I stepped over to Kaylee, who was picking up her books, and helped her gather the pages that had blown free.
“What happened?” I asked as we stood.
“My mom was hospitalized last night.” She drew in a ragged breath, her hands trembling. “I needed to get home to take care of my sisters, so I wasn’t as careful as I usually am. I knew better. I shouldn’t have taken the back stairs. Security guards are never there this time of day, but Dante was, and he grabbed me.”
“We should report him,” I said, looking around for the security guards.
“Reporting it just makes it worse,” Kaylee said. “You know that. No one cares.”
A sudden shift in the noise drew my attention to the kids who had been standing in small groups on the lot. Their laughter had stopped. No one was talking. They were easing away, slipping behind the teachers’ cars.
“Do you see anyone with a gun?” I asked.
Before Kaylee could answer, the scent of Trek’s aftershave breezed over me. I gripped her arm and, turning slowly, weighed our chances of leaving before Trek saw us.
He was staring straight at me, smiling at my expression, his white T-shirt not large enough to hide the outline of the gun holstered in his waistband.
Kaylee hissed and, before I could stop her, she dropped her books, slammed in front of me, and spit on Trek. “I hate you,” she shouted.
Her outburst terrified me. “No, Kaylee!” I tried to pull her back.
Trek wiped the saliva off his arm and smeared it across her lips.
She slugged him, her hands slapping blindly until he caught her wrists and bent her arms behind her. Holding her hands pinned against her back, he forced her to rest her head against his chest.
“You didn’t win,” she said bitterly.
“Was it a competition?” he asked. “Is that what you think it was?”
Tears welled into her eyes.
I stared at Kaylee, sickened, suddenly knowing whose name she wrote on the soles of her shoes. My heart pounded, a battering ram of emotions. “Let her go.”
Trek smiled at me and pressed her tighter against him. “What do you think you’re going to do about it?”
“You won’t back down, but neither will I.”
He laughed. “You want to fight me?”
When I didn’t answer, his eyes became tense, radiating danger. “Do you think I’m Dante?” he asked softly.
I could feel the tension vibrating between us but said nothing and stood my ground. If it came to a showdown, I’d be left bloodied on the pavement.
To my relief, Trek smiled and loosened his hold on Kaylee. His hands smoothed up her arms to her shoulders, then to her neck, where his fingers lingered, his touch tender.
Tears rolled down her cheeks when he held her face and forced her to look at him. “I don’t need to fight you anymore, do I, Kaylee?”
“Why bother?” she said sadly. “You already took everything you wanted from me.”
Trek let her go. Without looking at me, she picked up her books, ignoring the pages that had scattered across the pavement, and walked away, her posture showing her defeat. She still loved him.
I rushed after her. “Kaylee!”
Trek grabbed my arm and pulled me back with such force, I fell against him.
“Do you think I came here to have it out with Kaylee?” he asked. “You’re the one I’ve been looking for. What’s up?”
I said nothing.
“Are Satch and Rico the reason you’ve been keeping yourself from me?” he asked.
“No,” I said sharply.
“I should have shredded them the night I got rid of Nando. They’re making me into a fool. I gave them a lure and they still haven’t gotten Danny.”
“It’s my fault.” The words rushed out when I saw Satch and Rico striding across the parking lot toward us. “I’ve been busy with school and my grandmother—”
“I can see through your lies,” Trek warned. “And I like the challenge of figuring out what’s really going on in your mind. Maybe I’ll find something that you’ve even hidden from yourself.”
I sighed. “It’s been hard. What do you think? The boy is dead.”
“That doesn’t mean a thing,” he said angrily. “You better learn that fast and get used to the killing.”
“I don’t want to, ever.”
“You got to, Blaise,” he said, softening his tone. His hand rubbed my shoulder. “We don’t have a choice. Death lives here, with us.”
“Who lives here?” Rico joined us, his eyes on Trek, who ignored him.
Satch stood like a mountain beside me.
“Get Danny tonight,” Trek ordered. “He’ll be at his usual spot near Tulley’s selling to my customers.”
“Why tonight?” Satch asked.
“Just do it.” Trek left us standing in the emptied parking lot, the pages from Kaylee’s history book twirling around us.
“I got a bad feeling about this,” Satch said as soon as Trek was out of hearing range. “We should wait.”
“Something’s wrong,” Rico agreed.
From behind them, standing where only I could see him, Trek pulled the gun from his waistband and aimed, first at Rico, and then at Satch. Grinning at me, he slipped the weapon back under his T-shirt and continued across the lot, leaving me paralyzed with fear.
I grasped my throat, trying to breathe, and said in a thin voice. “I’ll lure Danny.”
“You promised you’d never do that again,” Rico said. “Why the sudden change?”
“Do you always need to have an explanation?” I said with an explosion of anger that silenced him. My entire body was shaking. “Maybe if we bust Danny’s face, Trek will leave us alone.”
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
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21
Four hours later I left my house, and after five blocks of walking in platform shoes that blistered my toes, I reached Tulley’s. Three men sat on the benches in front, talking sports and sipping orange sodas, the air around them scented with soap from their after-work showers. They fell silent as I strode past them, the tap of my heels the only sound in the nighttime quiet. I could feel them watching me and felt uncomfortable, queasy even, in my skimpy torn dress that was more advertisement than clothing. I had done my own makeup this time. I wanted Danny to recognize me.
Quickening my pace, I dodged into the alley and didn’t slow down until I reached the stone house with the iron fence where Satch and Rico waited, hidden in the ivy, the glossy leaves shimmering from the streetlight. Though neither spoke, I nodded my understanding; I had to bring Danny back to where they stood.
Staying behind the shelter of trees, I stole into the Borderlands, the air suddenly too sour to breathe. The odor came off a girl, my age, who moved in jerks and hitches, her face scaled with scabs. An unlit cigarette, half-eaten and stuck on her bottom lip, bobbed as she counted out dollar bills that looked slimy with dirt.
Though I had seen no one down the street, when she waved the money, Danny rode his bicycle out of the crevice between two row houses and pedaled toward her. Nighttime sales required more caution.
Straddling his bike, he took her money and, in exchange, handed her a deflated red balloon that held her drugs. Impatient to get high again, she scurried away, coughing her lungs clear as she crawled under the porch where she most likely lived.
Danny folded the bills into a Ziploc bag that was fat with money, then tucked it into the waistband of his spotless jeans, and rode away.
I stepped into the street and called after him. “Hey, Danny!”
“Blaise?” Leaning to the left, he guided the bike back to me, the ankh that Ariel had given him reflecting the streetlight.
A sudden breeze swelled my torn skirt, showing off my legs and curves, but Danny never glanced down. From the way he focused on the empty buildings behind me, I knew Ariel had told him what I was doing for Tre
k.
He braked in front of me. “You look beautiful.” He grinned. “You could stop any guy dead in his tracks.”
His choice of words spun an icy foreboding down my spine, but I smiled sweetly and, forcing a laugh, said, “That’s what I’m supposed to do.”
“Did you come here after me?” he asked, kidding around but also serious. “Are Satch and Rico hiding nearby?”
“I’ll have to come after you eventually, Danny, but I’ve already done my job for today,” I lied, while playing with the skirt I had torn before leaving home. “I came here after to catch my breath. Sometimes things get too intense, you know?”
He glanced at the rip in the silky material and his grip on the handlebars loosened. “What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, staring at his perfect nose, his straight teeth, his sincere eyes that still hadn’t looked down at my body. If he would just gawk at my breasts, give me one lascivious glance, then I could do this without remorse, but he didn’t. Maybe he was seriously in love with Ariel. My chin started quivering.
Danny bent lower, over the handlebars, so he could see into my eyes. “You look ready to cry. Was it that bad? Did he hurt you?”
“Go away, Danny,” I choked. “Just ride away. I need to be alone.”
“I’m not going to leave you when you’re upset.” He swung his leg off his bike, set the kickstand, then took off his white shirt, which smelled of Ariel’s perfume, and wrapped it around me. “You’re shivering.”
“I’m not shivering,” I insisted, my emotions unraveling. Was I crying to lure Danny or crying because I was luring him? I felt miserable, and that was no act. “Just go. Please.”
“It’s warm inside Tulley’s. I’ll buy you a soda and you can tell me what happened.” He grabbed the handlebars and began rolling his bike forward, while his left hand guided me toward his ambush.
Because he was worried about me, he had let his guard down and didn’t see the shadows racing through the ivy until Satch and Rico sprung out at him.
Terror ripped across Danny’s face. He pivoted and tried to mount his bike, but their fists were faster, hammering his arms and cuffing his head, their feet scuffling around his until the bike toppled and Danny fell on top of it.
When he tried to get up, Rico struck his face. Danny turned to escape Rico’s blows and Satch nailed him with one punch. His fist slammed into Danny’s nose. The cartilage snapped with a sharp crack and his blood spattered the gravel.
“Stop!” I screamed.
“We’re done.” Satch gripped Rico’s wrist to keep him from throwing the next punch and held on until Rico’s fingers uncurled and his arm went limp, the fight draining from him.
They sprinted away, yelling for me to come with them. I stayed and watched Danny drag himself off the fallen bike. He slumped against a trashcan, blood trickling down his neck and over the silver ankh.
“You bitch,” he groaned. “I was trying to help you because you’re Ariel’s friend.” His fingers scrabbled through the weeds, found a rock, and hurled it at me.
It struck my thigh, the pain needle-sharp, his curses hurting me more. I staggered back, despising myself, my arms tightened across my chest, forcing back a wail of despair.
“Blaise, come on!” Rico yelled.
“I’m going to get you, Blaise,” Danny said. “I don’t care if you are Ariel’s friend. You’re going to pay for this.”
His threat released me from my shame and guilt. “You can try,” I whispered. “You can always try.”
With deliberate slowness, I took off his shirt, dropped it on his bike, and walked to Rico, who waited for me at the corner.
“Where’d Satch go?” I asked as we raced through the Borderlands.
“Home to get drunk,” Rico said.
“Good idea. Let’s join him.”
We found Satch sitting on his back porch, drinking a beer, two six-packs at his feet.
I kicked off my shoes and slid my blistered toes through the cool grass before collapsing next to him.
“Better drink.” Satch handed me a beer as Rico sat beside me, examining the scraped skin on his knuckles.
“I’m going to get blitzed,” I announced, snapping the tab. Beer foamed over the top, cold on my fingers, the froth dripping onto my legs. “If I can kill enough brain cells maybe I can forget this night.”
I guzzled the first beer and watched the moonrise, remembering a time when something as simple as the night sky had given me a thrill. By the time I had finished my second beer, sirens were rising and falling, their discordant wails causing dogs to howl and yelp.
“Do you think Danny called the cops?” I asked, tossing my empty can into the pile.
Rico shook his head. “He knows the rules. I mean, what did he expect? He was dealing to Trek’s regular customers.”
I grabbed another beer. “He’ll have to go to the hospital,” I speculated. “Irwin won’t be able to fix his nose. It was smashed back, clear over to the—”
“Shut up about Danny,” Satch said. “How are you going to forget if you keep talking about him?”
“It’s hard to forget,” I said sadly, wondering if Danny had told his homeboys yet. I pictured my grandmother’s house punctured with bullet holes, and then I thought of Ariel. Danny had probably called her while he was still on the ground. “Give me another beer,” I said gruffly, the wind lifting my skirt.
“We need something to distract ourselves,” Rico said, elbowing me playfully. “You dressing like that makes me wonder what you’re doing when we’re not around. Tell us. Have you lured any guys for yourself?”
“I wouldn’t know what to do if I caught one,” I said, shrugging his hand off my shoulder.
“Satch and I can help you out,” he joked, gripping my knee. “We know what happens next. We’ll give you some practice.”
I caught his wrist as his fingers smoothed up my thigh. “I’m sure you and Satch don’t need any practice.”
“We don’t, but you do,” Rico said.
I felt heat rise to my cheeks and pressed the can of beer against my face.
Rico nudged me. “How many guys have you kissed?”
I stared at the moths, pale in the moonlight, fluttering around the hollyhocks. Did Trek’s kiss count? I didn’t want his to be my first, though technically, I supposed it was.
“You’ve never had a real kiss, have you?” Rico teased, his hand settling back on my leg. “You better let me show you how it’s done.”
I twisted away from him. “Stop it.”
“Come on,” he said. “You need practice for your first real event.”
“You’re crazy, Rico,” Satch said, crumpling a beer can. “Leave her alone and just let her get drunk.”
Instead, Rico stood and pulled me to my feet and into his arms. My beer fell to the concrete and rolled into the grass. I started to push him away but then I saw the sadness in his eyes and felt bad for him.
Behind me, I heard Satch smash another can, but my focus remained on Rico. Maybe it was the beer or my own longing, but I moved my hands up his back, entwining them around his neck. When I felt his body quake, I held him tighter. I knew he was using me to hide his sadness from Satch so he could keep up his hard homeboy front. Though I felt no temptation to do more, I let him kiss me until his need to cry had turned into a need of a different kind.
“You better have another beer,” he said softly, looking down at me, his smile slow and lazy, his gaze making me aware of how little I was wearing. “I’ll get more.”
When Rico went inside, I turned to Satch, who had crushed all the beer cans while I was kissing Rico.
He stared at me, but he wasn’t smiling. “I don’t know what you’re playing at,” he said angrily.
“You’re the one who wanted us to stop talking about Danny,” I shot back.
“So you’re in love with Rico now?”
“We’re just fooling around.” I kicked at his stack of flattened cans, sending them
across the yard and startling the moths, which flitted away. “What’s so wrong with that?”
“You want to fool around?” Satch stood and grabbed me, his hands clinching my waist. “Okay. Show me what Rico taught you.”
“I don’t want your kisses.” I shoved him hard, but he was huge, his muscled chest like a brick wall, and he didn’t budge.
“I thought you needed practice,” he joked meanly.
“I’m not going to practice with you.” I tried to pull away from him, but he only held me tighter.
“Then consider this the real event,” he whispered.
I stared up at him, my eyes widening, as he leaned down. His lips touched mine, hesitating in anticipation of my response. A pleasant ache flowed through me, flooding me with an unbearable yearning. Breathing faster, I wrapped my arms around him and parted my lips, the taste of him overwhelming my senses.
My grandmother had told me that boys were dangerous, but I hadn’t understood her warning until Satch kissed me. A hunger awakened within me, causing my heart to race.
When the back door started to open, Satch pushed me away and sat back on the steps.
Dizzy and flushed, I stared at him, wanting another kiss, barely aware of Rico, who stepped outside carrying two new six-packs, which he set on the porch.
He must have felt the tension, because he looked at Satch and then at me. “Did you two have a fight or something?”
Standing, Satch said, “It’s been a long day. I’m going to bed.”
A sense of hopelessness washed over me as I watched him go inside. Quietly, he closed the door without once glancing back at me. The deadbolt slid into place and then I felt Rico turning me toward him.
“Hey,” he whispered, tracing a finger down the front of my dress before his hands settled on my hips, his smile telling me that he had believed my kiss had been more than it was.
“I’m not ready, Rico,” I said softly.
“I’ll go slow. Don’t worry. I know it’s your first time.” He leaned closer, his lips tickling my neck as he spoke. “Do you want to go to your house or mine?”
“You don’t understand,” I said as he started to kiss me. “I don’t want to do anything.”