Page 30 of Filthy Liar

“But—”

“You need a house, and I have one that I bought in cash, Raven. I don’t need your money, but if you insist on paying, that’s my offer. Take the time to save some money, and maybe you could even buy your own car or go back to school.”

My nose scrunched. “I don’t want to go back to school. I didn't want to do it when it was mandatory.”

She huffed out an amused chuckle, plucking Lara from my arms and bouncing her a little. “You don’t have a dream job or something? C’mon, if you could do anything and there was nothing to stop you, what would you want to do with your life? Humor me.”

I frowned, thinking about it for a moment before replying. “I like working with kids. If I could do anything without limitations, I think I’d like to be a teacher. I wish I’d had good teachers at school, so I know what kind of help kids would need since I struggled.”

“What age group?”

“I know I like working with younger kids, but part of me thinks older kids might need my help more. Everyone wants to help cute kids, but teenagers get left behind a lot.”

She smiled, nodding her head slightly. “I think you’d be really good at teaching high school. Do you have a subject you prefer?”

“I like to paint, but only with spray paint. I’m terrible at math, and my spelling and punctuation isn’t the best,” I grumbled, but she just shrugged.

“You could improve your education and do whatever you want. The arts would be good for you, but if you intend on doing that, you’ll probably have to work in the academies. A lot of the public education around here doesn’t have the funding for subjects like that.”

That made me scoff. “If you think somewhere like Crestford or Ashburn Valley Academy would let me in, you’re delusional. They’d take one look at me and?—”

“They won’t let you in with that attitude,” she hummed, resting Lara on her hip. “If you want it, fight for it. Now, if you want to make a difference in places like the Heights, I think focusing on something like English or math is a good idea. Those subjects need more attention in places like that.”

“I can’t afford to go to college, Rory. Even if I could, I struggled with school. I’d probably fuck it up,” I said quietly.

“You’re not the type to quit because things get hard. Do me a favor? Think about it. There’s more for you out there than just getting by. For now, pay the cheap rent, save your money, and start looking for what you want out of life, okay? All of you. We’ll talk about the house more when the guys get back, I just wanted to see how you’d feel about it first,” she answered, turning and carrying Lara upstairs to the nursery, most likely to put her in pancake-free clothes.

I slipped outside for some fresh air, finding Ander and Zavier smoking. Zavier handed me a cigarette and tucked me under his arm, leaning against the patio railing as I looked out across the backyard.

The pool was enticing, and I wondered if Rory would mind us swimming here sometime. I hadn’t gone swimming since the Heights pool closed down and turned into the Pit.

“Rory’s going to rent us a house,” I said absently, unsure how I felt about it. It would give us a home again until we got ours back, but the low rent made me uncomfortable. “And she thinks I should go back to school.”

“Do you want to go back to school? What would you study?” Ander asked curiously, resting his forearm on the railing and watching my face, but Zavier answered the other part of my conversation.

“She’s letting us rent a house? Where? How much?”

“At first, she said for nothing, but I told her we won’t sponge off her. So, fifty bucks a week rent with utilities included. She said it’s not big, but we don’t need big, right? We can buy a few mattresses and sleep on the floor in one room?”

“Sounds good to me. As long as we’re all together,” Zavier shrugged, frowning at Ander. “What was that face for? You don’t want to stay together?”

I glanced over at Ander, finding a guilty look on his face.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” I demanded, taking a drag of my cigarette and blowing it at him.

“Can we talk about this later?” he muttered, but I shook my head and pulled away from Zavier, turning my body to face Ander.

“No. We’re talking about it right now. Why don’t you want to stay with us?”

“I asked Rory if she had a spare house for you guys,” he admitted. “I offered to pay, but she didn’t want my money. She said she’d do it for free because she sees you as one of her kids, but the only rule was that I’m not allowed to live there or know where it is. I agreed.”

“Why the fuck would you agree to that?” I hissed.

“This all started because of me, so this was the only way I knew I could keep you guys safe. That’s all I care about.”

“I’m not staying there without you.”

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