Page 35 of His Property

Another car pulls up, and I ignore everyone around until Gabi calls out to me.

I lock eyes with her but keep my face blank.

She smiles nervously and looks between College Boy and me. “Do you by any chance have some cash?” she asks me in a fake, polite voice I never hear from her. “I promised Brandon a tip, and all I had was a ten.”

“No, please, really.” He holds up his hands and smiles kindly. “I’m good, I promise. I enjoyed the conversation.”

She argues with him while I pull my wallet from my pocket and take out two twenties. I thrust them toward the guy, and he breaks his gaze from my sister. “Here,” I say, my tone sharp.

He looks at me then darts his eyes away while he takes the bills and gives a slight nod. “Thanks, man.”

“Goodbye.”

He gives Gabi a fleeting glance and doesn’t look back as she waves at him and forcefully smiles. “Thanks so much! I’ll give you a great review!”

He throws a wave over his shoulder and hurriedly opens the door to a red Impala. Gabi waves and keeps that customer service smile plastered on her face until the car drives away. She swings her head toward me and glares.

“What the hell was that about?”

I ignore her and position her scooter so it’s situated beside the passenger seat.

“Victor?”

“What?” I snap, standing tall and bracing a hand on the passenger door.

The irritation she so clearly displayed vanishes at my sharp tone, and she frowns.

I flex my fingers and relax my jaw.

I expect her to ask what’s wrong, but she doesn’t. She knows what’s wrong. We’re standing outside of the goddamn prison we put our mother into. The oneIput our mother into.

She stares at me with sad eyes that do nothing but annoy me, and I let my hand slip off the door.

“Do you want out or what?”

“Depends,” she says with a sigh. “Are you going in?”

I shake my head.

Another sigh. “Yeah, I figured.” She holds out her arms, and I lean over the scooter to grab her.

“If we’re not going inside, don’t put me on that fucking thing.”

I drop my hands and narrow my eyes. “Then why did you make me get it out of the van?”

“Because I had Sweet and Spicy Brandon load the thing up. I didn’t want him to think all his hard work was in vain.”

My eyes soften, and my lips tug. “Sweet and Spicy Brandon?”

“You like that?” she asks, smirking. There’s humor in her eyes I haven’t seen in ages, and my chest constricts.

I wasn’t exactly shocked that she showed up here. She tried calling me non-stop since I left the house, and my sister isn’t one to be ignored. I’m guessing she found me from the location-sharing app we use. So, not surprising that she’s here, but shocking that she’s joking about the driver instead of shaking from anxiety at having had to talk to him. The app is only useful for her to know where I am, not the other way around. It’s rare that Gabi leaves the house without me and rarer that she speaks to strangers when she does.

“He’s sweet because he opened the door for me. He’s spicy because he grabbed my butt when he helped me into the van. I think he thought I was paralyzed and wouldn’t notice or something.”

Gabi smiles and winks, but it’s stiff, like she’s trying to lighten the mood and isn’t sure how I’ll react.

I allow my lips to lift. “Is that why you wanted me to tip well?”

---