Of course she has a housekeeper.
“What about your mom? Where’s she at?”
She tenses. “Paris, Milan, Monaco, who knows for sure? My dad mentioned something about the South of France last week, but she changes her mind like the wind.”
“You don’t see her often?”
“Not really. She checks in every now and then, but it’s mostly just me and my dad.”
She leans up on her elbow and I move her hair back over her shoulder.
“I don’t want to talk about her anymore.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“You.”
“What about me?”
“How are you so… you, when Tariq is so different? Like, he does drugs, and gets into fights.”
I fail not to smirk and I’m glad for the darkness hiding it.
“You think I’m not like him?”
“Most of the time I don’t know what to think when I’m around you.”
“I’m not so different to him, Amelia, I just handle myself better. I’m the one who controls him, keeps him in line, and makes sure he does what’s needed. We come from the same place, but I make the most of it, he just lives for the ride.”
“Are you the leader of your gang?” I can feel her cringe under my touch as she asks.
I shuffle around so we’re lying down, her back to my chest.
“I don’t follow, Amelia. Never have done, never will. My boys are like my family, and I’ll always look out for them. You don’t need to know that side of me, it’s nothing you probably haven’t already imagined but nonetheless, I won’t say it out loud.”
“Can you tell me one thing?”
“What do you want to know?”
“It’s always on the news that people on your side of the city are killed. Could that be you?”
“Every day of the week.”
“Doesn’t it scare you?”
Smirking, I shake my head. “The streets are tough, but they don’t scare me.”
“What does scare you?”
I’ve laid enough of myself bare tonight, I press my lips to her shoulder.
“Not getting enough sleep.”
Maybe one day I’ll tell her what scares me, because right now, she’s the only thing that scares me in this world.
9
Amelia
