Page 94
It takes all my power not to fall back.
“Girl, you’re good. We were just helping you get home,” Olive assuages.
But the girl is clearly having an even worse night now.
She shrugs out of our hold, offers a glare, and then sees her ripped shirt.
Fear flashes behind her eyes. “There was a creep dragging me behind a dumpster…”
“Taken care of,” Olive advises. “Before anything could happen.”
The girl relaxes, all the energy leaving her body. “My grandmom told me nothing good happens after midnight.” She slowly slides her hands over her pockets, retrieving a phone. She narrows her eyes when the bright light illuminates her face. “My sister is looking all over for me. Thank you both, seriously.”
HOOOOOOOONK!
“Fuck my sister is pissed.” The girl wipes her mouth. “Sorry for being a bitch.” She offers us one last smile before she’s beelining it to a car in the street, stumbling as she goes.
The driver is still laying on the horn.
I watch in stunned silence as the girl jumps unsteadily in the passenger side, and the car zips away.
“Well that was insane.” Olive turns to me and offers an intense gaze. “Why are you associating with a Roux?”
“What?” I ask, the whiplash from the last fifteen minutes catching up fast.
She points back down the alley. “Orzo! Orzo Roux!!” She doesn’t allow me time to explain before she is yanking me towards the car.
Again, my attention flashes back, but there is no sign of where the men went.
***
“That’s the boy who gave you this frog?!” Olive exclaims, falling back on my bed.
We ended up in my apartment. I decided to forgo Orzo’s place for a second night in a row.
And while there is fear a rat will pop up, per my aunt’s texts, it should be all clear now.
And said frog is in my bag on the floor, I bend down pulling it out. “Yep.”
“Did you ever…”
“Look into how or why my mom died?”
Olive winces. “I swear you’re a mind reader. Yeah that.”
“No,” I admit with a shrug, squeezing the stuffed animal to me like it will magically provide some sort of comfort.
Except that’s exactly what it does. What it has always done.
It is a reminder that once upon a time, someone cared about me enough to keep me safe, even when my own mother didn’t.
And then this stuffed animal kept me safe again, years later, but in another way entirely.
“Cin.” She stares at me appraisingly. “What if… What if Orzo isn’t a good guy? From what you have told me, you know your mom wasn’t associated with the best people, and we don’t want another…situation.”
She’s referring to the last time I got too close to a man.
To the one who lived next door before Bran.
