Page 54 of Cost of Courting

She looks at me sharply, a look I remember from childhood. “Don’t say things you don’t mean, Edric.”

“I’m not. We’ll take care of all of it.”

She sits back and puffs on her cigarette. “Maybe it’s just as well. Better the devil you know than the one you don’t.”

I finish my beer slowly.

“No one knows, not to the extent of what she’s doing. Luna most of all. She’s a good kid, but Selene is stuck in her head. She thinks she needs to protect Luna. Perhaps she’s done it too thoroughly. That girl’s taste in boyfriends is terrible.”

I frown and lean forward. “What do Luna’s boyfriends have to do with anything?”

“Luna brought Benson down on us. It was Luna dumping him and the fight Selene put up that had him focusing his gang on our poor neighbourhood.”

“Was it now?”

She looks at me sharply. “Things changed while you were gone. Lots of things. It’s not like it was. None of it is. You were needed, and you left.”

I stay silent, absorbing the furious and hurt words because she’s right. We did know we were needed here.

I sit with her accusations until, with a sigh, she stands up. “Let’s get her moved. She can’t stay here.”

“Why not?”

“I’m a nurse. Benson runs a gang. If he finds out about me, I won’t be around to help her anymore. Take her back to your house and send Luna to her friend Kailey’s for a week. She’s been dying to go.”

“Who is Kailey?”

“Girl from school, they are friends. Luna will love it. But, more importantly, she will be safe while Selene heals up.”

She walks into the room and turns on the light, checking Selene over.

“Stupid girl. This is the worst. You’re going to have to take these painkillers with you. Don’t give her too many. Come on, Mael, lift her up.”

Mael lifts Selene up, and we walk into the garage where our car is now parked and waiting. Kingston sits tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

Mael slides into the back with Selene while I take the bag that Dot gives me.

“Good luck. Keep her hidden. Protected. I wouldn’t put it past him to try something now while she’s vulnerable. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

I get in the car without another word, and Dot, never one for ceremony, walks back into her house.

We detour, just in case, but don’t leave it long before Kingston gets impatient with her soft moans and takes us home.

I have to grit my teeth to stop from suggesting he take us anywhere else. A hotel. An armoured bunker.

Mael is careful when he carries her into our home. I attack first, slamming the body up against the wall and pinning him there.

“Did you think we couldn’t smell your stink?”

Bailey groans, but his eyes are caught on Mael and the precious bundle in his arms.

“What happened?”

He shoves me off him and follows on Mael’s heels.

“What happened to her?” Bailey snaps.

“She fought again and lost,” Mael murmurs.

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