AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He pulled into his driveway and put the car in park. “Nope. It’s my first time. There’s a new program director, and he seems like a cool dude. He asked Romeo and me if we’d come to speak to the kids and tell them about our experience and how we made changes for the better after being there.”
He glanced out the window, shoulders stiff and jaw flexing with tension.
“Are you going with Romeo?”
“No. He went last week. He said it wasn’t bad at all. I just don’t like dredging up shit.” He ran a hand through his hair and turned back to look at me. “It wasn’t a good experience for either of us. And sure, we’re okay now, but it wasn’t because that place shaped us in any way. Hell, we shouldn’t have even been there.”
“Why were you sent there? It was for an incident at the Daily Market, right? I remember my dad telling me about it. That you and Romeo hadn’t done anything, and you were set up for a crime that someone else committed?”
“Yeah. It was actually Slade Crawford and his scumbag friend who stole some booze, vandalized the place, and then knocked Walt Salden down. He sustained a pretty bad head injury.”
“Demi’s brother was the one who did it?” I asked with surprise.
“Yep. He was fucked-up on drugs at the time, and her father covered it up. He let us take the fall. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“And you tried telling everyone what happened? That you didn’t do anything wrong?”
He nodded, and there was a deep sadness in his gaze when it locked with mine. “Slade’s father had a lot of money. Romeo’s dad had just gone to prison, and his mom wasn’t equipped to go to bat for us. My grandparents were old, and they didn’t know what to do. Grammie just cried all the time, and Gramps was devastated when they took me away. But shit happens, right? You move forward.”
I climbed over the console and onto his lap before I could stop myself. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him as tight as I could. My heart was aching for these two boys who’d been sent away for something they didn’t do. They must have been terrified.
“Yes. Shit happens. But that doesn’t make it any easier. I’m sorry that you went through that,” I whispered in his ear.
His hands came around me, and he held me there. “It’s fine, Queenie.”
I pulled back to look at him, and a tear broke free and moved down my cheek. “It’s not fine. I’m sure it was scary. I know what it’s like to feel judged for things you didn’t do.”
He reached up, his thumb swiping away the single tear trailing down my face. “Don’t you shed even one tear for me, Ruby Rose.” His lips turned up in the corners. “I’m not Bullet or your dad. I don’t deserve that tear.”
My hands moved to each side of his face. “You deserve more than you think you do.”
“You’re making a habit of climbing onto my lap in the car, aren’t you?”
I chuckled. “What can I say? It’s pretty cozy over here.”
“I’m fine. I don’t think about it often. I just don’t know that I want to go visit a place that I don’t have fond memories of, you know?”
I nodded, my hands stroking the sides of his face. “Yeah, but maybe you could make it better for those kids that are there now. Maybe you could make it less awful for them.”
“Never thought about it that way. That wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
“You want me to go with you?”
“You’re going to go with me to the juvenile detention center and watch me speak to a bunch of troubled kids?”
“Yes. Troubled kids are my favorite.”
And River Pierce is my favorite, too, but I won’t say that out loud.
“You’re something else. You’re willing to do that, but you won’t have sex with me again?” His voice was all tease as his hands settled on my hips. I could feel his bulge beneath my ass, and I tried to hide my smile.
“Come on, lover boy. Let’s go take the kayak out and maybe I’ll read you some romance from the book I’m planning to start tonight. You can learn a thing or two about women.”
“I’m an expert on women.” He was up and out of the car with me in his arms in no time. My legs wrapped around his waist, and my head fell back in laughter.
“Pretty smooth, right?”
“You can put me down now,” I said, as he pushed into the house.
