Pretty Boy D: Chapter 37

Joss

Seeing my dad messed with my head a bit, even though the visit was more civil than expected. But Dane knew exactly what I needed, knew that being with friends would burn away the sadness. He brought me to the one public space where we always feel safe and welcome—Dusty’s Diner.

Dusty puts up with how loud we are and lets us in on nights like this, long after he’s closed simply because he knows we need a haven. His restaurant is the only public place we can draw the blinds and not worry about the things we do and say making it into Pandora’s posts.

And to top it all off, we’re allowed to have our fill of whatever dessert we want at no charge. Although, the boys always sneak a sizable tip near the back grill, more than covering our tab.

I scan our crew—the Golden boys in expensive, tailored suits, Blue and me in dresses and heels, stuffing our faces with apple pie and ice cream. We’re tightly packed into a booth, me wedged between Dane and Sterling with West and Blue across the table. It’s only us in here, so we’re loud and free and, before long, I feel like nothing even happened tonight. That’s the power of friendship, I guess.

I’m grateful we ended up here instead of some stuffy auction, surrounded by snobs and pretentious businessmen. For Dane, I would’ve endured it, but this is so much better. The loud laugh he belts out at the end of the batshit crazy story Sterling just told tells me that he agrees.

A knock hits the glass door and it’s entirely possible some of Pandora’s minions spotted us as we headed in, finally working up the nerve to get a closer look.

Blue hops up from her seat with West’s eyes glued to her ass, of course. “That’s Jules, Lexi, and Dez. I told them to meet us here.”

She bounds toward the entrance while the rest of us hang back, finishing up dessert.

“So, Dane and I were thinking. What if we do Christmas in Louisiana again?” I dip the spoon back in my ice cream dish after asking.

“What’s that about Louisiana?” Blue chimes in when she returns with the other three girls trailing right behind her.

“They want to head back to the Bayou.” The faint smile on West’s face when he explains tells me he’s already in.

“Am I invited? I was so bummed I didn’t get to go last time,” Jules says before pulling up a chair from a nearby table.

Dane laughs as he nods. “Anyone who wants to go is free to do so. Grandpa Boone loves having guests to entertain. The interesting part will be keeping our cousins from humping your legs like dogs in heat once they find out we’re bringing girls. Just ask Blue and Joss.”

“He isn’t lying, but the one who can truly attest to that is my sister.”

None of us miss the tension in Blues expression after she speaks. Her sister, Scarlett, was like fresh meat to the boys when we last visited. Well, to one of them in particular—Linden.

“Would you bring her this time?” There’s a smirk on West’s lips when he asks.

“Possibly. Maybe,” Blue wavers with a shrug. “All I know is I’m getting her fitted for a chastity belt first if I do.”

“Nah, no need. All it’d take is one of us scaring the shit out of Linden one good time and I guarantee he wouldn’t be a problem,” Sterling offers, drawing a laugh out of everyone.

“As much as I’d love to see that, I’m pretty sure that’d just make Scar even more interested,” Blue reasons.

She probably isn’t wrong.

“So, who’s down?” All eyes are on me and I’m not surprised when all hands shoot up into the air, making our plan official. Come December, we’ll be back in the Bayou and away from Pandora and all the other bullshit that happens in this city.

Speaking of, all our phones sound off at the exact same time. No question what the notification will be.

“Bitch doesn’t waste any time, does she?” I don’t think any of us miss the air of frustration in Sterling’s voice when he asks.

Pandora’s just given away our crew’s location, with a well-timed pic of Dane and I heading into the building last, with his hand dangerously close to my ass as we entered.

Lexi chuckles a bit. “Well, damn. If half the city didn’t already think you two were a thing, they sure as shit will now!”

Her teasing has the rest of the gang laughing, too, but I feel my face turning redder by the second. I suppose I should’ve just laughed it off, because now Blue and Jules are giving me ‘the look’.

“Something you two aren’t telling us?” she asks. I guess Dane’s lack of denial in response to Lexi’s accusation didn’t help much either.

“Well?” Jules’ eyes are alight with hope, intrigue.

My eyes flit to Dane and he clearly doesn’t care who knows, so it’s on me to decide whether I’m ready to let the cat out of the bag among friends.

“It’s a new development,” I confess, and before I can even elaborate, the girls are squealing and asking all kinds of invasive questions.

‘How’d it happen?’

‘Since when?’

‘Does this mean Pandora can’t call you Virgin Vixen anymore?’

‘Are you going to give us the details?’

Dane’s smile grows when he glances down on me, probably loving how uncomfortable I am right now.

“It happened after the party last weekend,” I reveal.

“You’ve been holding out on me for an entire week?” Blue tries to glare at me when asking, but she’s way too excited for it to seem threatening.

“We decided it’d be best to keep it on the hush. You know, because of Dane’s work with Rose.”

“You decided it’d be best,” he adds with a smirk.

“Well, yeah… It’s just that he’s worked so hard, I didn’t want us to get in the way of that.”

“Hell, I’d keep that shit secret under any circumstances,” Dez chimes in with a laugh. “Pandora doesn’t seem to believe anything involving you five is sacred.”

“Fucking tell me about it,” Sterling grumbles.

“Well, I’m over the moon for you two. This is awesome news, and my lips are sealed,” Jules says with a huge grin.

“Same.”

“Won’t breathe a word about it to anyone.”

Lexi and Dez make their promises in unison. As two of the newest additions to our group, they’re loyalty still has yet to be proven, but they’ve kind of been grandfathered in due to our trust in Blue.

“So?”

My eyes flit toward Sterling when he says that one word. “So… what?”

He shoots me a cut-the-bullshit look. “You’re gonna just leave us all hanging?”

I’m still not sure what he means, but when he leans in to whisper, I know it’s about to be something I probably don’t want to answer.

“Aren’t you gonna tell us if you fucked him yet?”

“Sterling!” I shove him away with a laugh. Thank God he was at least discreet enough not to ask out loud in front of everyone.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He nods at Dane after that, in such a way that the gesture conveys congratulations.

Sick freak.

“Anyway, we—”

I fall silent when Dane’s phone goes off with a text. “Shit. It’s Rose.”

“Ignore her ass,” West says with a laugh.

“That’d be easier if she weren’t out in the parking lot right now.”

No sooner than those words leave Dane’s mouth is there another knock at the door, and this time, I’m positive the person on the other side is no friend.

So much for this being a safe space.

“She saw Pandora’s post and wants to talk,” he says in a clipped tone, motioning for Sterling to shove out of our side of the booth. I follow right behind him, giving Dane room to stand.

“Is everything okay?” I sound nervous because, shit, I am nervous. Something told me there’d be drama when he didn’t show to the event, but I didn’t realize it’d catch up to us so soon.

The kiss Dane presses to my forehead is meant to calm me down, but it doesn’t work. If the knot in my gut is any indication, our night is about to take one hell of a turn.

Dane

The door closes behind me and I lay eyes on Rose—pacing in a parking space, glaring once she finally meets my gaze. I swear there’s steam rolling off the top of her head, fire in her eyes. I’ve seen her mad before, but never this pissed. Now, lucky me gets to feel her wrath.

Great.

Can’t fucking wait.

“Oh, well how nice of you to join me after I’ve spent the entire night wondering where the hell you’ve been.” She stops with the pacing and perches both fists on her hips.

“Something came up,” I explain with a sigh. “Didn’t bother calling because I knew you wouldn’t understand.”

I’m aware that my response will only make matters worse, but it’s the only answer she’s owed.

“You’re damn right I don’t understand!” she snaps. “Do you have any idea the hell I went through to get you an invitation to that auction? Or any idea how unprofessional it made me look after making arrangements for you to meet some very important people in attendance? And not to mention Shawna! She was dateless and spent most of the night making excuses for your absence, only for pictures to surface of you with your hand on some other girl’s ass.”

“I—”

“No, you don’t get to speak yet,” she hisses, maybe a couple feet away now. “I put my neck out on the line for you, Dane. But not just tonight. I’ve done this on many occasions, and I’m convinced you think this is all one big joke—your life, your career, your future.”

Her steps carry her away from me when she starts pacing again, only to come right back to get in my face a second time.

“And what are you gaining from any of this? A chance to fool around with a girl you’ll forget about the second a pair of nice tits in heels walks past?”

I shove both hands inside my pockets and don’t speak right away. I’d prefer to weigh my words, evaluate the situation, preserve my anger. When I let it run rampant, I see red, and then shit gets ugly.

Fast.

“If you keep screwing this shit up, you’re gonna wake up one day and realize she was never fucking worth it. And what’s worse is, you’ll realize she was never even on your damn level,” she adds.

She moves in closer, keeping her eyes trained on me. Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out who the fuck this bitch thinks she is.

“You’ve got a bright, bright future ahead of you, but I get scared for you, Dane. Because sometimes, I think you’re gonna piss it all away for what feels right today.” The stern look in her eyes softens a bit as she exhales. “You wouldn’t be the first to regret putting temporary emotion before a promising career. I’ve seen it before and I hope it doesn’t come to this, but… I can’t shake the feeling that it’ll take one hell of a wakeup call to help you get your shit together.”

She steps away and her eyes never leave me. Since day one, she thought she had me pegged, thought my main objective in life was to amass some unholy fortune, but she missed that that’s not really me. Yeah, I’m driven and have goals, but not to the point of risking it all to climb the ladder. My father was that guy and his greed tore our family to shreds. Which is why I vowed a long time ago to be deeper than that, to have more integrity than that.

“Rose, I agreed to bring you on board to oversee my career. Not to run my entire fucking life,” I snap, losing my cool despite trying to reel it in.

“The two are one in the same,” she insists, “and the fact that you don’t realize that means you still have so, so much to learn.”

“Or maybe it means that, until now, you’ve only worked with a bunch of assholes whose grand plan is to work their lives away, only to end up rich and alone when all is said and done.”

My words seem to shock her into silence for the first damn time ever. I’ll take the win, and the opportunity to get a few things off my chest.

“I’d like to be the type of guy who doesn’t measure his worth by what’s in his bank account. And I’m aware that this means I’ll miss an opportunity here and there in order to be around for my family, but I’m willing to accept that.”

“Like hell you will,” she scoffs. “How soon you forget all I’ve done for you, Dane. How soon you forget that you wouldn’t have half the success you’ve found if it wasn’t for me. You fucking owe me! Do you really think I’ll just let you mess this all up for me? For Shawna? No. Hell no.”

Lowering my head, I fight the urge to blow up again, feeling the rush of blood behind my ears, feeling both hands tremble as I suppress my rage. All that keeps me from acting on it is knowing Joss and the others are waiting inside. Rose won’t change my mind tonight, or ever for that matter. So, I decide to make this quick.

“Thanks for making this shit so much easier,” I say. “Consider our work together done.”

An incredulous laugh leaves her, and she stares, completely thrown off by what I just said. For so long, she’s had me by the balls, unable to move left or right without her say so, but those days are gone. I’m determined to live my life the way I want to live it, and a huge part of my life includes Joss.

“Mark my words—you will regret this decision,” she yells as I walk away. “Your father’s trial starts soon. You’ll need me more than ever then. Everything will fall apart without me.”

I don’t have any words for her, and I feel her desperation growing with the space between us.

“Don’t walk away from me! We’re not done here!”

Her quick footsteps approach from behind, but I don’t turn.

“Because I know how incredibly pigheaded you can be, I’ll give you until noon tomorrow to rethink this. After that, you have my word that I’ll rain down hell on your entire fucking world, Dane Golden. I have power you can’t imagine, power to make or break you, you little shit. Cross me and you’ll see just how cold it is out there alone.”

I slip back into the diner with Rose still shouting at my back, and when I lock the door behind me, I feel nothing but relief. I’ve finally closed this wicked cunt out of my life.

Literally.

Figuratively.

Good riddance, bitch.