fundraiser,” I admitted. “I probably won’t see him again.”
Her brow puckered as she ladled some soup for me, then placed it on the table. Two grilled cheese sandwiches made an appearance on my dish next, followed by a large glass of milk.
God, I loved being at the Majors’. The food was simple, but it always tasted good, and she never underfed us. Emma always made sure we had full bellies.
As I took a spoon and swirled it in the soup, she asked, “If he was there today, why wouldn’t he be there again?”
“He came for the senator’s PR thing.”
“He’s the senator’s boy?” Emma’s voice shifted an octave. “One of the twins?”
My lips curved. “Yeah. Adam.”
“I’ve seen them on TV. She’s doing all those press things for her reelection campaign.”
I shrugged—having no interest in politics, I didn’t know anything outside of what my classes wanted me to know.
“I don’t like her,” Emma declared, and because the judgment was abrupt, I looked at her.
“Why?” It wasn’t like Emma to even focus on anything but her daughter’s health. She ate, slept, and breathed Louisa.
Emma pulled a face. “She’s uppity.”
That had me snickering. “Uppity? What does that mean?”
“Do you know she came from Laurence?”
I cocked a brow. “Really?”
“Yeah. Really.”
Everyone knew that was the worst part of the city—the bit I’d just walked through to get home.
“But she pretends she’s something she’s not. She only gets in because Laurence is so big. They think they’re voting for one of their own, but they’re not.”
“I didn’t meet her,” I admitted, “but her son seemed nice. Kind.”
Emma shrugged, but I could see what she was thinking—like mother, like son.
I wanted to argue that Adam hadn’t been buttering me up for his mom’s campaign—it wasn’t like I was a voter—but I never bothered explaining about my skills with auras. If I did, Emma wouldn’t believe me anyway.
They were Christian here. They thought they were doing their Christian duty by taking a Roma girl in, and probably asked their good Lord to forgive them for having a nonbeliever under their roof.
Far as I could see, their prayers weren’t doing Louisa much good, but I’d never hurt them by saying that.
We all had to have faith, didn’t we?
And if their religion was a comfort, then I was grateful. They deserved better than the lot they’d been given.
But so did I.
Any stars in her eyes at my having a crush had disappeared by my mention of who Adam’s mom was. Emma cleared up the kitchen and pretty much left me to eat on my own, and I was okay with that.
The clock ticked, echoing around in a restful way. In the background, I could hear the rumble of the washing machine, and I sighed, enjoying it, knowing the peaceful hum would be broken with Kenny’s ebullience when he returned home.
I’d get a recap of just how damn great wrestling practice had been, then he’d go off his rocker when I made him sit down and study.
Fun.
But at that point, when I wanted to headbutt the table then headbutt Kenny, I knew I’d think of Adam.
And I’d smile.
ADAM
The community pool was forty minutes away from my house, and to say it was in a bad area was an understatement.
As long as we did our studies, trained hard, and never rocked the boat, Cain and I had a lot of freedom. Of course, I usually had less than him because of the shit he pulled that got me grounded, but that was as much a part of my life as having to swim.
Thankfully, Mom never punished me by stopping me from training.
While I was being ‘watched’ for a B in biology, and Mom had slapped the shit out of me for that particular failure, I was still allowed to focus on my workouts, so with no one questioning me, I cycled to the community pool at six AM the following day.
It was freezing, and the more I rode through it, the more I saw just how much of a shitty part of town it was, but I carried on, going faster when some creeps began heckling me from a back alley, not slowing until I was approaching the center. Fear did slither up my spine a little. I was used to the taint of evil thanks to Cain, but he was never violent with me.
At least, he hadn’t been thus far.
Those creeps? Yeah, they’d have pulled me into the alley just to strip my bike and my pockets. Only God knew what else.