Page 68 of The Saint

“Hey, Rolly.” Desmond turned to me, clasping my hand before pulling me in for a one-armed hug. “Where’s your girlfriend today?”

Every muscle in my body tensed as Tyler asked, “What girlfriend?”

There was no stopping what went down next, even though everything within me screamed that this wasn’t ok.

“That pretty little thing he brought out here last week,” Desmond told him as he tossed the ball toward the net. Jamal grabbed it once it hit the pavement, and Des turned to look at the kid by my side. “About this tall, black hair, shaved on one side of her head.”

Tyler looked up at me, his eyes going wide. “That girl in your sketch you’re working on?”

I shook my head, but the kid paid no attention. Neither did anyone else.

“Sketch?” Jamal grinned up at me. “What, you drawing stick people now?”

“It’s not stick people,” Tyler countered. He snagged the bag hanging on my shoulder and the strap slipped off. I grabbed it before it fell to the ground. “Show him, Rolly!”

“Yeah, show us, Rolly.” There was doubt on Tyrone’s face. On all of their faces, really. But the kid was already tugging at the zipper on my bag, oblivious to the dread that flooded my veins.

Ty’s hand slipped under the flap, and I stopped him, intent on telling him to leave it alone. But when he glanced up at me, a smile as wide as the sun lighting up his dark skin, I couldn’t do it.

I’d just spent a half hour talking with him and his mom about my art show. Penny had explained to him how big of a deal it was, while I tried not to bury my head in my arms and hide away from it all. The boy had beamed with pride, and he had that same look on his face now.

With shaky hands, I pulled out my sketch pad. Tyler took it from me, like it was his to do with what he wanted. But also like it was made of glass. He carefully opened the pad, easily finding the page I’d shown him back at the apartment.

“See, told ya she’s pretty.”

“That’s Jael.” Jermaine pointed to the sketch from Desmond’s side. “She’s the one I told you about. Came here and played ball with us one day you weren’t here.”

“Damn, man,” Jamal said, pushing closer to Tyler’s side, “you drew this?”

“Never knew you could draw.”

“It’s not just drawing,” Tyler said, and I wanted to shove my sketch pad in my bag, then run away and never come back. “He’s gonna show his paintings at a studio at the marathon, too.”

“At the marathon?” Tyrone directed a questioning look my way.

I swallowed hard, trying to speak around my dread that clogged my throat. My chest felt tighter than when the tree had pinned me and Jael to the ground when we were teens, and I sucked in a heavy breath. “It’s the week following the Marathon.”

One side of his lips ticked up. “No shit? The kid’s telling the truth?”

“Hey! I’m not a liar!”

My shoulders inched up, and I reached to take the sketch pad back as one of the guys took it from Tyler’s hands. “He’s not a liar.”

Jamal whistled between his teeth, staring down at a different picture. “That’s Mrs. T.”

“Let me see that.” Tyrone pushed closer, and soon each of them was gathered around, jostling each other to get a closer look as Jamal gingerly flipped through the pages. Each time, it felt like someone sucking out a piece of my soul, and I felt weak, unable to keep going on.

“You’re good.” Tyrone directed a grin my way, the picture they were on one of him mid-shot, while Jamal and Jermaine stood between him and the hoop with their arms up.

“Fuck good,” Dion said, batting the hands away from the book. “This is fuckin’ amazing. You got any more like this?”

This was a nude I’d done of Jael, though the drawing cut off at her shoulders, showing only her breasts, the curve of her waist, the rise of her hip before it disappeared under a thin blanket. The piece was unfinished, something I’d hastily sketched one morning while I’d watched her sleep.

I hadn’t meant for anyone to see it. And having their eyes on her body, even if they didn’t know it was her, made my pulse throb in my head. I snatched the book back from Jamal and gave Dion an annoyed look.

“The internet’s full of porn, you don’t need to see my work.”

“So that’s a yes?” Jermaine asked. “You going to have that work at your show?”