“Yeah.” She tugs on my hand. “Come on.”
I dig my heels in. My fists itch to meet their sneering faces. “Those motherfuckers. I’ll teach them a goddamn lesson. Give them a reason to never ever touch you again.”
“No. Kash.” She tugs harder on my hand, then when I’m still not budging, lifts a hand to my face. “Let’s go.”
They’re whistling at us now, calling out names. Calling her names. Calling her a stupid, filthy slut, an ugly ginger cunt, worthless trash, bastard girl. Telling her that her mom is a whore, that they’ve all slept with her.
Those motherfuckers.
Letting her pull me away is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done—and I’ve done some damn hard things in my life. Knowing they’ll keep looking for a chance to hurt her, humiliate her… It makes me spitting mad. It makes me wanna hurt them so damn bad.
And the worst part is that I know I can.
“Come on.” She’s walking so fast she’s almost running, leading me away from the gang of pitiful dicks who think it’s cool to harass nice girls for shits and laughs. “Ignore the jerks.”
I let her tug me away from there and resist the urge to turn back and introduce them to my fists. “Where are Nate and West? I thought they were walking you home these days?”
“Nate can’t leave work so early today. It used to be West’s day, but texted me that he’s job hunting.”
Well, looking for a better job makes perfect sense. He isn’t paid enough to live on, not in that diner.
He needs money. I haven’t had a moment to ask him if he’s going to inherit anything. It all depends if the bastard who called himself West’s grandfather thought to make a will providing for Della and her boy.
It seems doubtful.
I grip her hand more tightly as we cross the street. “Is he okay, you think?” He’d been shell-shocked after he found his sister dead, and after finding out all about his family.
“No. But I hope he wi
ll be.”
Dammit. “Something’s eating at him.”
“You noticed, too.”
I nod. “So he’s out there looking for a job right now?”
“Well, he said he’d swing by the old apartment first, grab some stuff before it’s cleared out. Papers, clothes, knick-knacks… you know..”
“Yeah.” I walk her to the bus stop, making sure the assdicks are not anywhere nearby or getting on the same bus.
She turns and gazes up at me. “Thank you for coming over. For looking out for me. For us.”
I kiss her, a quick brush of lips, and I draw back before I deepen it. Can’t help myself around her, and her bus is about to leave. “Will you be okay if I leave you?”
Is it weird I’m so protective of her? I’m not her parent, or her older brother, and I was balls-deep inside her yesterday.
Maybe that’s part of it. That, and the way I feel about her. Like she’s mine, and I’m hers.
“Yes. See you at home tonight.”
I stay until she climbs into the bus and it rumbles away, leaving a cloud of dust behind. It’s not until the bus has turned the corner and vanished behind the buildings that I shove my hands into my pockets and start walking.
I want to see West.
My feet know the way to our old neighborhood, so I let them lead and light up on the way there, letting the sweet smoke calm me down.
It’s just the idea of West back in that place. The apartment where he met death, and insanity, and managed to come out alive—but not untouched. I want to know what else he is hiding, what other secret he’s hiding.