Draw (Gentry Boys #1)(6)
Frat Boy turned out to be a kicker too. He let fly with his left leg and I jerked back. I was quick but still caught a glancing blow off my shoulder. I spun and landed a tight fist in his solar plexus. He staggered backward, his face a sick blend of pain and fear. But with all the men yelling behind him he clenched his jaw and found a reservoir of scrappiness, plenty to take another swing.
It wasn’t enough. I ducked his aim with ease and crushed the bone under his right eye. My hands were already swelling and I glanced back at my brothers. They soberly nodded in unison and I heard them as clearly as if they were on either side of me, speaking in each ear.
Finish it, Cordero.
I pulled back and gave him a clean cross to go out on. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to his knees as the loud mouthed little twerp who’d done the announcing tonight counted to ten.
Frat Boy didn’t get up again and my brothers and I were three grand richer. It would pay rent and more for the next few months. I held out a hand to Frat Boy but he didn’t take it. He wobbled to his feet and someone tossed him the beaten shirt he’d been wearing. I saw the shame in his posture as he returned to his suddenly unfriendly companions. I felt a little sorry for him.
Money changed hands and the place began to empty out. I found myself eye to eye with Gabe Hernandez. He gave me a cold smile.
“You Gentry Boys should consider upping your game,” he said.
Creed answered. “Nah. We like our bones intact, you know?”
Gabe nodded as if he didn’t really care anyway. “Well, I can appreciate that. But any of the three of you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.”
“Hey,” I coughed. “Sorry, you know, if you lost some change here tonight.”
Gabe smiled. “I didn’t. My bet was on you. Good night, gentlemen.”
When he was out of earshot Creed spat on the floor. “Fucking snake,” he swore, glaring after Gabe.
“Maybe,” agreed Chase. “But he probably ain’t sharing an old Chevy with no bumper.”
Creed scowled. “You think some fresh wheels is worth getting your neck broke?”
Chase waved a hand. “Hell no. I got such a pretty neck.”
Creed nodded at me. “What do you say?”
I shrugged. “I like all my shit where it is too, but damn man, it’d be nice not to scrape the bottom for once. It would be a hell of a payout.”
Creed looked away and Chase grinned at me. We were three pieces of a puzzle but no one would mistake one of us for another. Creedence had always been the biggest. He’d grown into a serious man prone to episodes of crushing solemnity which were better left untouched. I’d seen so many willing girls try to break through that gruff fog but none had even chipped a dent. I think out of the three of us he was the most wounded by the terrors of our childhood, although he would have popped me a good one if I’d said so out loud.
Chasyn played the foolish playboy but he was a lot smarter than he let on. Back in Emblem he was always the one who scored outrageously on any test thrown in his direction. Teachers had tried to push him into the smart classes but he balked and made a nuisance of himself until they sighed and sent him back down to us.
As for me, I was somewhere in the middle of all that. When we finally reached the age where we could leave Emblem and not get chased down by the law, there was no question we were in it together. As we always had been.
The events of the night played out casually in my head as I lay there on that roof. And when I stared unblinking at the Three Kings, the stars of Orion’s Belt, those distant balls of fire blurred together in my sight until they seemed to be one unbroken line. If I had been the only one born the day Benton Gentry assaulted his pregnant wife, I doubt I would have survived this long.
The stars moved an inch across the black sky and the restless fury which still sometimes threatened to devour me was quieted.
CHAPTER THREE
SAYLOR
As I made my way to the I-10, that thick manmade artery which cut through the continent, I knew where I was going. I plucked my phone from my purse and dialed my cousin.
“Brayden,” I choked, hating my own rambling distress. “I did it, I left him. He’s-f*ck, it’s bad. It’s about ten o’clock right now. Damn, I really need to talk to you. School’s finished. Me and Devin are finished. California tastes like shit. I can’t stay here. And Bray, I’d rather swallow acid than face the Emblem peeps right. So I’m heading in your direction. Call me back. Please Brayden, call me back.”
A curse escaped my lips as I threw the phone down. Brayden was notorious for failing to answer his cell phone, or even keep proper track of it. I had no idea if he would receive that message.
Southern California sped by and I bid it a bitter good riddance. As far as I knew, my dad had been planning on driving out in two days to attend my graduation. Somebody would need to tell him it wouldn’t be necessary unless he wanted to sit there and watch everyone else’s kid walk across the stage. It didn’t matter, the ceremony. It was a bunch of preening and photographic flashes. It was the culmination of a long journey which for most would end in crushing debt and disappointed hopes. I kept telling myself that. My father would certainly be happier to have the obligation removed. Instead he could remain in Emblem for the weekend, ensconced in the flabby arms of whatever big breasted bimbo had attached herself to his shiny Dodge rims. As for my mother, well, she was in the throes of a new love substitute anyway. She had sighed with happy relief when I said, “No ma, don’t sweat it. You don’t have to be there.”