Page 52 of A Brother At My Back

I nodded. “Not totally unusual for her,” I said. She would typically let me know she was off for a couple of days and that would be it. She always showed up to take me to work and I would always bitch her out for making me worry, but this time was different. This time there was like a one-hundred-percent chance there were ulterior motives at play. I said as much.

“Cops won’t listen,” Mali said with derision.

“Which is why we should,” Reaver said. “Pigs are good for nothing and once again, reaction versus pro-action.”

“I think the word you’re looking for is proactive,” Mali said dryly.

“Yeah, that,” he said with a cheesy grin. I laughed, and so did Nik.

“What? Out of all of y’all, I’m just a po’ dumb country boy. Y’all motherfuckers are much more well-read than me.”

“No one’s arguing that, Bro.”

“Yeah, fuck you,” Reaver said, grinning.

“Ah, yeah, nah!”

“I don’t know, Zeb, that sounded a little indecisive if I’ve got my Kiwi translation right,” Mali joked, tone sly.

I shifted slightly and wanted to scream, ‘What about Delia!? Can we get back to that, please?’

Reaver looked me over, “Try your friend now,” he suggested. “Shoot her a text, though. Don’t call.”

I did as he asked, and we all stood around waiting for something ? anything ? to come through in return, but after a couple of minutes went by with nothing, he frowned.

“Whereabout does she live?” he asked.

“Other side of town, in the Maple Green apartments,” I said.

He frowned, “I don’t know where that is, but at the same time, I probably know where that is.”

“As in been past it like a thousand times, but never really put the name to it?” Mali guessed with a raised eyebrow.

“That would be it, yes. You interpret my crazy so well, young Padawan.”

“Fuck you, who schooled who that one time?”

He rolled his eyes and I met Nik’s gaze as they bickered. He frowned and said, “Guys!” They stopped and looked over at me.

“Look, I may not be happy with Lia right now, but her heart is and always has been in the right place where I’m concerned. She did a lot for me after…” I pursed my lips and rolled them together. “After Silas.”

Mali snorted and said, “Like turned you into a stripper who’s a prostitute on the side?” she asked. It stung but her next words cut even deeper and made me want to stand up for my friend. “With friends like that who needs enemies?”

“Mali,” Reaver scolded, and she had the grace to look embarrassed.

“Look, I get how it looks to someone like you –“

Mali scowled, “Someone like me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Just someone who hasn’t had to make any really hard decisions, I guess it what I meant.”

She laughed a bitter barking sound. “Oh, oh. That’s rich, but fair. Definitely fair, that was a shit thing for me to say.” She swallowed hard and looked me in the eyes. “I’m sorry, but please don’t think I haven’t had to make any tough decisions. I definitely shouldn’t be one to judge or poke holes. I’m sorry for being a dick.”

I wanted to give her the finger, I mean I was mad, but I really needed to keep learning from her, and she was teaching me and teaching me pretty well, and asking nothing in return. Plus, she had just apologized, even if it looked like she’d sucked on a lemon as she’d done it. So, I swallowed my anger for the time being and grated out, “It’s okay, I’m used to it.”

“Ouch, and now I feel like an even bigger asshole,” she declared and sighed, scrubbing her face with her hands.

“If you two were dudes, I’d tell you to beat the shit out of each other and go have a couple of brews already, but when it comes to bitches, I’m at a loss for how you all handle this kind of shit,” Reaver declared.

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