AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Carter presses his full lips into a thin line and nods slightly.
Thanks to the antibiotics, hand sanitizer, and gauze I found in my backpack, I was able to kill Quint’s infection, remove the glass from his neck, and by some miracle, keep him from bleeding out while I bandaged him up, but knowing that Wes was the one who had delivered those supplies only made the festering stab wound in my own heart grow deeper.
“Rain … can I talk to you outside?”
I lock my hoodie sleeves in my fists and shake my head.
“Not outside, outside, just … in the hallway.”
Quint gives me a nudge with his elbow. “Go on, girl. You ain’t left this room in days. I’ll be a’ight.”
With a huff, I pull myself to stand. Every muscle in my body rejoices over finally being used as I follow Carter out the door. Once I’m in the hallway, I lean against the wall outside the tuxedo shop and stare straight ahead.
“You’re not even gonna look at me?”
“I will … if you stand over here.” I gesture toward the wall across from me with a hoodie-covered fist and then press my knuckles to my lips. The black cotton doesn’t smell like home anymore.
Thank God.
“Uh … okay?” Carter pads into view with his hands in his pockets and his eyebrows raised in uncertainty. “This better?”
I nod.
“I guess that answers my question.”
“What question?” I mumble into my hoodie sleeve.
“I have an errand to run. I thought it might be fun if you came with, but seeing as how you won’t even look at the exit, I’m guessing that’s a no.”
“Yeah, that’s a no. Are we done?” I close my eyes as I turn to go back into the tuxedo shop, not wanting to accidentally catch a glimpse of what’s outside those doors. In my mind, it’s all gone. And that’s exactly how I want it to stay.
“Rain …”
Carter’s long fingers wrap around my bicep, and I go limp, letting him pull me against his chest without an ounce of protest. I hate how badly I need his hugs. Anyone’s hugs.
“You haven’t eaten anything in days. You haven’t left the mall since you got here. Hell, you’ve barely even left the tuxedo shop. All you do is obsess over Quint and Lamar. I get that you want to help and all, but you need to take a break and get some fresh air before you lose your shit.”
“This air is good enough.”
“Maybe we could take a walk around here and then … go say hi to my folks? They’ve been asking about you.”
“Well, you can tell ’em I’m right here.” I straighten my spine and take a step backward out of his embrace.
Carter runs a hand through his loose curls in exasperation. Then, his eyes widen and lips curve with the makings of what is probably a bad idea. “You know what? I’m gonna do that. Be right back.”
I watch him walk away with long, determined strides before I shuffle back to the safety of Savvi Formalwear.
Inside, Quint gives me a smirk. I wrapped his neck in so much gauze that it looks like he’s wearing a diaper as a necklace. His eyes are sunken, and his lips are dry. But the fact that he’s vertical and smiling feels like a handful of glitter sprinkled on top of the stagnant black cesspool that is my life.
Especially when he sweeps a hand in front of his gauze choker and rasps, “I see you eyein’ my pearls.”
I snort. “You got me.”
“Hater.” Quint winces and stifles a laugh as I join him behind the counter. “So … you gonna tell me what that was all about?”
I roll my eyes and plop down on the three-by-eight-foot patch of tile that I now call home. “Nope.”
The sound of a throat being cleared causes both of our heads to snap toward the doorway. I push up onto my knees just enough to see Carter entering the store, followed by a very unhappy-looking grizzly bear of a man with a very pronounced limp.
