- Black Gold 2 - Double Black Read Online Free PDF Page A

and he needs to accept responsibility for destroying my mom’s life and mine and my dad’s and…” He balled his fingers into fists. “He fucked it all up, and he ran off, and he’s all famous and rich and doesn’t give a shit about anything but himself, and he owes it to my mom to make sure I go to college.”
Goldie frowned like he was working something out. “Cole, you came out to your father? When did your father leave?”
    “I guess I was twelve when he left. He and my mom weren’t working out.” Cole frowned at the recollection. He reached for Goldie’s hand, like holding on to another human being would make it easier to feel those things again.
    “Anyway, when the cancer got bad, I went to live with him while she was in the hospital. That was like two years ago, I guess.” Cole hesitated to make sure Goldie was still interested.
    Seeing Goldie’s brows furrow, Cole went on. “It was stupid, but I got drunk and tried to kiss this guy one night. I thought he liked me. The next day the truck had Fag spray-painted on the windshield. Dad didn’t kick me out or anything. He still tried to love me.”
    That night, even Kyle had seemed angry with him, though as far as he knew, Kyle didn’t know that guy, let alone like him. But the man Cole had thought was his father had swooped in and taken care of the situation.
“Then Mom told us who my father was, and Dad didn’t want to see me anymore. It was like she’d given him the excuse he needed not to be related to a faggot.”
    Cole’s warm, fuzzy memories of his dad’s love were ruined by the fact that it had all been an act, one he dropped at the first excuse. A rough-edged sob lodged in Cole’s throat until he coughed and forced it out. His shoulders shook. The enormity of all he’d lost crushed him.
    Goldie wrapped Cole in his arms and kissed his cheek. “I don’t know how anyone could be so cruel to such a good kid. Where have you been living since then?”
“I was staying with my mom’s friend, Lucy, but she can’t afford to keep me indefinitely. I was gonna go off to school, but then there wasn’t any money left, and…” Cole’s face warped with misery and he clung to Goldie, barely aware he was doing it. “When you try to get grants or loans or whatever, if your legal parent makes too much or won’t sign or whatever, you’re screwed. It’s so unfair.”
    Cole rubbed his face on Goldie’s chest and gave him a pleading look, hoping he’d understand. “I sold my truck to get money for this trip and pay Lucy back. I didn’t think further than that. I just thought that if there’s any justice in the world, then that asshole will own up to what he did, and he’ll fix this. You have to make him fix it, Goldie. You’re a good person.”
    “Oh, honey.” Goldie smoothed Cole’s hair back tenderly. “If you need money for school, that’s not a problem, no matter what, okay?”
Goldie’s voice broke and his head jerked up in alarm. “Jett!”

Chapter Two
    Jett stared at the scene in front of him with narrowed eyes and his pierced bottom lip caught in his teeth. His tongue batted the captive bead as he tried to make sense of the tableau before him. Finally he gave up.
“What the hell is this shit, Billy?”
    Jett blinked and rubbed his nape with one hand, wondering if he was still high. He leaned against the door frame, leather-clad hip smacking into the lacquered wood all that kept him from losing his balance. He started to ask another question when a hellacious sonic blast rushed at him.
“Where have you been, you asshole? It’s like nine o’clock. We’ve been waiting for hours, and you haven’t even called! I saw you on TV. What were you doing?”
    At first Jett thought it was Billy, but Billy never yelled at him. Time stuttered like stop-motion photography as the kid Billy had been cuddling rushed Jett with the focus of a drug dog. He looked so much like him that Jett wondered if it was a manifestation of his id on the