Page 14 of Ewan

“Please don’t do anything. I’ll be fine. I’m sure you can get his name, but really, all I want is to be able to move on.”

A few seconds pass, his eyes evading mine.

“What happened in Colorado?” I ask thoughtfully.

He brings his focus to me.

“What do you mean?”

“You had a different woman over there.”

A soft smile tilts his lips.

“How do you know?”

I flash a grin.

“Who do you think I am, little fucker?”

“You had eyes on me.”

“Did I need to?”

He studies my face before crashing back and moving his eyes to the ceiling.

“Please don’t tell Amanda.”

“Who’s Amanda?”

He tips his eyes down and tilts his head toward the door, pointing behind me.

“Oh. She’s Amanda. What kind of sick game is this?” I ask with humor in my voice, although I’m serious. “This is not how I brought you up. Relying on women and holding back secrets.”

“It’s complicated,” he says.

“What is?”

The silence prolongs, so I continue.

“I don’t want you to get in trouble with women as much as I don’t want you with broken ribs. You need to make sense of this stuff, boy. Women should rely on you. Not the other way around. You want to fuck, fuck. But don’t lie to them.”

“I’m not lying to them. The person in Colorado didn’t work out.”

“The person in Colorado… What the fuck are you talking about? She didn’t work out for what?” I push out, unable to suppress a sneering grin. “You’re not looking to get married or anything, are you? You said you needed some time. You just finished school.”

The boarding school that is.

We both thought that being in a different environment, in an all-boys boarding school, would make things easier for him and provide him with more security and predictability in his life.

He loved being there. And then he said he wanted to get a taste of the real world––meaning women––and figure things out, seeing where he fit best.

I don’t want to pass on the responsibilities of a life of crime just yet. I don’t want to lose him. I still don’t know a lot about this new Ezra.

The boy who looks like a man, and makes his own mistakes.

A dark cloud moves over his face, veiling his eyes.

It’s only fair to say he no longer has a great role model in me.

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