No More Mr. Nice - By Renee Roszel Page 0,34

hold of his upper arm and hauled him to his feet.

“Hey!” Moses objected. “Don’t trip, man. I wasn’t raping the woman. We were just having some fun.”

“Yeah?” Lucas released the boy. “From that kind of fun comes babies. You want a baby?”

Moses shifted uneasily, and his face caught a shaft of bright moonlight. Jess could see his expression change from aggravated to troubled. “I don’t want no babies, man!”

Jess had taken Annie’s hand. The girl was mortified, whimpering, “Gee, Mrs. Glen, we wouldn’t have—wouldn’t have done—you know—the wild thing. I swear.”

Jess felt a rush of depression about the foolishness of teenagers, but tried to smile. “That’s how a lot of babies get started, Annie. Terribly, terribly unplanned.” She looked around. “Where’s your gunnysack?”

Annie sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “I think it’s over there.”

“Lead the way.” Jess had a feeling Lucas wanted to talk to Moses alone. She was the one trained for such a task, but she sensed that Moses might respond better to a man, since he had no male role model in his family.

She cast Lucas a worried look over her shoulder, wondering what he would say. Deciding she’d better keep her ears open, she whispered to Annie, “You find that sack and join Jack, Suzy and Larry.” She could see the three of them huddled not far away. “You kids get on with the hunt. This delay may cost you the championship if you hang around doing nothing. I’ll get my stick and start beating the bushes.” She decided it was time to tell a real whopper. “I saw a couple of snipes running that way.” She pointed directly away from Moses and Lucas. “Get over there about ten yards or so, and keep your eyes peeled.”

Annie grabbed her sack and joined the other team members. As they disappeared into the shadow-shrouded woods, Jess stealthily made her way back to hide behind a beech tree. She prayed Lucas would be as good at man-to-man talks as he was at making money, but had her doubts.

“Okay, Moses,” Lucas was saying. “I know where you’re coming from. You’re feeling your hormones. It’s normal.”

The youth grunted, but made no comment.

“You’ve got to use your brains along with your…” There was a pause, and Jess chewed the inside of her cheek in nervous anticipation. After a second, Lucas continued, “Along with Mr. Prick, down there.”

“A lot you know, man. You’re old,” Moses groused. “And Annie’s a fine thing—hot to trot.”

“I don’t care if she’s a racehorse that’s been set on fire, you don’t have sex with her. Not this week, and not unprotected. There are diseases out there, man, that can cut your horny little life short. You get me?”

Silence reigned for so long, Jess had to venture a look. Moses’ expression was masked by darkness. Lucas’s face was visible, however, and he appeared serious, but not angry. His hand was on the boy’s shoulder. Jess was startled by the humanness of the action, and wondered if it was pretense, or if he really wanted to help Moses.

“But she—But Annie came on to me, man…” Moses carped, breaking into Jess’s musings.

“With a stud like you, it’ll happen again.” Lucas half grinned in understanding. “And when that day comes, have a condom in your wallet. Protect yourself and the girl.”

Moses frowned. “I ain’t got the bread for condoms.”

“Do you have the bread to feed a baby, or are you one of those jerks who screws ’em and leaves ’em?”

Moses met Lucas’s eyes. “My old man did that. Left my mom before I was born.”

“And he’s your idol?”

“He’s a badass.”

“You want to be like your dad?”

“Get off my back, man.”

“Answer my question,” Lucas prodded. “Do you want to be an ass to some other little boy someday?”

Moses made a pained face. “No. I want to be a car designer.”

“Good goal.” Lucas patted his shoulder. “Tell you what. Before you leave, I’ll give you some condoms. You use them when Mr. Prick goes into action, and you stay in school. One day, you just may be an automotive designer.”

Moses peered sideways at Lucas, his expression skeptical. “You’re gonna give me rubbers?”

“Don’t tell Mrs. Glen. I’m not sure it’s part of the program.”

Lucas smiled then—a warm, amused, open smile. Jess stared, dismayed at how her heart thrilled at the sight.

Moses chuckled suddenly, and shook his head as though incredulous. “You’re a cool dude, Mr. Niceguy.” He stuck out a hand. “And I thought you were a total dwebe.”

Lucas took