Page 24 of One Breath After Another

That’s how she knew he wasn’t lying.

“But would you?” she asked quietly.

“You should watch the news more often,” Naz said instead, “I hear you learn a lot from it.”

What did that even mean?

He didn’t give her the chance to ask.

“How many names of people do you know that can be tied to this ring your father was involved in?”

“Not many. I rarely got their names.”

“But some,” he pressed.

“A few,” she whispered.

“Would you write them down for me?”

Penny glanced over at him. “Why?”

“Sometimes, we just don’t get what we want from the law, Penny.”

Well ...

He wasn’t wrong.

• • •

“MISS DUNSWORTH, WHAT is the square root of—”

“Pass,” Penny muttered.

“You can’t just pass a question because you don’t want to answer it, Penny.”

She sighed. “Pass.”

Light laughter filtered through the classroom, but Penny was more interested in staring out the window. She would much rather do her studies online, or even with a tutor at home, but the chick who came around every once in a while to check in on Penny, and her living situation being fostered with Roz and Naz said it would be better for her to be in school.

With people.

Yuck.

The only good thing about this hell was the fact that Roz had allowed Penny to pick what school she wanted to attend, and then Naz came in to drop a whole bunch of money to make sure Penny had just enough freedom to breathe here.

Like now.

Sticking her hand up, the teacher’s gaze drifted to her. “Yes?”

“I want to go see Mrs. Canns.”

The school counselor.

The teacher’s lips pursed like she was considering refusing Penny’s request, but the woman eventually nodded with a jerk of her thumb toward the door. It took Penny no time at all to pack up her shit, and head out of the classroom, leaving the rest of the teenaged idiots behind her. She was only here because she needed to be—she needed a fucking diploma.

That was it.

She didn’t have friends.