Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 105253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
The guy lifted his chin. “Are you Frank Dawson’s kid?”
I smiled. “I am.”
“Smart move calling your dad. That boy is a real pain in the ass. You’re lucky I like to collect favors.” He shook his head. “I called the complainant. She doesn’t want to pursue it. So we’ll let him go…for now. But trust me, that kid is going to be back here if something doesn’t change.”
“Thanks a lot, Officer. I appreciate it.”
“I’ll call back and get him brought up for you. Might take a few minutes.”
“Great. Thanks so much.”
A few minutes turned into almost an hour. I guess they didn’t tell Heath who had come to bail his ass out, because he looked pretty shocked to see me.
“What are you—”
I raised my hand and stopped him. “We’ll talk outside. And by we’ll talk, I mean I’ll talk and you’ll listen.”
Heath frowned but nodded.
The cop at the desk lifted his chin again. “Good luck with that one.”
Once we were out on the street, I walked a few buildings down from the police station and turned to face Heath. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I thought it would get a lot of views.”
“First off…” I held out my hand. “Give me your phone.”
“What for?”
“I’m deleting the video you took. And if you give me a hard time, I will walk your ass back into that police station. I had to convince Mrs. Unger to not press charges. And I used my dad who’s a retired cop to call in a favor.”
Heath handed over his phone, and I deleted the video and gave it back.
“Are you going to tell my sister?” he asked.
“Of course I’m going to tell Devyn. She’s responsible for you.”
The kid frowned but said nothing.
I nodded toward the subway station. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“That’s a downtown station.”
“We’re making a little stop.”
“Where?”
“You’ll see.”
***
It wasn’t Angelo’s in Philly, but it was damn good. I’d taken Heath down to Joe’s Pizza in Greenwich Village for a slice, something my father always did with me when he wanted to have a talk. Usually it meant I was in trouble, but over the years I’d come to appreciate that my father didn’t just yell and punish me for a month like most dads did. He talked to me man-to-man while sharing pizza, which sort of made it impossible for me to zone out and not listen. Don’t get me wrong, I still got punished for a month—but Dad made it so I listened first.
I waited until Heath picked up his second slice before I started in on him.
“So, let’s talk. Why are you and your sister always being little shits?”
Heath shrugged. “It’s boring here. There’s nothing to do.”
“You live in New York City. This place is a lot of things, but boring is definitely not one of them.”
He shrugged again. “What is there to do?”
“Homework, studying, helping your big sister around the house.”
“Like I said, boring.”
“What would not be boring?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you have any hobbies? Play any sports?”
“Not really.”
I scratched my chin. “You take a lot of videos. Do you like doing that?”
“Yeah.”
“Is there a film club or a photography club at school you can join?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, why don’t you find out?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Here’s the deal—you can’t be doing the shit you’ve been doing the last few months anymore. No more throwing crap off the roof, stealing mannequins from department stores, or dyeing tenant’s cats. If you’re bored, you’re going to have to find something to do that won’t get you into trouble. But I think maybe the reason you’re getting in trouble is about more than being bored. You want to know what I think?”
Heath frowned. “Not really.”
I grinned. “I’m glad you asked. I think you’re looking for attention. Your mom isn’t here, and even when she is, she’s not watching you guys. It’s not uncommon for teens, and sometimes adults too, to seek negative attention—after all, at least someone gives a shit if they’re yelling at you, right?”
“I’m not trying to get attention.”
“Oh yeah? Then why post the videos on social media?”
Of course he had no answer for that.
I sighed. “Look, it’s not my place to lecture you. In fact, I have no damn idea if anything I’m saying is even right. But for some insane reason, I decided to get involved. And I don’t do shit halfway. So I would like to try to help.”
Heath shoveled his slice of pizza into his mouth and stayed quiet for the next few minutes. I was surprised when he eventually spoke.
“I used to have a video camera. I did like making movies and stuff.”
“Oh yeah? What happened to it?”
“We sold it at a pawn shop.”
“Why’d you do that if you liked making movies?”
“Because there was no more of my mom’s cheap jewelry to sell after she left, and we were out of canned food.”