I said the only thing I could think to say to this…stranger. “Well, I hope everything works out for you guys.”
“Oh, Kenzlee,” she murmured. “Everything will be fine. Your father and I just have to…regroup, is all.”
I sat there and knowing my parents really couldn’t care less about me was a hard realization to come to terms with. I always thought that if times ever got tough, they’d be there for me. Granted, as a young girl, I never truly anticipated times becoming tough, but still.
As my mother drone on about her troubles, I couldn’t help but think about Lela and how was she going to be able to afford Daniel’s baseball now.
∞∞∞
Talon~
Edie was going to fucking kill me.
I finally got the bleeding to stop and, frankly, I hadn’t been too worried about it. Everyone knew head wounds bled like a sonofabitch. I had been able to get away with a butterfly stitch, but there’d be no hiding it from Edie. It wasn’t that I lied to her, I just knew how she worried, and I hated that guilty look in her eyes every time I had a new bruise or scrape. Edie knew I fought, and she knew why I did it.
She also knew she couldn’t stop me.
I felt a slap on the back of my shoulder. “Great fight, Draven,” someone said on his way out of the restroom. I didn’t look back to see who said it. I didn’t know half the people here, so I took the congratulations like I always did; with a simple nod and grunt.
I studied my face in the mirror, and there was no denying it. With Mom working two jobs, I could avoid her until my face healed, but there was no avoiding Edie.
Fuck.
The door to the restroom opened, and I watched through the mirror, the Finley brothers, Lars and Hunter, walk up behind me with big ass smiles on their faces. Lars shook his head. “One day, you’re going to get your ass handed to you, Draven,” he laughed. “But, until then, you do make me a shitload of money.”
Lars and Hunter Finley were my two best friends. They lived a couple of houses down from my house and we grew up together in one of the lower income class neighborhoods. We weren’t exactly poor enough for government assistance, but we weren’t well off enough not to struggle. My father’s crappy child support checks didn’t amount to shit in the scheme of things.
“I know someone who’s going to give you a solid ass kicking,” Hunter joked. “Remind me to stay out of Edie’s way for the next couple of days.”
I turned to face the two idiots. “It’s getting harder and harder to find someone to fight me for big money. The odds aren’t profiting enough,” I told them, ignoring the truth about Edie and her fussing.
Lars shrugged a shoulder. “What do you expect, Tal,” he said. “With your fight record, no one’s going to bet against you.”
“Maybe you need to lose a f-” I shot Hunter a lethal look that clearly stated I didn’t lose. He laughed. “It was just a suggestion, dude. Relax.”
I let out a deep breath, realizing I was still a bit amped up over the fight. I looked at my two best friends and smiled. “You know what would really bring in the cas-”
Lars already had a hand up, stopping my thoughts. “As much as I’m positive I can kick your ass, Talon, I don’t need to chance ruining this pretty face of mine, and thus, disappointing the lovely ladies.”
We all laughed because we knew Lars was serious. I always thought their parents named them wrong. Hunter’s name belonged on a pretty boy, where Lars’ named belonged on a tatted-up biker. Hunter was the fighter and didn’t give a shit about much, while Lars was the lover and put more thought into his actions than either Hunter or I did. Now, don’t get me wrong. Lars had a great knuckle game and he could fight just as well as Hunter and I could, he just preferred not to, if he could help it.
I looked over at Hunter, and he threw his hands up too. “Don’t look at me, dude,” he chuckled. “While there are a lot of faces I’d love to smash in, yours isn’t one of them.”
I turned back towards the mirror and examined the damage again. Edie was going to stress, and Ihatedwhen she did that. That girl was my entire life and her happiness was paramount to my existence. But, as much as she hated me fighting, I did it for her. “How bad does it look?”
“The teachers have long since ignored the way you come to school sometimes, Tal,” Lars replied. “No one bats an eyelash anymore, but you can’t hide it from Edie. You’re not that lucky, man.”
I snorted. “I’m plenty lucky, asshole.”
I could hear the smile in Hunter’s voice. “Not when it comes to that girl,” he sing-songed.
The pussy.
I turned back towards my friends and shrugged a shoulder. “She’ll get over it,” I said.
“She always does,” Hunter agreed.
Some guy walked in and the crowd noise and music let me know that there were still a lot of people hanging around for the remaining matches. I always fought first because I hated waiting. Anticipation didn’t prime me up for a fight, it just irritated the shit out of me. I was ready to fight the second I walked in the door, and I didn’t like to take the chance that by being the final match, my adrenaline would wane by the time it was my turn. The book makers hated it, but again, I didn’t care.
