Page 84 of Play Dirty

“Come on,” he says. “You’re not that important. You’re not that powerful. You can’t take credit for my fuckups. Those are all mine, asshole. And you’re certainly not gonna take credit for my happiness, either. Also all mine.”

“You took the blame for me,” I say. “Why did you do that? And don’t say that’s what friends do. No one takes that kind of blame to save a friend. Not when said friend fucked you over.”

He smiles. Shakes his head a little. Then frowns. “Because you always had a future, and I never did.”

“You’re a goddamned billionaire, Ixion. Your family had more money than God. You did have a future before I fucked it up. And now look at you! You’re—”

“I’m fucking perfect.”

“Your whole family is dead!” I say. “That’s what Evangeline and I are hiding from you! That house I live in? That beautiful empty mansion that used to hold a family? Well, they all died last year in a car crash. That’s why I’m here. It made me realize what I took from you—”

“Stop being an asshole,” Ixion barks. “They died in a car crash. A drunk driver killed them.”

“But they all died thinking you made that sex tape. They all died thinking you were a criminal. And you were sitting in jail and didn’t even get to go to the funeral. They all died thinking—”

“They died thinking of me the way they saw me, Jordan. My father never said, ‘Tell me what happened, Ix. I’m on your side. I’ll believe you if you say you’re innocent. I’ll help you if you say you’re not.’ He never said that. He said…” Ixion pauses.

“He said what?” I ask.

Ix swallows hard and takes a deep breath. “He said… ‘I always knew you’d end up this way.’ And yeah, maybe your dad’s an asshole. No, he is an asshole. But at least… at least he always had your back. My dad never had my back. My dad accused me of stealing his good cognac, and fucking things up with his mistress, and—”

“That was me!” I say.

“I know, dumbass!” And then he laughs. “I know it was you! He probably knew it was you too! But he wanted it to be me. He wanted it to be me, Jordan.”

There’s a long silence in the room. I think we’re both holding our breath.

“He wanted it to be me, so it was. He hated me and that’s all there is to it. He said he was cutting me out of the will. And if they had died a few days later, he would’ve and I’d have been left penniless. But they didn’t, they died that day. And I had nothing to do with it. And you had nothing to do with it. And fuck it, right? I miss my little sister. She didn’t deserve that. But… but I refuse to feel guilty because they died and I lived. I did that already. I spent eight years doing that. And then you know what happened? One day Jordan Wells pulls me out of a jail cell, cashes in a favor he didn’t want to use, and gives me a second chance at happiness. So fuck off with your bullshit guilt, Wells. OK? Just fuck off. Because what I’m really here to say is…”

He reaches for my shoulder. Grips it with his hand and I’m holding my breath again.

“Is thank you, man. Just… thank you. Things go the way they go and what comes out the other end is exactly what you put into it. That’s all there is to life. What you get is what you give. And you give a whole hell of a lot, Jordan. A whole helluva lot.”

He stares at me. Waiting for my reaction. His eyes almost pleading with me to say something.

I breathe. Internalize. And then say, “You wanna kiss me, don’t you?”

He pushes me away, laughing. “Fuck you.”

But then… but then he reaches for me again. And he does.

He kisses me. It’s a nice kiss too. Right on the lips. No tongue or anything like that. No passion or romance. It’s just innocent, and nice, and perfect.

And when he pulls back he says, “That’s all I got for you.”

And I say, “It’s more than I deserve.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

We take separate cars back to Denver because—obviously. And he goes his way and I go my way, except… I don’t know where to go.

I don’t want to go home. I don’t want to think about that house. But I don’t want to go to the Bartos house either. I could go to work, but the day is pretty much over and my father might be there.

I do not want to see him right now. I have not even begun to sort through those feelings yet.

So I go to the only place I can go.

Chella’s.