Page 14 of Rough Rider (Bad Boy High)
“That late?” I joke. “Jules still has Velcro shoes. She doesn’t like laces. Told me they were funny and only old people used them.”
“She’s five, you say?”
“Yeah. Everyone is old to her.” I finish looping the laces around Andy’s ankle and then straighten up. I fish a hoodie outof the closet and hand it to her. “You can pull up the hood and cover your hair.” I mime the action of flipping the hood up.
“You embarrassed to be seen with a girl?” she says. I think she’s teasing me. There’s a slight upward tilt at the corners of her pretty lips.
“Nah, but it’s…” I hesitate. I’ve already beat up two people and made her hold my bloody hand. Since she hasn’t run away, I’m trying to tone down the scariness on my part.
“Safer?” she says. “You don’t have to pretend with me. I live here. Well, not in this area, but you’ve seen where I come from. It’s not pretty.”
I nod in understanding. Her mom’s a stripper and junkie, and they live in a place with paper doors and no lights. Her room had been tossed like the rest of the place, but it wasn’t the break-in that I didn’t want Andy to see. The person who was searching for money or drugs got distracted by Andy’s underwear drawer. It wasn’t just jealousy that made the hairs of my neck stand up. It’s not something I plan on sharing with Andy, though. If she has trouble sleeping now, this piece of info won’t help her bouts with insomnia.
“There aren’t many places around here that are pretty.” I gesture for her to follow me out the door. It locks automatically when it shuts, but I tug on the handle to make sure. “You always have trouble sleeping?” I ask as we’re walking down the street toward the river.
“No, usually I’m wiped out and am unconscious two seconds after my head hits the pillow. This time”—she shakes her head—“my brain was full of stuff, and don’t ask me what because I couldn’t even say. It just felt like my head was buzzing.”
“Unfamiliar place,” I guess.
“Probably. Speaking of unfamiliar, where are we going? I don’t recognize this part of town.”
“This is Rider territory.”
“You say that as if it explains everything.”
“You aren’t familiar with the territories setup?”
“I didn’t even know the name of your gang.”
“We’re not a gang,” I correct. “It’s more like a business. I get jobs and am paid for those jobs.”
“The jobs are to collect money?”
“Sort of.” I scrub a hand over my skull. It sounds bad, but I can’t really hide from her. She’s already seen me in action. “It’s not the only thing I do.”
“You don’t have to explain. We’re all just trying to survive.”
“Right.”
“You still in school or graduated?”
“Last year. You?”
“Same.” She gives me a once-over. “I thought you might be older.”
“I get that a lot. Because of my size.” People look at my big frame and my shaved head and assume I’m in my mid-twenties. It works in my favor most of the time.
“For me, it’s your eyes.” She touches the corner of her eye. Even in the dark with only the street lights, I can see how they sparkle. She’s so pretty. My mom has this little ceramic angel that she puts out during Christmas. The figurine has dark brown hair wrapped in a bun and rosy cheeks that match the red dress. The red dress has painted white fur at the bottom and the collar. As a little boy, I’d stare at that little Christmas decoration for hours, but I never touched it. Even as a boy, I had big hands, and I knew that if I got too close, I’d probably break the thing. Andy reminds me of that ceramic doll. She’s so pretty, so breakable.
“What’s wrong with my eyes?”
“There’s nothing wrong, but I…” She pauses and glances at me from the side of her eyes. “I see myself in them, I guess. Kind of wary about the world because we know that there’s not a lot of good out there, and we have to protect ourselves and the peoplewe love. My mom, she’s not going to win any parenting awards, and she gets in trouble a lot, but she’s still my mom, you know? I want her to be okay, which is probably dumb of me, but I can’t help it.”
“I get it.” She sees herself in me? I don’t know whether that’s good or bad, but like the ceramic Christmas doll, I can’t let anything happen to Andy. I’m afraid of getting too close, but I also can’t stay away.
Chapter Twelve
ANDY
