Page 21 of Rue

“Aight. Go get some sleep. Mig, call in the boys. Call in them little fools, too. The ones from her school.”

“Yeah,” Mig grunted, picking up his phone.

Geo looked Sailor over as she stayed still on the arm of the couch. “You slept some. Twitched and jerked, but no yellin’ and thrashin’ and shit.”

Sailor only looked at him, wondering if she was supposed to say something to that.

“You want some coffee or some shit?” he asked her.

She blinked. He was being nice now?

“Get her one ‘a them mocha whatever,” Geo told Mig. “Order lunch, too. Chicken. She needs meat. Protein and shit.”

“Yeah,” Mig grunted again, still on his phone.

“How ‘bout you sleep some more till my boys get here?” Geo demanded of Sailor.

Sailor didn’t answer, rolling to her other side to huddle into the blankets and hide her face from him.

When she curled up and pulled her feet closer, he immediately moved his hand under the blanket and pulled her back against him. “Sleep, Rue,” he commanded, setting his handon her feet over the blanket.

She stayed still, staring at the back of the sofa. Was he reading about pregnant women and what they needed? Was that why he was being this way?

“Do you already have kids?” she asked him after several long minutes of silence.

“Nah,” he answered distractedly. “I don't fuck with bitches.”

“That… makes no sense.”

He snorted.

“He doesn’t have sex with most the girls who hang out here,” Mig offered. “He lets them get him off. Girls like you? Ones he has to teach a lesson to? They typically don't live through that shit.”

Sailor went cold, her body going stiff.

Geo chuckled. “Never thought about a kid,” he shrugged. “Not the fatherly type. But that don't mean I’m ‘a let you just hide mine from me. Mig, she ain’t goin’ back to sleep. Go get her dressed.”

Chapter 12

Mig got up, and Sailor sat up quickly before he could try to pull her around. She let him lead her back to her room, and she dressed in a sundress from a bag on the table. Turning to Mig, she shrugged. “I don't know how to do make-up yet…”

“It’s fine,” he told her distractedly. “He said last night he thinks he likes it better when you don't. The fresh-faced thing is cuter. You done?”

“Almost,” she mumbled, picking up the brush. “Umm… is he going to kill me after…?”

Mig snorted. “Not if you don't give him a reason to. Don't disrespect him. Hey… how did you know what to say to him to get him to stop? To not kill that little pussy?”

“Marcel? I don't know… I said the only thing I could think of. He IS just a kid.”

“But how did you know that was a thing for him?”

“I didn’t. I guess, you know, that’s a thing for most people. Don't hurt kids? At least, you know, sane people?”

“But it’s like… a big thing for him.”

“But he has kids working for him?”

“Let’s them earn, yeah, but not in dangerous jobs. Runners and shit. That’s it.”

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