“Like I said. Think about it,” he reiterates, then gives me one more hard look, and walks off.
I sit down in front of her like I did yesterday, taking her apple and biting into the same side she did. She puffs out her cheeks like a chipmunk and crosses her eyes at me. It’s the cutest damn thing I think I’ve ever seen.
“He must be desperate to offer fifty bucks an hour,” Dustin comments.
“Desperate to get in her pants,” Prez chides.
“I’m sitting right here,” Aurora says and throws her apple core at him. “No one is getting into my pants.”
I can’t stop my eyes from roaming down her body when she says that, knowing how badlyIwant to get in her pants.
“I could use the money. Fifty bucks an hour is a lot. More than I make in tips working a shift at Ruby’s.”
I reach over and grab her hand which causes her to still. “I don’t trust him, Aurora.”
I feel her fingers curl slightly against my palm, like she wants to grab hold, but she won’t let herself. She’s about to say something when Shelby plops down beside her.
“Looks like this is the place to be for lunch. Mind if I join you guys?”
Fucking hell. Is everybody going to crash my time with Aurora today? I see her hesitation before she relaxes back and welcomes Shelby with a smile. I’m glad that Aurora is coming out of her shell and interacting more. Something Cam should have been more encouraging about. So, I sit back and watch Aurora as she laughs and lights up around my friends, confident that this is where she should have been all along.
Chapter 11
Walking inside the door of my shitty apartment that evening, I’m immediately hit with the smell of weed and sex. The kitchen I cleaned before going to school this morning is trashed—literally. Food that I pay for is left scattered about on the counters and more than likely spoiled. Empty beer bottles are everywhere, including on the floor. I groan as I crunch across broken pieces of glass with my tennis shoes. White powder that may or not be cocaine or crushed-up fentanyl lies in broken lines on a plate. Fuck my life.
“Thought I heard you come in,” my older sister, Angelica, slurs as she weaves into the kitchen wearing only a soiled white bra and panties. “I need some money.”
I look dejectedly around the room and decide I’m not cleaning this shit up.
“Don’t get paid until next week,” I say and try to push past her to get to my bedroom.
Ever since Mom passed, I’ve been paying rent on this hovel shithole of an apartment. My room is the size of a broom closet, but it’s clean and it’s mine.
“Babe! Bring me a beer,” some random guy yells from down the short hallway.
“Fuck you, Ricky!” Angelica shouts back. “I ain’t your butler.”
“Angelica, it’s late and I’m tired. You need to clean this mess up. I’m going to bed.”
Screw making dinner. I’ll go to bed hungry before I touch anything in this kitchen.
Luckily, she’s too drunk and too high to stop me from squeezing past her. If I can just escape to my room, I can bolt the door and hopefully get some sleep.
Cam installed two deadbolts on my bedroom door a couple of years ago after one of mom’s fuck buddies-slash-drug dealer friends tried to sneak into my room one night. I was awake at the time, thank God, and jumped out of my bedroom window before he could even get close to my bed. Cam was out of town at an away game, otherwise I would’ve crashed at his place, so I was forced to spend the night on a bench in the park. Cam was livid when he found out. The next time Mom brought the guy over, Cam jumped him in the parking lot and beat the shit out of him. Never saw the guy again, and Mom just moved on to the next man that could warm her bed and get her high.
Angelica’s piercing screams follow me down the hallway as she calls me every curse word her drugged-up mind can think up. I’m two feet from the safety of my room when I’m pushed against the wall. Hard.
“You must be the little sister,” a man says, and I’m horrified to see that he’s completely naked. Not wanting to touch him, I duck under his arm, but he shoves me back. “I didn’t say you could go.”
“Don’t touch me,” I snarl at him.
“Or what?” He snickers.
I can smell his rancid breath and see his blown pupils. His greasy hair hangs long and sticks to his beard. It’s not his smell or the way he looks that has me terrified. It’s the fact that he’s naked and his dick is hardening. This asshole is getting aroused. Panic starts to bubble up and my eyes dart frantically around, trying to find the easiest escape routes. He slaps my face and I’m so shocked that he hit me, I freeze. I know it’s going to leave a bruise by the way my cheek burns and from the tinny, metallic taste of blood in my mouth.
“I asked you a question, little girl.”
“Search her for money,” Angelica tells him. “I know she has some. We’re out of beer.”
