Fighting Shadows (On the Ropes #2)(13)

“Who the hell knows!” she yelled. “That witch is up to no good. I’m positive.”

“Good lord.” Max rolled his eyes, not nearly as excited to hear about Donna’s family issues as I was. “Ash, what’s your pops’s excuse for not letting you sign up for school this time?” he asked, changing the subject.

“No excuse. He just laid down the law.” I sucked in a deep breath, pulling my ponytail over my forehead in a mock comb-over, and put on my best Ray Mabie voice. “‘Ash, I said no. School will get you nowhere in life. Street smarts are what you really need.’”

“Well, he’s not wrong,” Donna said smugly, reaching for her water bottle.

“Oh, I forgot! I brought you guys a present!” I dug to the bottom of my overnight bag then revealed a bottle of vodka.

“Now we’re talking!” Max clapped.

“Where the hell did you get that?” Donna asked, dropping her pizza back into the box before snatching the bottle from my hands.

I shrugged. “Stepmommy dearest.”

“You don’t think she’ll notice?” he asked, taking it from Donna and twisting the cap off.

“Oh please. I’ll divide one of her other bottles into two and tell her she drank it the night before. She’s a dumbass.”

“Cheers to the dumbass!” he lifted the bottle in the air before tossing it back for a long pull.

Donna slapped him on the chest. “Hey, Ash scored that shit. She should have had the first shot.”

I curled my lip. “Ew. No, thank you. That stuff is nasty as hell. Give me some more pizza though.”

“Fair trade.” Max laughed, passing me the entire box and then tipping the vodka back for another gulp.

“All right, slow down.” I snatched the bottle from his mouth mid sip. “I’m not washing the puke off your clothes again. Besides, I brought some more cards. I have serious intentions of winning back my money from last week.”

He let out a loud laugh as I passed the bottle to Donna. “Oh lord, Ash. I spent my winnings about ten minutes after they landed in my pocket.”

I huffed. “Fine. I’ll loan you ten bucks, but I’m taking that back tonight. I still think you cheated somehow.”

“Nope. You’re the only magician around here, sweetheart.” He gave me a knowing glare that made me burst out laughing.

I’d hustled the shit out of him the first night we’d hung out. I’d immediately returned his money, but he hadn’t found it humorous in the least. Luckily for me, and thanks to Donna, I’d found out he had a soft spot for food and booze. It had taken me a full two weeks of “apologizing” to get back in his good graces.

“Laugh it up,” he said seriously, but an unmistakable smirk grew on his face.

“Oh, I will,” I shot back, almost falling over in hysterics.

Donna quickly joined me while Max sat watching us, unimpressed.

“Okay, okay.” I sat up before bursting back into laughter. I wasn’t even sure why I was laughing at all. But God, I loved that feeling.

Finally sobering up, I retrieved a deck of cards from my bag.

“Hey! Guess what?” I said as I began shuffling the cards.

“Hell no! Don’t try to distract me. I’m watching you to make sure you don’t stack that deck. You know what?” He reached forward, plucking it from my hands. “Let me shuffle.”

I laughed but willingly let him take it from me. “No, I’m serious. So, apparently, Ray’s wife has some kids. I overheard them talking about going to get the youngest tomorrow.”

“Wait. How long have they been married? And you are just now finding out that she has kids?” Donna asked.

“A few years. And I mean, I knew she had kids, but I just assumed they were all older. She doesn’t talk about them or anything. I know one of them is some big-time boxer, but the little one is only, like, fourteen.” I shrugged, taking the two cards Max had dealt me. “I think his name is Corey or something. Anyway, I’m freaking stoked. It’ll be fun having a little brother.”

Donna quirked an eyebrow. “What if he’s an * like his mom?”

“No way. He’s gonna be awesome! I can feel it. I had a dream last night—”

“And here we go,” Max moaned.

“Shut. Up. Don’t be mad because I’m clairvoyant,” I lied.

I wasn’t even close to being able to see the future. I actually didn’t have dreams at all. Every night, I would fall asleep, but never once did my traitorous synapses fire off during REM, leaving me unable to dream. I’d tried though. Hell, I couldn’t even give myself a nightmare. I had always heard that dreams were inspired by a person’s emotions or real-life experiences, so I decided to make up my own. I had a sneaking suspicion that what I created was a hell of a lot more fun than the dreams my brain would have made. Loneliness and robbery probably didn’t combine to make glitter and unicorns.

“Trip Queens,” I said, dropping my cards.

Max let out a loud curse.

“Just be glad that was a warm-up.” I winked. “Anyway. This kid is going to be awesome. I can’t wait to introduce him to you guys.”

They both groaned, but it did nothing to suppress the giddiness I felt inside. Sure, he was a little younger than I was, but I was stoked about having some company around the house. A girl could never have too many friends, right?