HARDCORE: Storm MC(197)
“He’s the best. Really. Probably as wise as Solomon.” Traci hopped off the table and came back to the sink to help us.
“One time, he helped me when I was very sad,” Erica said.
“Why were you sad? What did he do?”
“I was sad because my daddy had to go away. I missed him a lot. See, my daddy was one of the guys in the club—you know, like Flash or Jax. And he knew your dad really well. They were friends. So when he went away, I was very sad, and so was Lance. I thought that if my daddy wasn’t here anymore, Lance wouldn’t want me to be here anymore, either. But he let me stay. He gave me a job. It was really nice of him.”
“That’s pretty nice,” Gigi agreed.
“And he’s always nice to everybody,” Traci added. “He makes people laugh, and that’s important when you’re trying to do a business deal with somebody. You want them to like you, so you can get what you want. Sorta like Solomon would do. He knows just how to talk to people.”
“So how come he always fights with Jamie?”
I turned back to find Gigi grinning like a little imp. I thought she knew more than she was letting on.
“Oh, well, that’s different,” Erica joked.
“How is it different?”
“Can we not talk about this, maybe?” I asked, keeping my tone light and happy. “Miss Jamie is right here in the room.”
“Oh, you’re Miss Jamie, now?” Traci snorted.
“Cut it out.”
“What’s wrong, Jamie?” Gigi sounded genuinely distressed. I turned to her with a smile.
“You want to know why we fight?” I asked, folding my arms.
“Yeah. Why do you fight if he’s so nice?”
“Because sometimes he makes me mad. Remember earlier, when we were talking? Like I said, sometimes grownups just fight about things. That’s all. It doesn’t mean he’s not nice, or I’m not nice. We just don’t get along all the time. Don’t you sometimes have fights with your friends?”
“Yeah. Sometimes.”
“That’s what it is. Sometimes. That’s all.” I hoped and prayed she’d leave it there. I wondered if there wasn’t a little bit of talk about Lance and me when we were upstairs.
“So it’s not because you’re hot?”
“What?” I glared at the girls, who looked horrified.
“Gigi, we already talked about that.” Erica put her hands on her hips.
“What did you talk about?” I asked.
Erica sighed, glancing at Traci. “One of the guys made a comment when you went upstairs to fight with Lance.” She glared at me, sending a message. Oh. So that’s what they told Gigi we were doing up there. I blushed.
“Okay. Which one?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It was Jax,” Gigi piped up.
Erica and Traci scowled.
“Oh, it was? Jax is lucky he’s not here right now.”
“Would you fight with him, too?” Gigi asked.
Traci snorted. I shot her a withering look before turning to Gigi.
“No, honey, I wouldn’t fight with him. I might give him this, though.” I clenched my fist, waving it in front of my face. “A knuckle sandwich.”
“All joking aside, I would pay good money to see you do that,” Erica said. Traci nodded in agreement.
Chapter Nineteen
Lance
Our eyes met. At least her eyes were still blue. That was one of the only things that didn’t change about her. I hadn’t seen her in so long. Seeing her again was almost like coming home. Everything else went away, faded into the background. It was just the two of us. I felt a sharp sting of sadness when I saw what she turned into. I wished I had known so many things. I could have helped her somehow. I could’ve paid for rehab, moved her to a new city where she wouldn’t be around her old friends. Her life could’ve been better if she had told me she had a baby. I would have made things as good as I could.
“Rae,” I whispered. I held out a hand to her.
She only waited a split second before running.
“No!” I took off after her. She dodged between two buses. I followed her, knocking straight into a group of people waiting to board. “Stop her!” I called out to a pair of guys by the back of the bus, but it was too late. She was already past them.
I fought through the crowd, then sprinted after her. There were so many buses waiting to leave, dozens of them. She could have hidden behind any of them—but not for long. She had ten minutes until her bus left for New York. Still, small and fast as she was, she could keep me looking for that long.