Page 55 of One Breath After Another

“You know the school called.”

“Penny will be happy that she doesn’t have to fill you in on all the details, then,” Luca muttered.

Naz chuckled. “Oh, I’m still gonna get her to talk. It’s the only way she does, really.”

“Well—”

“What did she tell you?”

“Probably not what the school told you,” Luca replied.

Naz arched a brow at that. “What makes you think that?”

“The chances of the little puke she punched telling the truth about why she did it? Slim to fuck all, Naz.”

“Fair because they didn’t even mention something was said when they called. Just that a situation had happened, one they were dealing with, and Penny left the property. I was told they would call back with more information and any consequences to note for Penny’s side of things. What was said?”

Yeah ...

That was the shitty part.

Luca let out a hard breath, saying, “A guy said something about her father, and her ... it wasn’t really great. She didn’t give exact words, and she didn’t need to. I assume you can figure it out on your own, too.”

Because honestly, not that he would tell Naz, but Luca didn’t feel comfortable talking about Penny’s business—or the shit that happened to her because of her father—without her presence. Too many people made it their first priority to talk about the girl with little to no consideration for her feelings in the matter. He didn’t want to be another name on that list.

Not that he thought Naz was the same. His friend was the teenager’s guardian. He had every right to discuss his ward and her needs—just like Roz, too. Luca wasn’t quite the same, and he was fine with that.

Naz was silent for a long moment.

Eventually, he murmured, “Yeah, probably. Fuck.”

“Let her be quiet,” Luca said, “if that’s what she wants. Don’t push, man.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

This thing with Penny ... it was tricky sometimes. Anything but easy or simple. There was no clear, right way to deal with stuff that came up. Luca figured a phone call from the girl once in a while wasn’t so bad or hard to handle in the grand scheme. It was Naz and Roz doing the hard work behind the scenes.

Without thanks, too.

Which only made him think of Penny ...

It was impossible for him not to think about her if he were being an honest man. She was the catalyst to everything, after all. The very reason both he and Naz were there having a discussion in the first place. If only that was the singular reason for his thoughts drifting back to her, but they weren’t.

He worried about her.

All the time.

He hoped she had better days.

And now, with her feelings for him more obvious than before, he found himself considering that, too. Not that he should or planned on acting on the things she told him. It just ... was. It existed, he knew about, and so he thought about it, too.

Wasn’t that human?

Luca didn’t know.

Didn’t have the first fucking clue.

“She’s got a lot of demons,” he said more to himself than his friend. “Monsters that chase her all the damn time. How do you help somebody like that?”