Page 46 of The Lost Kings
I pushed my hair back from my face and stood, peering over the loft railing and seeing Gio playing a video game down below, their large flat-screen lit up with a myriad of colors and a car driving fast over terrain.
“I need to talk to you guys.”
Gio called up from below, “Is that Elvis?”
“Yeah!” King shouted back as if I weren’t here to say it myself. I rolled my eyes at their dumb nickname for me and walked over to where Kingston was sitting. He didn’t lift his feet, just raised his brow in challenge as if he dared me to forgive him for what he’d done and go back to how things were between us.
That fluttering only worsened as I swallowed my pride and sat down on top of his legs, which made him smile.
“You have to stop calling me that, it’s stupid.”
Gio made some sort of pained sound from below followed by a loud crash on the screen.
“Fuck, that thing always gets me!”
Kingston blew out another plume of smoke and then handed me his blunt. “Haven’t stopped in sixteen years. Don’t think it’ll stop now that we’re almost eighteen.”
I wrinkled my nose at his offered hand. He knew I hated weed unless it was in brownie or gummy form. I didn’t smoke or vape. I ignored his comment about being almost eighteen because I still hadn’t come to terms with it. I was one year and six months younger than my best friends, and I’d dealt with that disappointment my whole life, which always felt manageable. Until now. Becoming an adult felt different, as if they’d pluck out their roots from the soil of the manor and walk away from me forever.
“Still too good for our weed?” Gio asked, climbing the last step to their loft.
I shook my head while Gio made room on the armrest, his arm touching mine.
“I’m not too good for it; I just don’t like inhaling substances that could be bad for my lungs.”
King laughed quietly while Gio reached over and took the smoke from his brother and inhaled.
“I think one day you might like the way certain things feel on your throat,mi reina.”
I shook my head. “Not smoke.”
“No.” Gio smirked, while shaking his head. “Not smoke…probably something a bit warmer, and smoother.”
Yuck. “If this is about that warm eggnog your mom tried to serve last Christmas, I stand by what I said. It should never ever be warm, it’s not normal.”
I heard Kingston choke, and then he kept coughing, which served him right. He shouldn’t be smoking. After one last clearing of his lungs, he moved his feet, which were under me, to kick his brother but all it did was make me fall sideways. My face was suddenly in Kingston’s lap, smashing against his phone or whatever he had in his pocket.
“Ow!” I sat up quickly, slapping at King’s stomach. “You better not have a gun in your pocket. That’s too freaking big to be your phone. Scotty will kill you if you took anything from the armory.”
His eyes grew wider as a flush crept under his eyes, and that’s when Gio burst out laughing. King’s mouth snapped shut and he shoved me back into place so he could get up.
“Jesus. It’s not a fucking gun, Pres.”
Fine, his phone then. Whatever.
He was mad now, which sucked, but it wasn’t my mistake. “It was his fault.” I pointed at his brother. “And I’m only mad because your phone hurt my face when I fell.”
Gio had doubled over laughing but I made out something he said. “Wasn’t his phone.”
Then wha?—
“What are you doing here, Presley?” Kingston interjected snidely.
I crossed my arms and made myself more comfortable on the couch. “I came here to ask you guys for probably the biggest favor I’ve ever asked you.”
They didn’t say anything, so I swallowed the lump in my throat and continued.
“I want to enroll in the local high school next week. I’m only hoping to attend for a few months, until June.”
