Page 54 of Dirty Like Jude
Who were drawn to me and only me, despite all the other available dick in theroom.
I figured I knew everything I ever needed to know about Roni “Wild Card” Webber, rightthen.
But then a few weeks later, Jesse asked me to pick Jessa up one evening. Not unusual. As it turned out, though, she was at Roni’splace.
I happened to get there a few minutes early, parked on the road in front of the house, and when I got out of my car, I saw something I shouldn’t have. Something neither Roni or Jessa ever knew that Isaw.
I saw Roni standing in the front door of the house, which was open, talking to her mom’s boyfriend, who was standing just inside. Arguing with him,maybe.
Then I saw him push her right out thedoor.
She stumbled and fell, and once she was already off her feet, he shoved her right down the stairs and shut thedoor.
Right in front of Jessa, who was standing at the bottom of thestairs.
It happened so fast, it was over before I could react. I couldn’t do anything aboutit.
But I saw Roni, from that moment on, in a totally differentlight.
That brief glimpse into her life would shape how I would always view her—as a girl who’d been pushed around but worked so hard to show the world she was anything but a pushover. A girl who took what she wanted and moved on—before she could gethurt.
And it didn’t take a degree in psychology to realize why she sought out the attention from men that shedid.
It bothered me, longafterward.
I didn’t say anything to Roni or Jessa when they got in my car that day. They both acted like nothing had happened. They didn’t know Isaw.
But seeing Roni treated like that hit me deep. It tweaked every protective urge I had, and I had a major protectivestreak.
I’d always been thatway.
I’d been in way too many fights in my life, sometimes fights I had no business being in, because I felt like I had to protect my brother. Never mind that Piper was bigger than me, five years older than me, had always been a better fighter, and our dad was a biker. It was mynature. I looked out for my own. For anyone I gave a damnabout.
Hell, I looked out for anyone who needed it, if Icould.
It bothered me enough that a few nights later, I jumped a guy coming out of a convenience store. Not just any guy; Roni’s mom’sboyfriend.
His name was Jed. FuckingJed.
Just sounded like the name of an asshole who shoved his girlfriend’s teenage daughter literally on herass.
I shoved a knife up next to his ribs under my jacket and told him, “Walk.”
He walked. I took him around behind the store where my brother, Piper, and a friend of ours was waiting. They were both Kings, but they didn’t wear their colors. Neither of them knew who this guy was or why we were here, but they stood by, stood watch, as I beat the crap out of him. Piper would’ve done anything for me; he didn’t ask. He had his piece in the front of his jeans, shoved into his waistband, and the guy on the ground saw it. The gun was never drawn. It didn’t need tobe.
I left him lying there, bruised to hell and no doubt scared as shit, drooling blood, and whispered in his ear, “You leave Roni the fuckalone.”
He had no idea who I was, but that message gotthrough.
Within a week, Jed had broken up with Roni’s mom and taken the helloff.
Goodriddance.
One afternoon, not long after that, I was with Jesse at his mom’s place. We were down in the basement, picking up some of his things; he still stored some music equipment there. I heard Jessa come home, and the sound of Roni’svoice.
And I felt a nervous stab ofguilt.
Obviously, she needed that guy out of her life. But I hadn’t seen her yet, since what I did. I wasn’t super proud of it. I wasn’t really a violent person. At least, I never thought Iwas.
