One Day Soon (One Day Soon, #1)(19)

“Don’t forget to find Manny. He’s got some stuff for you to do later,” Shane called out as we were leaving.

Yoss put his hand on my back and steered me away from the group. His eyes had gone hard and he worked his teeth back and forth across his lower lip.

“Who’s Manny?” I asked once we were out of everyone’s earshot. Yoss’ entire demeanor had changed. I wanted to understand why.

“He’s just a guy we all know. He, uh, well, he kind of looks out for all the kids around here,” Yoss answered dismissively, as though it were nothing. As if Manny were nothing.

“Oh, that’s cool.”

“Yeah,” he said shortly.

We walked along the old railroad tracks. I didn’t really know where we were going. This wasn’t a part of the city I had ever spent much time in, apart from the handful of times I had been here with Amanda.

“So Manny looks out for you and in turn you do stuff for him,” I deduced.

Yoss glanced down at me in surprise. “Uh, yeah, I guess so.” He seemed uncomfortable with my perceptiveness. He didn’t want to talk about Manny or whatever he had to do for him.

“Are you into drugs, Yoss? Because I don’t do drugs,” I said in a rush.

Yoss stopped walking and turned to look down at me, his face guarded but his eyes clear. He put his hands on my shoulders and leaned down so our faces were close together. “I don’t do drugs, Imi. That’s not my scene. I want to have a clear head, all the time. No matter how bad or ugly things are.”

I let out a sigh of relief. I knew drugs were the norm with kids my age. Especially ones that lived out here. I had seen enough of my own classmates strung out on one thing or another. I wasn’t some pure white Pollyanna either. I had smoked weed a few times and even ate ’shrooms once.

But I had also seen my mother high on more than a few occasions and it had always freaked me out.

In a short amount of time I was coming to rely on Yoss. I didn’t want to depend on a drug addict.

“Okay. Good.” I smiled up at him and he smiled back.

His eyes were soft as he looked at me and there was something about his expression that made my stomach flip. “When you smile, Imogen, it lights up your whole face. Did you know that?”

I ducked my head, feeling embarrassed by the compliment. I didn’t take them well, I never had.

I heard Yoss chuckle and he dropped his hands from my shoulders. “Let’s go see what we can do with the day. It looks like it’s going to be a hot one. I hope you know how to swim.”

“Yeah, I can swim.”

“Good, because I know just the place to go,” he said.

For now we were only two teenagers hanging out.

My day had seemed bleak when I woke up.

Now…not so much.





Present Day

He looked at me like I was a ghost. And to him, maybe I was.

A part of a past he had let go of.

Because he had purposefully kept his distance. He had decided that I had no part in his life.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. He winced and I knew it hurt for him to speak.

Of the hundreds of things he could have asked me, what I was doing there seemed woefully insufficient.

No, hey, how’s it going?

Or, whatcha been up to the last fifteen years?

His question was almost accusatory.

“I work here,” I said, sitting back in my chair. I realized I was still holding his hand and dropped it quickly.

His green eyes flared to life and then died. It was the saddest thing I had ever seen.

He tried to turn his head away from me, but his injuries made movement difficult. Yoss sucked in a breath and closed his eyes.

“Oh,” was all he said. The tears that had been falling down his face dried and disappeared. Like they never existed. As though I had imagined them.

I hadn’t known what to expect when he opened his eyes.

I did know that I hadn’t prepared myself for the frosty greeting he was giving me.

At one time I had been able to read Yoss clearly. He never hid his emotions from me. He loved openly. He despaired loudly. He raged forcefully.

He had fed me his dreams and I had given him mine. There wasn’t a piece of his soul that I didn’t recognize and claim as my own.

At one time we had been two pieces of the same messed up puzzle. He learned my secrets and I discovered the ones he had guarded so fiercely.

But this man—I didn’t know him. His green eyes were cold. Resentful.

His jaw was tense and his hands were fists.

“Yoss, what happened?” I asked.

He ignored me, staring past me. Through me. I might as well not have been there at all.

“Yoss!” I said a little louder. I gripped my pen, the cold metal bit into my skin. “Please. I just want to know who did this to you.”

Yoss glanced at me again. His eyes roaming over my face. Then he looked away again. “I’m tired,” he responded shortly.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be pestering you.” I gathered the paperwork I had been filling out and got to my feet. I didn’t want to leave. But it was obvious Yoss didn’t want me to stay.

This was a bad idea. I couldn’t work his case. I’d never be able to help him when through a handful of words he let me know that he wanted nothing from me.