Toxic Bad Boy(31)

“Well?” I prompted.

Cece looked ready to burst into tears. Rushing to her, I drew her into my arms. Her shorter frame trembled against me. “It’s positive!”

“Do you want me to go buy another one?” I asked, knowing it was no use.

She sniffled. “No. I’m two weeks late, Gianna. I don’t need another test to tell me I’m pregnant.”

“What do you want to do?”

She shrugged, moving to sit on my bed. “I don’t know. This is such a mess. I accepted the invitation from the academy yesterday and now I’m knocked up. My career will be over before it’s begun.”

“So you’re going to have the baby?” I asked, silently relieved she wasn’t thinking of an abortion.

Her head dropped into her hands. “I don’t know! I’m not ready to be a mom!”

“Maybe you should talk to Dante.”

Her head snapped up. “Not yet! I have to decide what I want first.”

As much as I wanted my friend to have her shot at becoming a professional ballerina, I didn’t like the idea of her getting rid of the baby. She and Dante would have the most adorable baby.

Sitting on the bed next to her, I put an arm around her shoulders. Her glassy brown eyes pleaded with me for advice. As if I were in any position to give it. My own life was a different brand of disaster.

“How about you take a few days to think about it? Do some research about your options. I’ll even go with you to Planned Parenthood, if you want.”

“Am I a bad person if I get an abortion? We’re Catholic. My parents would kill me.” Tears streamed down her face, making her mascara run.

I brushed her unruly hair away from her face. “You don’t have to tell your parents, Cece. But Dante has a right to know, no matter what you choose.”

“I suppose, but I’m afraid to tell him, Gianna. We’ve been together for almost a year, but we’ve never talked about this type of stuff.”

“He loves you,” I assured her. “He’ll do the right thing.”





CHAPTER NINE





“Don’t change on me. Don’t extort me unless you intend to do it forever.”

-Tupac Shakur

CALEB

The football player stood menacingly over the cheerleader in her matching blue and gold uniform. Her eyes were closed, her face covered in blood. She resembled a broken doll, sprawled out on the hard floor. The football player’s eyes were wild, his face twisted in uncontrollable anger, his fists clenched as if to inflict more pain.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the image. I hadn’t been there at that exact moment, when Josh had hurt the girl I loved, but it was etched in my mind nonetheless.

Setting down my paintbrush, I stepped away from the painting.

I hated it.

I hadn’t realized how much I’d despise it until it was finished. Jim was expecting me to deliver it to him next week. After working on it furiously over the past two days, I’d completed it sooner than he’d anticipated.

I had to get out of here before I burned the thing.

Grabbing my keys and tugging a t-shirt over my head as I pushed my feet into a pair of unlaced Converse, I locked the apartment door behind me. It was Tuesday evening and the summer sun was just beginning to lower in the sky.

I slipped on the sunglasses I kept in my car as I pulled out of the parking garage. I needed food. My mom had been at work all day and I hadn’t eaten since lunch when I had a sandwich and chips. I was tempted to go to my favorite diner, but the last time I’d been there had been with Gianna. I swung by a drive-thru instead, getting a hamburger and fries.

I’d resisted for four days since getting out of juvie, but I couldn’t any longer. Entering the address I’d memorized while locked up into my phone’s GPS, I got directions to Gianna’s dad’s house.

It was only twenty minutes from downtown, in an area of Englewood I was vaguely familiar with. Swallowing my food without really tasting it, I washed it down with soda and got onto the freeway.

Their house wasn’t far from the Denver Tech Center and Fiddler’s Green, where I’d been to a few concerts. Normally in the summer, I’d have tickets for concerts at Red Rocks, Pepsi Center and Fiddler’s Green. Sometimes even at the seedier venues downtown.

This year I’d be stalking my ex-girlfriend instead. Hailey was right, my life was pathetic.

But letting go of Gianna would be like taking my last breath. And I was too young to die.

The house was in a very expensive neighborhood, even for Englewood. I’d known Gianna’s dad came from money, but damn. No wonder Julie had been pissed when he’d divorced her ass. My dad made a good living, but not enough to afford a house like this.