Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
My abuela was an old-school housewife. She’d made the mom in Leave it to Beaver look like a crack-addicted hobo, and she did it with grace and style. I’d used the skills she taught me in the past weeks to can enough food for an army. Currently, half my room was taken up with jars of jellies, preserves, and enough canned veggies to get a family of five through WWIII.
Soon, I’d have to take another trip to the local foodbank where I’d donate the literal fruits of my labor, but the thought of driving down to the crime infested neighborhood where the foodbank was located made my heart race.
Someone knocked on my window, and I screamed loud enough that I startled myself. When I whipped my head, around I found Devonlin, one of the kids I tutored, staring at me with wide eyes. At seventeen, he was a hulking behemoth of a guy with short dreadlocks who played football and had the massive body of a grown man. He stared at me like I was the scary one. I could only imagine how I must have looked, spacing out in Mark’s SUV while staring at the school and shaking. Shame raced through me at how weak I was. One bad thing happens, and I fall into pieces.
No, I was stronger than this, stronger than my irrational fears.
Galvanized into action, I turned my car off and got out. I tried to give Devonlin a reassuring smile as I brushed my hand over my hair, hoping it was under control as I looped my bag over my shoulder. “Hey, Devonlin, sorry about that. I was totally daydreaming.”
“It’s okay, Ms. Holtz. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.” He glanced over at the green low rider idling at the curb near the entrance to the school, the driver’s side window now lowered as a guy in in his thirties openly flirted with the high school girls. “You don’t need to be hangin’ in the parking lot today.”
Following his gaze, I took a step closer to Devonlin’s side as we crossed the lot, thankful once again that this massive young man had both a heart of gold and a protective streak a mile wide. “Why?”
A loud whistle split the air behind us, and a man with a thick Hispanic accent to his voice yelled out, “Devonlin? That you, boy? We need to talk.”
I turned and looked over my shoulder, then froze at the sight of a man in a crisp, black suit stepping out of the passenger side of a black sports car that had just pulled up. He was tall, with pockmarked deep cinnamon brown skin and expertly cut and tousled black hair. Even from this distance, I could feel a bad vibe emanating from the stranger. Devonlin froze then twitched. When I looked up at him, I found him standing there with his eyes shut tight, but his protective stance over me increasing until he was crowding my space.
His deep, but scared voice reverberated through me as he growled out, “I’ve got nothin’ to say to you, Nova.”
The other man came closer, and my fear increased as I realized how big he was. The way Nova carried himself, the way he looked at me, they all reminded me of Manny, and I felt ill. But I noticed all the kids watching us, and my mothering instinct began to kick in—the need to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.
Tilting his head to the side, the stranger smirked. “I think you do, Devonlin. Medication is expensive, isn’t it? You already sold everything you own. How you gonna afford her next round of chemo? Gonna have to pick and choose between keeping the lights on or keeping her alive?”
Even though I was freaking out with my heart pounding, Devonlin was my friend, and nobody talked to my friends like that. I’d known him for a while. Even though he was as big as a house, he was still a kid in many ways. A kid being bullied by some scary criminal. No, this wasn’t happening. Not here, not at my school. Or kind of my school. Whatever, this was my territory, and he wasn’t threatening my students. Schools were supposed to be safe spaces, and this rotten bastard didn’t belong there.
“Devonlin,” I said in a soft voice, “look at me and keep walking. Whatever he’s offering you, it’s not worth it.”
“My mom…” he whispered.
“Cancer returned?”
“Yeah.”
“Boy!” Nova shouted. “Stop talking to that puta and get over here.”
I put some steel in my spine and even though my voice shook, I said, “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave school property.”
He spat at the ground near my feet. Internally, I flinched, fear prickling along my spine, making me want to run. “Stupid bitch. Maybe instead of takin’ Devonlin for a ride, I take you for one instead, ‘eh? Teach you some lessons on manners.”