CHAPTER 24
CASSIE
Bryan Ferro wasn't kidding. The press showed up in a blaze of flashing lights and endless questions. The entire thing gave everyone what they wanted. Well, almost everyone. Jon is going to be the one to take all the blame. He accepted it graciously. While I ducked out the back door, Jon walked out the front, right into the eye of the storm.
The headlines this morning are not kind. The press took every slant you could possibly imagine, and each one made the Ferro's look worse than the last. Beth tosses me another paper. "That one is going to be trouble."
I glance up at her. Beth is wearing a cute little sweat suit with a white tee shirt and running shoes. It's her day off garb. There isn't a stitch of make-up on her face and her hair is swept up into a ponytail. She looks pretty this way. Sometimes it feels like we're leading double lives, but that would be a lot more exciting. Beth is just working her way through school, and me, well, I'm hiding.
I take the paper and flip it open to the page that's dog-eared. There's a small picture of Jon carrying me. It must have been taken before things went to hell last night, before Bruce found us. I stare at it. My face is perfectly clear. A chill works its way up my spine as I stare, unblinking, with my mind racing.
"Someone must have snuck in a camera," I say. Beth sits down next to me on the old couch. This little basement apartment suddenly feels too small. The lack of windows never bothered me, but now I can't breathe. I rush across the room, throw open the door, and take the short flight of stairs two at a time, running outside. Cold air hits my face and I stop, doubling over and holding my knees, while I breathe.
Beth is there a second later. Her hand is on my back. "He might not even see it."
Bruce was my safety net, my reason for taking the stripper job in the first place. The night they hired me, I accepted the job with one condition—they can't let my husband inside. I handed Bruce his picture and, so far, it's been quiet. I've kept my head down and Bruce makes sure I can work in peace. The other jobs didn't last long. I'd get fired when my husband would show up. Mark would scream at me like a deranged customer. When I explained who he was and what he was doing, it didn't matter—the end result was the same every time. Gather your things and go. No one wants family drama in their business. No one wants to think about what a guy like that does to a girl like me when we get home. It's not a nice thought, even though it's glaringly obvious. I've been fired too many times, and not having a source of income is an issue since I need a place to live and food to eat. I'm on my own and have been for a while.
Then I met Beth. She needed a roommate and had this little apartment in Bay Shore, not far from Sunrise Highway. Drug dealers live in the house across the street, but our landlord is nice. She's a little old lady that can't pay her taxes unless she rents out the basement, and she likes us. Mrs. McKinzey doesn't comment on our clothes when we leave for work. She probably thinks we're lesbians since we never have any men over. She bought this house new and lived here while the neighborhood went to hell around her. Beth treats her like the mother she never had.
The guys across the street are sitting in their shiny new Caddy with the bass blasting. I shouldn't look at them. I should go back inside, but I can't. It feels like my lungs are being crushed. Mark. If he finds me again, oh God, I don't even want to think about it. One of the guys across the street shoots me a nasty look. His skin is bronzed and there's a goatee cut into sharp lines around his mouth. Loose pants hang off his hips, but it's that tank top that lets me see all his tats and ripped muscles. He's younger than I am. We stare at each other. I know I should look away, but I can't.
"Oh shit." Beth glances across the street in time to see the guy walking straight at us. He doesn't have a leisurely pace, and everything about him makes me want to duck back inside, but I can't move. Some part of my brain—the crazy part—is tired of being pushed around. I don't want to hide from anyone anymore.
The man crosses the street and is in our yard. He walks straight up to us, and I don't move. I'm still gasping for air like a beached whale. "Is she okay?"
Beth blinks. That was the last thing I expected him to say, and apparently Beth thinks so too. "Uh, yeah. She's got asthma and lost her inhaler. I told her to come out here and get some air. It'll pass."
Her lie fits with my ragged breaths. The man reaches into his pocket and Beth tenses. If he stabs me, I hope he goes for my throat. He can connect the dots on my scar. The shrapnel almost cut deep enough to kill me. Almost. Sometimes I wish it did.
When he steps closer, my heart races harder. Beth starts to say something, but the guy shoves his fist in front of my face and opens his palm. There's an inhaler in his hand. "Here, take it. I've got another one." When I don't move, he makes an annoyed sound, shakes it, and takes the cover off. "I didn't even use it, yet. Take it. The ER visit for this kinda shit is nearly five grand. Believe me, I know."
I take the thing and use it. Straightening, I look at the guy. His dark skin is perfectly smooth. He smiles at me, revealing a gold cap with a diamond set on his front tooth. "Feel better?"
I nod. "Yeah, thank you."
"I'm Kam. I own the house across the street. If you ever need anything, an egg, cup of sugar, an inhaler—whatever—come over. I try to stay off Ms. McKinzey's lawn. The crazy old bat has a gun in there." Kam says it like he doesn't have one shoved down his pants, but I can see the hilt under his shirt.
I nod. "This is Beth and I'm Cassie. Thanks for this." I hold up the inhaler, meaning to give it back, but Kam steps away, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Nah, you keep that. You might need it again." He turns on his heel and returns to the guys in the Caddy parked on his driveway.
Beth flicks her gaze my way. "That was weird."
"Yeah, it was." We're both staring at the house that no one looks at. "He's afraid of Ms. McKinzey."
"Yeah, I caught that. As if life wasn't strange enough, right?"
I nod slowly. Kam glances at us and smirks. I wave at him, bending the tips of my fingers once, before turning to go back inside. "I think we just made friends with an asthmatic drug lord."
Beth squeals and claps her hands together. "Ooh! I'll have to write about it in my diary."
"Crazy white girl."
"Right back at you, pasty."