The Butcher of the Bay Part II - J. Bree Page 0,24
with all the love seeping through my girl’s words. Odie just smiles and says, a little louder this time, ”I mean you as well, le Loup. You mean a lot to me too."
The shifting gets worse and I chuckle. "The kid struggles with affection. It's a classic Mounty kid thing, she'll get used to it eventually."
I glance in the rearview mirror in time to catch the kid rolling her eyes. "You mean a lot to me too, Odie. That asshole is alright as well, I guess, but he'd be better if he didn't run his mouth."
Odie’s smile widens, her teeth a stark white against all of the blood covering her hair and face. "You should come live with us too, le Loup. You should come and be safe with us."
My mouth quirks up on one side and I give her hand a little squeeze. Their friendship means so fucking much to me, to know that both of the girls I’d kill and die for care for each other this way is fucking perfect.
The kid fidgets a little and then says, "Actually... I'm heading to court next week for my emancipation. I got a scholarship to Hannaford Prep and I'm going there in a few months. I’m going to make it out of the slums of the Bay.”
My eyebrows damn near hit my hairline. "Hannaford? Fuck me, kid, you really are a fucking genius."
Odie looks over at me with a little frown and the grin I give her is a little crooked. "The place is a few hours away from the Bay, fucking ritzy as all hell. Full of senators’ kids and future presidents. I didn't even know they did a scholarship program."
The grin the kid has is so wide I see its reflection in the mirror. "They accept one kid a year. I'm it."
I want to stop the car and fucking hug her. The opportunity of going to a place like that, for an orphaned Mounty kid from the slums, she must have worked her ass off. It's fucking great news. Amazing that she's going to escape everything that has been done to her like this.
"Fuck me sideways, kid, that school has no fucking clue what it's in for."
She giggles, a sweet sound and something I don't think happens often. "Can you imagine though, my Mounty self walking through those halls. God, I could die laughing just thinking about it."
Her hands are still covered in blood, her clothes stained and spatters of it on her cheeks. I know for-fucking-sure no preparatory academy has ever had someone like her attend its prestigious halls.
"You're going to do amazing, le Loup. You're going to change your whole life by going there."
The smile falters just a little as she stares out of the windows. "That's the plan. Get out of here, hope the Jackal forgets about me, and then run off to the Caribbean to get rich where no one can find me."
Fuck.
I want that for her.
“Just make sure your place on the island is big enough for us to visit. No way you’re getting away without leaving us your address, kid.”
She smiles and shrugs. “You’ve got a lot on your plate for the next few years. You might just forget about the little slum lord who helped you out when shit went south.”
Odie winces as we hit a bump and I have to focus on her so I don’t yell at the kid for even fucking suggesting that bullshit. I can’t blame her, not really, because everyone she’s ever known has used her, let her down, abandoned her.
I’m not that guy.
I’m not my gutless excuse of a father.
I wait until Odie’s eyes are shut again and she’s settled back in her seat, not sleeping but resting for a minute, and then I peg the kid with a savage look in the mirror.
She tenses but her head tips back in defiance, strong and rock solid no matter what she’s facing.
“Listen here. This friendship of ours? It’s a ride or die situation. I had the same thing with D’Ardo but he fucking betrayed that. I know you won’t. You’re a good kid, a good friend, and I’m all fucking in. You need something? You call me. I’ll answer, no matter what and I’ll throw down for you even if you’re facing all of the fucking Bay. That’s how this is going to go.”
She blinks at me.
Then again.
Then she gives me the smallest of nods, like admitting she wants me as a friend kills her but