“Now, slide off, I need coffee.”
She slid off, and he pushed up to rest his shoulders on hermountain of pillows.But being Archie, she rolled from him in a way that shewas up on a forearm in the bed beside him with her pelvis pressed to his hipand her leg thrown over his thigh.
He twisted at the waist and reached for the mug she’d beendrinking from, and he did it back to fighting his rock-hard dick that hadn’tgone soft because after last night, this morning and now her message couldn’tbe clearer.
He was owned.
However, he didn’t fight the warmth that thought burned intohis gut, because when that happened between people, it went both ways.
He handed her the mug, got his own and lay back against thepillows.
They both sipped and then he asked, “How worried do I haveto be about these Harris brothers?”
She caught the side of her bottom lip with her teeth, andJag was not a big fan of that.
So he muttered, “Terrific.”
“Okay, they were in group.And you’re right.They’re bulliesandmotherfuckers.They got kicked out.But they don’t need closeproximity to rain havoc.The kids all go to school together so they have acaptive audience there for whatever shit they want to pull.”
“Backtrack,” he demanded.“Explain group.”
She sipped and said, “So, you know this ’hood is not in ahigh-income bracket.”
He nodded.
She nodded back.
“Freya, the teacher that lives up front,” she tipped herhead toward the wall that separated her apartment from the next, “she teachesat their school, has lived in this area for years, knows everyone.We were outon the fire escape, having some wine when I first moved in.She shared aboutsome of the issues people face.I had an idea, I told her my idea.She thoughtit was a great idea, so with her help, we did it.”
“And?”he asked when she didn’t follow through.
“Childcare isn’t cheap.If it’s a double-parent household,to get by with still mostly just basics, both parents have to work.If it’s asingle-parent household, things are a whole lot tighter and sometimes thatparent has two jobs.Some of the kids were latchkey.Some of the parents werehanging on by their fingernails, some sliding off.The kids suffered.Parentsdid.Families…”
Was she saying…?
“So, I take the kids in that age group,” she declared.
Yes.
She was saying that.
“Twelve, thirteen years old, one girl is fourteen,” she wenton.“They hang at the soda fountain.I have an area in the back for them to dotheir homework.They also have a TV back there.I give them stuff to do to helpout around the store, and when they do, I throw some cash their way.Nothinghuge, but enough they know their time and energy isn’t taken for granted.Andthis surprised me, but they like that the best.Guess it shouldn’t surprise me,though, because anyone likes to feel useful.They also like having cash intheir pockets.I also think it makes them feel grown up.Sometimes I come upwith fun shit they can do.Or my staff does.Like they play DJ and spin tunesfor the shop, shit like that.Sometimes we do field trips.”
She shrugged.
And then she kept talking.
“The Ethiopian restaurant up the way is run by a big family.They pay a couple of local teenagers to clean, bus, do dishes, but the kidsalso watch a few of the younger ones.They have some space above therestaurant, and since they have a big family, there are lots of people to keepan eye on them.Gina, my fourteen-year-old in group, sometimes she’ll go downand stay with them if they’re busy in the restaurant and there isn’t anyonethat can be around for the kids.Not for long, though.They usually have fiveor more kids, that’s too much for Gina for too long.Those kids also sometimescome here if there are too many of them.And if there’s overflow, or if one ofthe kids isn’t feeling well, the dry cleaners across the way is run by acouple, and her mom lives with them.She’s too old to work the machines, butshe isn’t too old to look after kids and she loves doing it.”
She took another sip.
Jagger stared at her through that sip.
Then she kept going.
“Obviously, to be included, the kids have to behave.Theyhave to do their homework and follow rules.That’s how the Harris boys gotkicked.It sucks, but I had to do it.They were messing up the others.Behaviorproblems sparking through all of them because the Harrises didn’t have theirshit together and wouldn’t get it together.Then again, their parents arefucked up, don’t care where their boys are or what they’re doing.This is why Ithink Mal started acting up and he also had to go.He was stealing.There wasbacktalk.He was being ugly to the other kids.I worried that something washappening at school.Freya said she wasn’t seeing it.I asked Mal, he wasn’ttalking about it.I asked the others, they don’t snitch.I had no choice but tolet him go.Now I know those boys are screwing with him.”
She definitely knew that.
