Toxic Bad Boy (25 page)

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.

Cece was curled into
Gianna where they sat on the couch. Her tears had stopped, likely
at Gianna’s understanding words. Catching sight of us, both females
glared at me along with Dante.

Holding up both hands, I
said, “Hey, I told him it was a dumb idea.”

At my words, Cece snarled
at Dante, “You told Caleb about how you want me to kill our
baby?”

Dante ran a hand roughly
over his face. “Fuck, I don’t know. We’re not ready for a
baby.”

“
If you loved me, you’d
want our baby.”

Surprisingly, Gianna was
the one who defended Dante. “That’s not true, Cece. Dante loves
you, he’s just scared.”

“
What about you, Caleb?”
Cece asked. “What would you do if Gianna was pregnant?”

“
Marry her,” I said
without hesitation.

“
Thanks a lot, man,” Dante
said sarcastically.

Ignoring him, I continued,
“But knocking her up was Plan B anyway if she refused to get back
together with me.”

“
I hope you’re joking,”
Gianna said, her eyes narrowed.

My answer was to shrug
noncommittally.

Dante tried to approach
Cece, making her slap out at him. “Don’t come near me! I hate
you!”

“
We can keep the baby if
you want,” he offered pathetically.

“
Oh, I’m so grateful for
your generosity!” Cece cried. “Thank you for not wanting a doctor
to murder our baby!”

Unfortunately, Dante
didn’t know when to quit. “I looked it up online and it’s not a
baby yet.”

Cece screamed in black
rage. “Get me out of here, Gianna, before I completely lose
it!”

Holy shit, could it
actually get worse?

“
Listen, man,” I told
Dante. “I’ll take her to my mom’s apartment for awhile before
taking her home. You two need to cool off away from each
other.”

As Gianna led her out to
my car after I tossed her the keys, Cece looked over her shoulder
to yell, “My baby and I don’t need you!”

“
Call you tomorrow,” I
told him, shaking my head at the drama.

He trailed me to the front
door. “Would you mind calling me later so I know she’s alright? I
doubt she’ll answer if I call.”

“
If you love her, support
whatever decisions she makes.”

“
Caleb, there are things I
want to do before I settle down with a family.”

“
Like spring break in
Cancun?”

“
And backpacking across
Europe like we said we would,” he reminded me.

“
Dante, I’m not going
anywhere without my girl.” I left him to think about what he
wanted, not that he knew himself.

*****

GIANNA

My iPod played a Lana Del
Rey song. The room was dark except for the glow of a street light
through the open blinds. Barely there kisses teased the skin along
my throat, up to my jaw, the corner of my mouth. The full contact
of our lips was more desperate as he deepened the kiss.

“
Caleb,” I sighed his
name. “I love you.”

“
Let me worship you,
Gianna,” he groaned.

A tinge of anxiety creeped
in. “I don’t think I’m ready.”

“
I just want my mouth on
you,” he said, pulling at my pajama shorts. “Say yes.”

Wrapping my arms around
him, I squeezed him tightly against me, reminding myself this was
Caleb. I was always safe with him. “Okay.”

He exhaled a breath,
exposing his relief. “I’ll go slowly. If you start to feel
uncomfortable just tell me and I’ll stop.”

Being brave, I removed my
pajama top. Caleb took my panties along with my shorts. He wore
nothing but his underwear, leaving them the only barrier between
us.

His tongue went from one
breast to the other. “I love you, Gianna.”

I know.

Knowing that made it
easier to relax. I bit my lip to hold back the moans. My dad was
asleep down the hallway and he would freak out big time if he
caught us. I’d die of embarrassment and be grounded until I turned
eighteen.

Caleb hopped off the bed,
surprising me. He flicked the bathroom light on and sauntered back
to me. Holy crap, I had the hottest boyfriend.

“
I want to be able to see
you.” He removed my arms from over my breasts. “Don’t be
shy.”

“
It feels like forever ago
since we did this. Like it never happened.”

His body covered mine.
“Oh, it happened. I’ve thought about it every day for nine
months.”

“
Poor baby,” I
teased.

“
Now, where was I?” He
swooped down to kiss each nipple before going down, where he
stayed. Long enough for me to orgasm for the first time since he’d
last touched me.

Panting, I closed my eyes.
I felt his head hit the pillow next to mine. “That look on your
beautiful face will always be my greatest work of art,” he
whispered in my ear.

Giggling, I shifted my body to face him. “Have I
ever told you what a pervert you are?”

“
Mistakes you can learn
from; sins stay with you forever.”

-Corey Taylor

CALEB

The best part of the show
was that I didn’t have to do any of the work. All Jim required of
me was to show up and speak with the attendees. Debra, the gallery
manager, had set everything up with the help of her technical
assistant, Donald, and Tyler. As an intern, Norah wasn’t yet
trusted with the most important details of the event.

Since I had to be there
before it started, Gianna was coming later with her dad. Sydney
Atwood, the urban realist artist, stood next to me, watching as the
gallery staff ran around, completing the finishing
touches.

I suspected Jim viewed
Sydney and me as finishing touches ourselves. She was an attractive
twenty-two year old African-American chick with black braids
halfway down her back and golden brown eyes. She was tall, almost
as tall as me with her heels on, and had a toned body. I knew my
own attractiveness and figured Jim expected us to photograph nicely
for the media he’d invited.

An article featured the
exhibit in this morning’s Denver Post. Jim had promoted the showing
online and in 5280 magazine. Two attractive young Denver artists,
who painted urban life, drummed up a lot of interest. While my work
focused on the violent reality, Sydney’s art concentrated on the
artistic pursuits of the city’s youth. Her subjects were musicians,
poets and other artists like herself.

I wore a navy suit with no
tie and a black t-shirt underneath. Sydney was dressed in a clingy
turquoise dress with lots of chunky jewelry around her neck and
wrists. We were like an advertisement for young and
modern.

My mom helped Debra set up
as if she worked at the gallery, even checking that everything was
a go with the catering company. She was more excited than I was
about my first show.

The only thing I looked
forward to was the red dress I’d made Gianna promise to wear. It
was shorter than what she usually wore and had sat in her closet
for months. Cece had given it to her as an early Christmas present
last year but she’d refused to wear it.

“
Caleb, can I talk to you
for a minute?” Norah asked, stopping in front of us.

“
Sure,” I answered
cautiously. The last time I’d spoken with her, she’d been pissed at
me.

Following her to the back
of the gallery, we went behind a partition and she pointed to the
painting there. “Is that your girlfriend?”

“
I’m sure you know it is,
with all the snooping you and your roommate did to track her
down.”

She placed a hand on my
arm, causing me to shake it off. “It wasn’t me. Christina knew I
was upset and felt protective.”

“
Whatever, just keep your
stalker roommate away from Gianna.”

Her face was earnest and I
almost believed her. “I promise, Caleb.”

“
What are these doing up,
anyways? I told Jim not to put them in the show.” The painting
she’d pointed at was of Gianna the night of the attack. Hanging
next to it was the painting of a raging Josh in his football
uniform.

“
Nobody will see them but
select and trusted clients of the gallery,” she explained. “This
area is already partitioned off from the rest of the gallery for
more taboo artwork. It’s away from the bathrooms and office so
nobody will wander back here on accident.”