Page 102 of You're so Bad

“Who’s we?” he asks, an edge in his voice. I’m pissed at myself for using the “we”—it didn’t go down great the last time he met Shauna. What’s done is done, though, and she’s a part of this as much as I am.

“My girl. I’m with her now.”

He’s quiet for a second, and worry presses in on me. I’m sure the back door will be swinging in the breeze by the time we get back. I grab my socks and boots, but midway through pulling the first sock on, I decided my bare feet will do just fine.

So I grab them, motioning for Shauna to come with me. Way ahead of me as always, she already has her car key out, shoes on. “She gonna knee me in the balls again?” Reese finally asks.

“Not if you behave,” I insist as we hurry out of The Clay Place, through the halls to where her station wagon is parked outside. “We both had bad situations when we were your age. We get it. We’re gonna make sure you get through it.”

“How do I know I can trust you?” he says.

“You don’t,” I admit, feeling the weight of it. It’s not easy trying to find your way in the world when the only examples you were given were crap ones. “Just like I don’t know if I can trust that all the shit you told me is true. This here’s what you’d call a leap of faith. I hope you’ll take it with me.”

We bust out of the front doors as the phone clicks. Either he’s got shit manners or he’s leaving. I say as much to Shauna, because I know she’s waiting to hear what was said.

She swears loudly, then unlocks her car. We pile in. My feet are plenty fucked up from the run and the gravel in the lot, and every step hurts.

Shauna doesn’t hesitate—she backs out and then pushes the pedal to the metal.

“You’re a speed demon like your grandmother.” I try to smile, but it won’t take.

“Learned from the best.” She darts me a quick glance before staring out through the front window. “You were thinking we’d bring Nana in on this?”

“So you picked up on that, huh?” I ask, grabbing the handle over the door because I need something to squeeze.

“I’ll bet the only other nurses you know are strippers.”

“You’re right. It came as a real disappointment when I asked one of ’em to stitch me up.”

“You’re trying to make me laugh.”

“It’s not working.”

She reaches a yellow light, darts another look at me, then guns it, getting over the line just in time.

“Hellcat.” I release the handle over the door and put a hand on her leg, because touching her helped ease my panic earlier, and right now it’s a high-pitched ringing in my ears. I keep imagining that door, open. Reese, gone who knows where. With my luck, Bean will probably pull a runner too, and then it’ll all be gone…

No, not everything.

I move my fingers over her leg, needing to feel her beneath my hands—because if you’re not touching something, it might slip away from you.

“It’s going to be okay, Leonard,” she says, but I know she’s only saying it because that’s what we both need to believe.

She parks in the drive of the house, and we hurry around to the back. Something sinks in my stomach when the knob turns. He left. It might not be swinging in the breeze, but it might as well be. I freaked him out but good and he took off.

I walk into the kitchen and find it empty except for a bag that used to have bread in it, sitting on the table. The little shit didn’t even clean up after himself, a thought that almost makes me laugh.

Shauna follows me in. She doesn’t say anything, but she takes my hand. It’s only her grip on my fingers that keeps me from shutting down.

Then there’s a rustling from the living room, and Reese steps into the doorway. He’s wearing a different pair of clothes, probably a “gift” he lifted for himself from Walmart. He smells like he hasn’t had a bath in a week, but he’s alive—and he stayed. He’s holding Bean in his arms.

“You didn’t lock the door?” I ask in disbelief.

He shrugs. “You said you’d be here any minute.” His gaze shifts to Shauna, and he takes a step back.

“She scares me too,” I quip, earning a light shove from her.

“Did you bring any food?”

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