Page 128 of Wicked Savage Cruel
“Roman’s dad said they’ll bring charges against him today. Once they do, he can request bail so they’re going to time it with the weekend and hold him as long as possible. Bibiana should be back next week if everything works out. With that creep in jail her mom should be around but,” she shakes her head, “I don’t know. She can’t afford to miss much more school. Even if she manages to keep up on assignments, there are attendance requirements she won’t meet. We talked yesterday. I don’t know the specifics but I know she’s barely treading water.”
“Fuck.” I run my hands through my hair. “She didn’t tell me that. She said she had it figured out.”
The look on Aaron’s face says it all. I’m an idiot.
“I didn’t think—”
“About what it was like to be a single mom, raising a kid on your own when you still have school and shit to worry about?” Aaron finishes for me. Allie smacks him in the chest, but he’s not wrong.
“No. I didn’t.” Dammit. “I gotta go. I’ll catch you guys later.” I need to talk to Bibiana. Figure this out because she needs to graduate. Luis is my kid, too. She doesn’t have to do this on her own anymore. What happened to being a team? Co-parenting? That means I do my part, but I can’t if she doesn’t keep me in the fucking loop.
FIFTY-EIGHT
Emilio
She opens the door like she has every other day this week, only this time, Luis is nowhere in sight. “Hey,” she says, stepping aside to let me in. “You’re here early.”
“Yeah. Practice was cancelled today,” I tell her.
She nods and I debate how to go about this. Bibiana is proud. She won’t want me inserting myself into her life. Not on her account. I've noticed this week she's fine when I offer to do something for Luis, but anytime I try to help her, she brushes me aside.
"That's probably nice," she says. "Gives you a chance to rest up before next week’s game.” I’m surprised she knows our schedule. She hasn’t been to any of our games, not that I’ve made a point of inviting her or anything. I’m not sure she’d want to go even if I did. We’re not together, and watching me play feels like a girlfriend thing to do.
"Yeah. I'm always down for a break." Coach has been running us hard. We made it through playoffs and earned our regional championship titles. You would think that’d grant us a reprieve, but, if anything, it's only made things more grueling. Coach isn’t going to let up until we take state next week, and then we can all breathe a little easier.
Sun Valley High has won state the last three years in a row. If we win this year, it will be our fourth. I think Coach is worried it'll also be his last with all three of us Devils graduating this year. He's been pushing the underclassmen on the team to step up, asking us to spend more one-on-one time with them than typical so that he has something decent to work with next year. We don’t. Well, Roman and I don’t, at least. Mingling with the new recruits isn’t exactly something we do, but Dom is the school’s quarterback so he’s been handling business, giving the rest of the team pointers and getting their asses in line.
“Where’s my little man?"
She brushes a few stray pieces of hair out of her face. "He actually just went down for a nap. I'm sorry."
I shrug. "No worries. Mind if I hang out until he wakes up?"
"Umm... sure. I guess. I mean, yeah. That's fine." She's nervous but she has no reason to be. Bibiana leads me through the house and into the kitchen, pausing behind one of the barstools at the kitchen island where it looks like she's been doing her schoolwork.
“Keeping up?” I ask, nodding to her open textbooks.
She sighs. “Yeah. I’ve got it handled.”
I step closer to her and tilt her chin toward me. “It’s okay to ask for help sometimes,” I tell her.
She tugs her chin away. “It’s not your job to help me. I’ve got it covered. Besides, Mom should be back next week.”
I clench my jaw. “You said that before and it’s been a week already. Can you afford to keep missing school?”
Her expression tightens. “I’m not your problem, Emilio.”
I swear this girl is going to be the death of me.
FIFTY-NINE
Bibiana
“I’m not your problem,” I tell him.
“What if I want you to be?” he asks. Brown eyes search my own, trying to understand what’s going through my head. But if I’m honest, I have no idea. This week has been … different. Not bad different, though I’m not sure if it’s good different either. It’s just, different. I feel like I’m playing some elaborate game where we each have a role and a character we’re expected to be and I’m terrified to get my part wrong.
I’m already coming to rely on him and it’s only been a week. He plays with Luis in the evenings while I get caught up. He helps with bedtime and he makes being a single mom so much easier than it ever was before.
