Page 9 of Rue

Going to the bed, she got under the blankets, trying to stop shivering.

She needed to find a way to get away. Get to the police,find safety.

The door opened, and Mig came in with a bag in one hand and a box in the other.

“Get up, Sailor,” he called, but he didn’t sound rough or angry. He spoke like he knew her nerves were frazzled and she was about to break. “The bag has some clothes I want you to wear, okay? The box has some toiletries: brush, deodorant, perfume, hair ties, all the shit you girls need. Get dressed, okay? He’s gonna wanna see you again soon. Sailor? Get up,” he demanded a little more loudly. “Get dressed, or I’ll have to get you dressed, you hear me?”

Sailor looked at him then, fear making her come out of her head. “Please help me?” she begged him.

“You need help gettin’ dressed?” he asked, looking confused.

“Please help me get away? I’ll leave, you’ll never…”

“No more of that shit! Don't ever mention it again, not ever! You try’n run, and I’ll shoot you myself. You don't take what’s his, and that’s his fuckin’ kid. Now get your ass up and get dressed!” he yelled, yanking the blankets back and pulling the towel away.

Sailor whimpered and grabbed the bag, pulling the clothes out quickly.

By the time she’d pulled on the yoga pants that were too big and the oversized t-shirt with a ‘PINK” logo on it, Geo pushed the door open and walked in, canting his head at her.

“That shit don't make her look older,” he stated as four boys from her school came in behind him, along with two of his men.

Davon was one of them, and he looked flat sick when he saw Sailor.

“You know these fools?” Geo asked, gesturing to the boys.

“I… some of them, sort of? I go to school with them?”

“These are some ‘a my boys. They work for me, and I’m fixin’ on askin’ them some questions. Anything you wanna tell me before they out you, bitch?”

Sailor shook her head, her face going white as she tried hard not to look at Davon. He was a drug dealer? A gang thug?

“Yeah,” Geo snorted, then turned to look over the boys. “You all know this bitch?”

“I seen her around,” Phoenix shrugged. “She’s older than me, though. I don't have no classes with her. She’s the smart girl, though, everyone knows that. She’s got a side hustle.”

“Side hustle?” Geo demanded.

“Sells papers and homework and shit that can’t be run through the system or something like that.”

“It ain’t plagiarized,” Davon corrected him. “They can’t check it against existing papers ‘cause she does it herself.”

“You know her?” Geo asked Davon.

“I ride the same bus with her, known her since we started high school together. We have classes together, a few, and I had her do some work for me. ‘Specially Algebra. Only reason I’m in the same class as her is I been copyin’ her for four years and ridin’ her work.”

“She got a man?”

“Like, a boyfriend? Nah, not her. Never. She worked after school last year till her mom got sick. Now she just takes care of her mom and gramma, tryna pay their bills, and feed ’m both,” Davon shrugged.

“Davon’s been sniffin’ around her shit for four years,” Marcel sneered. “Try’na get her to do OnlyFans and shit, tellin’ her how to make money with her titties.”

“That right?” Geo asked Davon, his look going flat. “You want a piece of her?”

“I asked her out… I asked a lot of girls out. Throw out a hundred lines, reel ‘em all in, and see what I get, you feel me?”

“She never said yes?”

“Nah, she don't date.”

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