Page 91 of Bad Medicine
She wanted to know. So I was gonna tell her.
“Or how about how he lets those kids pay for their drugs by making them do jobs for him. Stealing. Breaking and entering. Deliveries. That kind of shit. Or maybe you want to know about the fact that when those kids have done a few petty jobs for him, Gregor then gets them working on some really bad shit.”
“What?” she whispered, her words barely audible.
Running a hand down my face, I debated telling her.
“Mia,” I begged. “Please. Baby, you don’t want this in your head. You don’t need to know the shit that I do.” I reached for her, but she stepped back, shaking her head.
“Tell me.”
I stared at her, debating, both of us trying to out stubborn the other.
“People, Mia,” I finally relented, and she covered her mouth with one hand. “Gregor is trafficking people. We aren’t sure where from yet, but we know that he’s doing it. Sway told us—”
“Sway?” she shrieked. “What the hell does Sway have to do with it? He’s a child.”
“You’re right, Mia. He is a child. Sway is a child in the foster system. The kind of kid that no one really cares about. The kind that can disappear and no one would really miss them.”
Shaking her head in denial, Mia wiped a tear from her cheek angrily.
“No. That can’t be true. That can’t be how it is for him.”
“Trust me, babe. It’s true. You know how I know?” Letting out a humorless laugh, I stared at her, seriously wishing I had a goddamn smoke. “Because Iwasthat kid.”
With a quiet sob, Mia launched herself at me, arms wrapped around me like she could change the things I had just told her by sheer force of will alone.
“It’s alright, Doc.” I held her to me, attempting to soothe her as much as she was soothing me. “It’ll all be alright.”
“How?” she asked, looking up at me, her blue eyes bright in the morning light. “How can it be alright when Sway has to go back out there, into a world that doesn’t want him?”
“I’ve been watching out for him, baby. He’ll be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”
Nodding, she settled against me again, her body shaking as she cried, her pain for Sway, a kid she hardly knew, only endearing her to me even more.
“Come on, baby,” I said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Let’s go back downstairs. I wanna check on things before I have to leave.”
“Where are you going?” Mia asked, locating her clothes and sliding them on. She handed me back my shirt, and I hated it. I wanted her in my clothes all the time.
Possessive wasn’t something I had ever been before, but with Mia, I was finding out a lot of new things about myself.
“I’ve got to go do some work today,” I said, hefting open the floor hatch. Enzo would be returning soon, and I didn’t really want to hand everything back to him in a complete state of clusterfuck. “You and Jas will stay here with Lucky, alright?”
“What about my job?” Mia asked, annoyed. “I can’t just not show up for work, Rocco.”
“Mia, yesterday, I found you packing a bag, ready to disappear forever.” I gave her a look, and she at least looked a little sheepish.
“I guess I could take a couple days. I don’t have much vacation stored up yet, seeing as I’m still the newest staff member, but I could get a few.”
I nodded, watching her ass as I followed her down the stairs. Seven million shitty things floating in my head, needing my attention, and all I could think about was how next time, I wanted to do her Doggystyle.
When we entered the living quarters, we found it in chaos. Sway was standing in the middle of the space, playing some terrible rap music on his phone at full volume. Jasper was jumping on the couch next to him, screaming the very obscene lyrics at the top of his lungs while Sway laughed encouragingly.
And Lucky? Well, she was standing near the door we entered through, her face etched in a grimace as she watched the madness unfolding.
“What the hell?” Mia shouted, causing everyone to turn and stare at us. Sway killed the music, which had Jasper groaning in protest. Jumping off the couch and landing roughly on the floor, Jasper barreled over to us, his face red and his eyes bright.
“Did you see me, Mom? Did you?” The kid was practically vibrating; he was that damn excited. “I’m gonna be a rapper when I grow up!”
