Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 132933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
I pat her side, then I squeeze past everyone, and on my way out, I tell Xander, “Gonna wait in the car.”
He nods, more distracted by his family like he should be.
These people—they’re not mine.
They never will be.
I have a family. The rats in the sewers. I’m just one of those.
I’m halfway down the driveway when he calls out, “Donnelly!”
I just turn my head. “Farrow.”
He keeps walking towards me. “Come back inside.”
“I like it out here.” I nod to him. “You go back in.”
He rubs his lips, the bottom one pierced. I can tell that he’s still frustrated with how shit is turning out for me.
I think it’s still alright. Not worse than it could be. “I’ll be okay,” I remind him. “It was always gonna end like this at some point.”
“Like what?” Farrow asks, but he’s not dumb. He knows what I’m talking about.
“You over there. Me over here.”
He rolls his eyes. “Lo isn’t acetone—he can’t dissolve super glue.”
I smile. “You saying I’m superglued to you?”
Farrow lets out a rougher breath. “Man, this doesn’t have to be this complicated. If you’d just tell Lo, or let me tell him about what you did—”
“No,” I force out, my lungs constricting. “We’ve been over this, Farrow.”
“It’d make a difference. That’s his grandson that you helped bring into my life, into his oldest son’s life.”
“He already knows I’m the one who got Scottie to terminate his parental rights.”
“Lo doesn’t know you’ve been broke paying that fucker—”
“And he won’t know.” I speak under my breath to my friend. “What I did—it wasn’t to help myself later on. That’s not what that was about. I’m not using the one thing I’ve ever done for you as a means to get in Lo’s good graces.”
Farrow gives me a sharp look. “If you think that’s the only thing you’ve ever done for me, Donnelly, you’re wrong as fuck.”
“It’s the biggest thing,” I clarify.
He can’t argue that. Thing is, Farrow has always done shit for me ever since I met him. Gave me a bed to sleep on. A shower. Food. And never once did he act like the things he did were handouts or IOUs. They were just things you do for friends.
This was just something I did for a brother.
It’s not for Luna’s dad to like me.
I’ll never let it be that.
And I’m not letting him either. Even as much as this is killing Farrow, he’s going to respect my wishes, and we clasp hands and hug.
“I’m still here for you,” Farrow reminds me.
“I’m not goin’ anywhere,” I remind him. Not unless Lo wills it somehow. I try not to think about Colin and the photo from his kitchen. We pull back and I nod to him with a smirk that feels calm inside me. “You’re the wall and I’m glue. I’m always gonna be stuck on you.”
He rolls his eyes but smiles. “And that’s my cue.” He lifts two fingers in goodbye.
“See ya.” We go our separate ways. Him in the Hale House with his family, me to the SUV.
Waiting in the car, I blast eighties rock and bang on my steering wheel. It clears my head, and my phone buzzes with a notification.
Illyana_Dallas222: don’t know what you’re up to today, but I hope it’s awesome!
I smile more. It’s not so bad. I send her a new DM, telling her I hope the same is happening for her. Awesome shit, awesome day. All that.
When I check my activity feed, I zero in on one new status.
Illyana_Dallas222 is now following a fandom: We Are Calloway
The wind is almost knocked out of me. Means nothing. But I must’ve liked the fact that she didn’t follow We Are Calloway or else I wouldn’t feel this bummed out.
She seemed different than girls I’ve slept with, maybe that’s it.
Maybe I really thought this was the start of something better than picking up girls at bars. Maybe I believed this could turn out to be something more, and now it feels…
Ruined?
It’s not ruined. Even if she’s a new fan of the famous ones, it doesn’t mean anything. Quinn’s girlfriend is practically a super fan, and they seem serious.
I try to let it go while I unspool my mic from my radio. Attaching the mic clip to my collar, I also tuck my radio in my waistband and then fit in my earpiece.
Switching through the frequencies, I start hearing some chatter from Epsilon bodyguards. “We’re Oscar Mike in five. The girl squad are about finished with photos at the Cobalt Estate.”
“Are we following in a car?” another bodyguard asks.
“Affirmative. Luna Hale is driving the girls to Homecoming. She’s chaperoning the dance.”
I go still, almost thinking I misheard that.
My heart races, and I click my mic. “Can someone repeat that? I’m about five minutes from leaving the Hale House with Xander.”
Sinclair, Kinney’s bodyguard and also the Epsilon lead, snaps back, “Open your goddamn ears, Donnelly.”