Page 4 of Brick

I grab hold of her elbow and turn her back in my direction. "Luna, you better answer me now. I don't have the patience for this shit."

"Get off of me. I've had just about enough of men grabbing me today." Her voice is strong, but I can also hear the slight tremor.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I take another step closer to her. There's no reason for me to care. She's not my responsibility. She glares at me for a second before her anger drains out of her.

"I have to find her, Brick. I'm all she has left in the world. No one else is going to look for her."

I groan and let my head fall back. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who she's talking about. Wendy is her sister; she's looking for her.

"Who did this to you?" I ask, desperate to get an answer.

"Don't worry about it, Brick. It's my fault for being in places I have no business. I was just looking for Wendy. I got a little too close to the fire, if you know what I mean." She shrugs.

"It's late."

Luna crosses her arms over her chest and taps her foot, annoyed. "I can tell time, Brick. It's the best time to find her. The people she hangs around with don't usually do much in the daylight hours."

She raises her hand to push her long hair out of her face, and I notice the blood still drying on her hand. I grab hold of her wrist and push her jacket up.

"Ow! Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Her eyes go wide when she sees what I see. There's a long gash on her forearm. It's peppered with something brown.

"Shit, that must have happened when I jumped out the window." She pulls her arm away from me and starts examining the wound.

"You jumped out a damn window?" This woman is absolutely maddening.

"It was either jump out the window or go Mortal Kombat on a few drug-enhanced goons."

She was in a fucking crack house. How reckless can this girl actually be? There's no way I can leave her out here on her own—not when I know she's going to get herself killed.

"Come on." I grab her other arm, the one I hope isn't bleeding, but she tries to yank away from me.

"Where are you taking me, Brick?"

"Away from here."

"What the hell do you mean, away from here? Where?"

"Home," I say without any further explanation. If there is one person in the world that needs looking after, it's Luna. I don't want to be the one to do it, but as I look around the nearly desolate street, I'm not seeing any other takers.

Three

Luna

I would've never thoughttonight would end up with me on the back of Brick's motorcycle.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it. The intense wind blowing against my face as he speeds through the streets toward where he calls home is enough for me to forget for just a second the mess my sister is in. Why couldn't she have chosen something like riding bikes as her way of getting her rush? Of course, my sister has only been interested in one thing for as long as I can remember: getting high.

A heavy hand brushes over my knee, and when I look up, I see Brick looking over his shoulder at me.

"You good?"

"Yeah, relaxed," I answer honestly.

He smirks and turns forward. I wait for him to try to fill the silence between us, but he doesn't. I like a man who knows when to shut the fuck up.

Now that I'm out of my state of zen, I look around and realize that we're no longer in the city.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" The red flags in my head are waving back and forth furiously.

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