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, thinking about it, so I fished my keys from my pocket and turned for the back door.
“Come on, we can go scout out some things.”
“Now? It’s almost curfew.”
I turned to look at her. “You’re with me.”
“So, there’s no curfew if I’m with my jailer?”
“Do you want help or not? Or would you rather do other stuff ?”
She stood beside the counter for a second longer before finally following me through the doorway. “Fine.”
We rounded the side of the house to my truck. I cranked the engine just as she slid into the passenger seat.
Streetlights flickered over her face as I drove. She didn’t look happy.
“Other than me being an ass, are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She turned her gaze out the window. “Just a shitty shift at work.”
“Crappy tips?”
“Something like that.” She pulled in a heavy breath, then glanced my way. “I need to tell you something. I don’t even know if you’ll care, but you deserve to know?—”
“Just tell me, Jade.” If she told me they had bought more rats…
Another deep breath. “You were right. It was Brent who fucked with your number in my phone.”
I gripped the steering wheel, trying to tamp down the anger bleeding through me. I wished I had knocked that little shit unconscious.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know.”
Of course she hadn’t known. If she’d only listened to me when I told her he wasn’t her friend.
I’d seen the way he looked at her. The way he looked at me with her.
I’d also seen how he treated other girls.
Nice to their face but took every opportunity to flirt with anything that would give him attention when they weren’t around.
But Jade wanted to believe the best in everybody.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated.
“It’s not your fault.” I turned up the radio, and the harsh beat of rap drifted through the speakers. I needed a minute to process all that bullshit. Along with the what-ifs and regrets.
A few minutes later, the neon sign of Codzilla’s bar flashed up ahead. Just before I passed the crowded parking lot, a tractor pulled out in front of me, and I slammed on my brakes. “Just pull the fuck out; why don’t you?” I swerved into the left lane and floored it past the farm equipment.