Page 22 of Raven

I narrow my eyes at him.

He looks down at his feet and then up at me from under his eyebrows. “’S lunch time. Wanna have burgers?” He pronounces “burgers” almost like “boogers.”

I’ll be damned, but I just got invited to lunch by a kid. This little dude is sticky, and right now he’s looking at me like a thief. Like he said something inappropriate.

“Do Kai and Callie know you are hanging out here by yourself?”

The Center is deep in the jungle, about half a mile from the resort. The kid doesn’t have a bicycle or anything. He just walks everywhere.

He nods eagerly. “Steve gave me a ride.” Must be one of the guards or employees. “Look, I got this!” His little chest puffs out with pride as he lifts his hand, boasting his Ayana wrist bracelet that gives him funds to eat at any food place or buy stuff at the resort.

I should ask Kai about this kid. He needs to go to school, though there is no school at Ayana, or other kids for that matter, so I don’t exactly see how it’s going to work. He is none of my business anyway.

I mount my motorcycle, but he doesn’t go away, only steps closer to me.

“You have to go to town now?” he probes.

How does he know everything? But then I remember that Ayana Resort is like Disneyland after him living in a dumpster for who knows how long.

“Can I come to town with you?” he asks.

“You are asking for a lot.”

“Sorry.”

“Why would you want to go back?”

“I have friends.”

“Where?”

“Behin’ the warehouse. An’ in Ashlands.”

“Homeless?”

“They have huts.”

“Parents?”

“Nah.”

I rev up the engine.

He steps even closer so he can look me in the face. “Can I?”

“No,” I say curtly.

His face falls.

But I don’t care. He’s not my responsibility. And he is definitely not going to that shithole Kai saved him from.

Whereas I have to.

And I drive away, my mood darkening at the thought of what’s to come later today.

9

RAVEN

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