Page 37 of Pink

Lev didn’t think this teenager was in any way capable of taking care of a baby when she barely managed to make it day to day in her own circumstance. And yet, when that joke of an offer slipped past his lips, a spark of joy came to Nessa’s eyes when she met his stare again.

“Could I? I will, if you need somebody. I like kids. I looked after my little brother, Mikey—well, until they took him away from Mom.”

Wait …

“You have a brother?”

Her grandmother never mentioned another grandchild.

She shrugged. “Yeah, he’ll be three next month. If I don’t get anymore write-ups, I can go to his birthday party to visit. Or that’s what the social worker told Nan. Oh, yeah … that’s why I’m here.”

Lev blinked.

It felt like he was doing that a lot lately.

Nessa continued like he wasn’t standing there staring at her stupidly. “Nan wanted me to let you know the apartment in Brooklyn came through—the landlord told her you could move in like Friday as long as you’ve got the deposit and first month’s rent.”

Shit, that soon?

He could do that in the physical sense. It wasn’t like he had that much shit in his one-bedroom apartment. If he could borrow a friend’s vehicle, he could have it all moved in a trip or two.

It was the financial side of things that made him pause. In his head, he did the math. It added up to a lot more money than he had now considering how much he needed to pull out of his paltry savings to get what Arely needed over the coming days.

The baby continued crying.

Nessa tilted her body to the side and looked past him in the doorway. “You sure she’s okay?”

“She’s mad. She threw out all her blocks. It’s a thing she does.”

“Huh.”

An idea had started to form in Lev’s head. He needed money, and fast. He also needed to pull everything together before the social worker decided his time had run out to do so. It wasn’t like he had very many people he could go to for help, but there was one man who had given him an offer he’d been willing to refuse, even if he did say he would think about it.

Well, now he was really thinking about it.

Andino Marcello, that was.

If the guy could afford to pay Lev ten-k a month to be a bodyguard, then what else might he be able to help him with? Especially if he did want him as an employee.

Time to find out.

“Hey,” Lev said, gaining the teenager’s attention again, “is your grandmother busy? You wanna earn twenty bucks?”

Nessa snapped the gum in her mouth. “Why?”

“I do need someone to keep an eye on her tonight. If you’re capable, then cool. With supervision.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not gonna hurt her or something.”

“But you hurt yourself sometimes.”

That quieted the girl.

“I’m doing better.”

“Are you?”

With dark, honest eyes, she peered up at him still unafraid. “Trying to.”