Page 8 of Expressionate
Trish steps away from me and looks her over in much the same fashion as I am. What she sees seems to amuseher.
“I’m off for a morning run,” Beverly pipes up swiping her keys from the counter. I hadn’t even noticed them laying there, but considering how cluttered our place still is, that’s not much of a surprise. Whatisa surprise, is that Beverly is going for a run this early in the morning despite having obviously been drunk the nightbefore.
Trish smirks and then covers a laugh when she glances at my confused expression with a cough and a hand over her mouth. Beverly shoots her a disgusted look as though merely being in the same room as someone who coughs would infect her. Without a backwards look, she heads for the door and doesn’t bother with a goodbye or anythingelse.
“You know she’s not really going for a run, don’t you?” Trishsnickers.
I glance at her. “What do you mean?” I ask. “She was wearing running clothes.” Really small running clothes, but knowing Beverly, it’s like everything she owns is small. The cut offs, the tube dresses, the midriff tops. Her closet is probably half of mine just because her clothes show so much moreskin.
“She’s probably going to go bang that guy she was talking to when I came in lastnight.”
“Which one?” I remember the girl – Ally – and her brother… the one with the pain-filled eyes. I know he didn’t take but maybe one look her way when they met. There’s no way he would be ready to fuck his neighbor, but then again, I don’t know him. Perhaps, heis.
2
Tax
PresentDay
23 YearsOld
Cross’s low voice rumbles from the direction of his bedroom as I walk through the front door after my morning run. There’s a pause, and a ridiculous high-pitched giggle. Ah, neighbor girl – the giggling blonde, not the hot, dark-haired, mystery girl. I shake my head and pound the side of my skull with a fist. Did I really just fucking think that? What am I? A littlebitch?
Yeah, the other neighbor girl is way hotter than the flirt who immediately zoned in on Cross, but, she’s hot in an ‘I'm disinterested in you and everything else in this world’ kinda way. Those chicks are always the hardest to get in bed – but when I finally do get them in bed, it’s every bit worth the wait. The less interested they are, the more interested we – we being fucking guys – are. She was probably just playing off that. She probably knew I was into her. Goddamn, I wish Ally had kept her mouth shut about the shows. It isn't like she's allowed to go anyway. She’s way too young for those kinds of crowds. I plan to keep my little sister away from skeevy-dudes and alcohol for as long as I fuckingcan.
I cross to the master bedroom and knock on the door. Ally opens up with a smile on her cheery face. "Hey, Tax," she says brightly. "How was yourrun?"
I stare down at her before I grunt, "Fine." I might have preferred going a few rounds in the ring – the craving is always there. The craving to fight. But I don’t do that anymore. My runs, and exercise routines with Cross are the next bestthing.
Ally smiles brighter. "That's great. Hey, maybe Love can go with you sometime. She seems really nice. She'd probably make a good runningpartner."
I narrow my eyes on her, realizing immediately what the little, nosey, brat is up to. "No,Looove," who the fuck names their kid Love? "would not make a good running partner becauseIlike runningalone."
"Okay." The smile never leaves Ally’sface.
I huff a sigh and slide into her room, quickly making my way to her bed. I sit and prop myself up. I thought it best, since she was living with a group of guys, to give her the master suite so she would have her own bathroom. Girls need privacy for like...periods and shit, right? I grimace at the memory of Ally clutching a handful of the hot girl from next door’stampons.
"Did you need something?" she asks, perching on the stool in front of hervanity.
"Yeah," I grunt, "we gotta talk aboutschool."
Her smile dips and she lowers her head. "I'll be fine," she promises. "I know I haven't been doing well, but if I get a tutor or something for English, I think I can get ahead and maybe even get back to the grade I'm supposed to bein."
"I'm not worried about your grades," I say. "I know you'll work hard. You've never done anything less. I'm worried about if this–" I gesture to myself before nodding to the door to point out that she's no longer living with our parents. Hopefully, they've both choked by now. "–will affectanything."
"Living with you?" sheasks.
I shrug. "Yeah, I know it's not exactly normal for a girl your age to be living with a bunch of guys, and if I could afford to get us our own place I would,but–"
"It's fine, Tax," she assures me with a soft smile. "I’m used to it bynow."
"Yeah, but most of last year you were taking online classes and we were moving around a lot and I was fighting for custody. Most of that year was a fucking shitstorm."
"And we made it through," shereplies.
I stop for a moment and just look at her. She's so fucking young and yet she's seen so much fucking misery. I would give anything in this world to just go back to when I was eighteen stupid years old and change my mind about walking out of my parents’ house, thinking she'd be okay withoutme.
It wasn’t the fighting that had made me leave – I fucking loved that shit. Not at first, but then it became like an addiction. The blood on my knuckles started out badly and then… it started giving me a rush. The roar of the crowd soaked into my skin and made me feel powerful when everything else made me feel weak. Thinking about it right now is enough to make me break into a sweat when I know I’m supposed to be cooling down after my run. Back then, though, a lot of things seemed to get in the way. I had dropped out of high school, barely even got my GED. Was arrested for aggravated assault – a pussy ass, wannabe thug at school that tried to take me before I dropped out. Possession of drugs – it was fucking pot. I didn't give a shit if my parents lived or died, but I thought they'd at least provide for their fucking daughter. Big mistake. Hell, the only reason I won custody was because neither of them had bothered to show up tocourt.
