Page 24 of Just for Him
He was quiet for a while. Then he said, “I told them I wanted out. Like you said, they don’t take kindly to that. One of them saw me getting into the car with you the other night. They said, if I told you anything, they’d take it out on Haven.”
“That’s why you walked her to work.”
He nodded. “They came up to me on the way home and warned me to keep my mouth shut. They said, if I did, they wouldn’t hit the place when Haven was there, but if I didn’t ...” He scrubbed his face with both hands. “They fucking lied. Now Haven’s lost both her jobs because of me.”
“Both?”
“She worked at the Cecilton Bean Company downtown, too. Her asshole boss fired her when she got called to the police station the other day.”
“Corporate café? The one in the Wilkins building?” My brother Paulie worked in that building and frequented that place. He said the coffee could rival ournonna’s, which was high praise indeed. I would definitely be asking him about this asshole boss.
He nodded. “And she put her schooling on hold, too, till I graduate,” he said miserably. “I’ve been nothing but trouble for her since I got here.”
I felt for the kid, I really did, but this was a gut-check moment for him, a crossroads of sorts, and I wasn’t going to just keep my mouth shut and watch him walk the wrong way.
“Well, you can run away and feel sorry for yourself, but that seems like a pretty piss-poor way to thank your sister for all she’s done for you.”
He scowled. “It’s not like I have a choice, do I?”
“Youalwayshave a choice. Just likeshehad a choice. And she choseyou... every time. You want to do something good for your sister? Choose her.”
Joel opened his mouth, then closed it. Then he suddenly got up, grabbed his backpack, and started to walk away.
I sighed. I had failed. Now I was going to have to go after him and haul his ass in—
“Hey,” he called, peering back around the corner. “Try and keep up, will you? We’ve got shit to do, and I’ve got an exam tomorrow.”
Chapter Eleven: Haven
Iwas a wreck. Joelwas gone, and I didn’t even know where to start looking. As far as I knew, he didn’t have any close friends he could crash with. There was that gang those detectives had been talking about, but I didn’t want to believe Joel was really mixed up with them. Joel had his issues, but he wasn’t a bad kid.
For the second time in twelve hours, I had called Vinnie. I had probably crossed a few lines in doing so, but once again, I didn’t know where else to turn. As a policeman, Vinnie had means at his disposal that I didn’t, which meant he also had a much better chance of finding Joel. That was what I told myself, anyway. If I was completely honest, something I tried to be whenever possible, I would have called him regardless. Because, the truth was, I really liked Vinnie. When he was around, I felt better.
That was something new for me. I wasn’t used to leaning on anyone for support—financial, emotional, moral, or otherwise—and hadn’t for a while. After my grandmother had passed away, my mom and I sold the house to pay off the second mortgage she’d taken out when we’d moved in and had used the rest for her funeral expenses. That was when my mom decided to take her gentleman friend up on his offer to move to Arizona. She had worried about leaving me, but I’d encouraged her to go. He seemed like a nice enough guy and, from what I could tell, made her happy.
I had been nineteen at the time, working full-time and picking up night classes when I could. I’d been on my own ever since. And not once in all that time had I ever met someone I felt like I could call for help, let alonewantto.
