Toxic Bad Boy(63)

My girl looked at me, her face turning red. Had she been this bad of a liar the night she’d claimed to be with Gage? Thinking of Gage pissed me off. Gianna informed me earlier that she’d be hanging out with him tomorrow. It made me extremely unhappy, but I’d declined the invitation to see a movie with them. If I beat the crap out of him, Gianna would be angry with me.

The memory of what I’d done with another girl in a theater recently popped into my head. Perhaps I’d join them after all.

“That’s too bad,” her mom said sincerely.

Gage would be moving to Boulder in August for college so at least Gianna wouldn’t be able to hang out with him very often. I hadn’t seen Jared since I got out but I knew he’d be off to college soon. Unfortunately, he was going to Metro State downtown, so he’d still be around.

Especially when Cece’s baby was born.

After we ordered, Julie asked Gianna about the courses she’d signed up for in the fall. Due to the extra classes I’d taken in youth corrections, I could’ve taken twelfth grade English in summer school and graduated early.

But it would’ve meant leaving Gianna behind and that wasn’t an option. We’d missed out on doing all the stupid high school crap together last school year, including prom. For our senior year, we’d experience all that stuff and have the pictures to look back on it.

We finished our meal and said goodbye to our parents. I wasn’t excited about them getting back together, but I’d seen it coming after Chance’s birthday party. I bet Julie had pulled out all the stops to win my dad over again. Even gritting her teeth and forcing herself to get along with me to prove she’d changed. Maybe she’d finally figured out that Gianna belonged to me now and didn’t want to lose my dad, too.

Before I’d moved in with them the crazy woman had made my dad ecstatically happy. If she did that again and was nicer to me, it was a win-win situation.

Gianna’s phone rang as we strolled back to my car. “Cece,” she said before answering. As a guy on a motorcycle revved past us, she put her hand against her other ear. “I can’t understand you.”

I guided Gianna into the parking garage. Cece was so loud I could hear her crying uncontrollably through the phone’s speaker. Between sobs she was trying to speak, but even for Gianna it had to be incoherent.

“Where are you at?” Gianna asked her.

I clearly heard her stutter through tears that she was at Dante’s house. Big blue eyes pleaded with mine as we neared my car. “Fine, tell her we’ll meet her there.”

“Cece, we’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Do you need me to stay on the phone with you?”

Suddenly, screaming could be heard from Cece’s end. I assumed it was Dante she was yelling at.

“Okay, see you in a few,” Gianna said quickly and hung up as I buckled her seatbelt for her.

“Pregnancy hormones?” I joked.

“Pregnancy something,” Gianna mumbled.

“Let’s not have kids for a really long time,” I suggested. Picturing Gianna with a giant round belly shouting at me was a funny thought, but the reality might not be.

“You’re the one who keeps talking about moving in together and getting married,” she teased. “I just want to concentrate on finishing high school.”

“I’ll try my best not to knock you up before then.” When she started laughing, I added, “By using contraceptives.”

The scene at Dante’s house wasn’t pretty. His family had gone on vacation, leaving him home alone because he’d began a new job stocking shelves at a grocery store. Cece came barging out of the house before I’d put my car in park.

Gianna stepped out of the vehicle just in time for Cece to launch herself into my girlfriend’s arms. Dante followed Cece at a slower pace wearing a guilty expression. Oh shit, my boy had somehow fucked up. From my last conversation with him, I could guess what had happened.

I surveyed the neighborhood as a kid on a bike pedaled by slowly to watch the drama. “Why don’t we go inside?”

“Come on, baby girl,” Dante urged.

To which Cece turned a tearstained face on him and screamed, “Fuck you!”

The kid on the bike came to a halt in front of the house next door.

Gianna ignored Cece’s resistance and got her into the house. Dante wore a helpless expression as they passed by him. Before going through the door, I muttered to him, “Told you not to go there.”

He shrugged. “I thought she’d see it was for the best.”

Shaking my head, I slapped him on the shoulder. “Guess not.”

When I’d last hung out with Dante, he’d confided that he thought maybe abortion was the right decision. Cece wouldn’t have to give up dancing and neither one of them would become teen parents. I’d advised against the stupidity of suggesting such a thing to his girlfriend. Obviously, the moron hadn’t listened.