younger. Wait until you’re all alone and not so pretty anymore, and that big handsome guy leaves you. Remember what I said then, when you’re desperate and your babies are hungry.”
“Here, take this and buy yourself some food.” War shoved a twenty in her hands.
Cackling, she took it and tucked it into her cleavage. She lunged for the door, knocking me out of the way. Outside, she shuffled across the lawn. The group of guys we’d been worried about were still out there. They welcomed her, lewdly grabbing her as they passed her back and forth.
Sick to my stomach, I whispered, “Get me out of here, War.”
“Gladly,” he said, and he did, coming to my rescue twice in one night.
The rest of the walk to my uncle’s house was a blur, both of us processing what we’d seen. War was as shocked as I was. He’d shown me his mother way back when, and now he’d seen mine. Our backgrounds were more alike than unlike, the rejection and neglect by our mothers similar.
He told me to get some rest and kissed the top of my head before he left. But I didn’t sleep afterward. Like a bad movie, the horrible scene with my mother kept replaying in my mind, seeming inescapable.
War
“Lace has been acting weird since we ran into her old lady,” I told Bryan, noting that the designated smoker’s area behind the Troubadour had a lot less graffiti than the one at Footit’s.
“That was a month ago.” He took a puff of his cigarette and turned his head to exhale away from me. “Not that she shared anything with me,” he mumbled, sounding put out. “I just remember because you told me.”
“Yeah, I guess it was that long ago.”
We’d been cold and in jackets then. Now, it was spring and nearly a comfortable temperature outside. Time flew with the band kicking ass, and me having the best kickass chick back beside me.
“She really not share anything with you to explain her mood?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. I had the feeling Bryan had been avoiding her, and she seemed to be doing the same since the night of her birthday.
Which was good, of course.
Though she denied anything happening with him, thinking about the two of them alone together without me as a deterrent still made me uneasy.
“No, man. She’s probably just stressed. With her best friend in a downward spiral, she doesn’t have anyone to hang out with.”
“She has me,” I said.
“Not during her classes. Not at lunch.”
“Doesn’t she sit with King at lunch?” I asked.
“Sometimes.”
I cocked my head, concerned that Bryan remained aware of what she did when, and with whom.
“She has the SAT retest soon,” he said. “Maybe it’s not running into her old lady that threw her for a loop. Maybe it’s just that.”
I wasn’t aware of the date. Lace and I didn’t really do a lot of talking anymore when we were alone. Thank fuck.
I narrowed my eyes. “How’d you know when her exam is?”
“It was on the materials for the prep course,” he said with a shrug.
“Yeah?” I asked, pressing a bit just to be a dick. When he nodded, I frowned. “I’ll be glad when that’s finally done.”
The five-day-a-week course he’d signed her up for had seriously eaten into my quality alone time with Lace. Between her studying for school and for that fucking pointless SAT, I still hadn’t gotten across the finish line with her.
The door to the alley creaked open. Since I was facing that direction, I saw Lace the moment she stepped outside. She was so beautiful, just looking at her made it difficult to breathe. She was wearing one of those crisscrossed lingerie-type tops with a lot of skin showing in the mesh, and a full skirt. Her blond hair was loose around her bare shoulders and curled up at the ends. I loved feeling the silky softness of it around my cock when she went down on me.
Bryan shifted to look at her too. His back to me, I couldn’t see his expression, but hers softened as she looked at him.
“You look pretty tonight, Lace,” he told her, and she smiled.
“Thanks, Bry.”
I wanted to gag at their exchange. But got over it when she stepped past him, coming straight to me.
“Those music reps are back again,” she said as she ran her hands over my chest.