AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Grinning, he tosses the ball cap that's always covering his dark hair on my comforter. “You think your dad will let me come to the party dressed like this?” He points to his worn jeans and black t-shirt.
I smile at the mischievous look in his eye. He would do it. “I don’t think he’ll let you come to the party no matter what you wear.”
It isn’t a secret my father still isn’t Xavier’s biggest fan. Instead of a nuisance, he’s now ‘trouble with no future.’ But he does have a future, and it's definitely brighter than mine—he’s the star baseball player at his public school. And he's smart, like genius, top of his class. He has some kind of photographic memory, because he never needs to study. And he has this freaky ability to get into my dad’s house undetected. Actually, into anything with a security system.
“I have something to tell you,” he says in a tone that lets me know it's not something I want to hear.
Worried, I perch on the edge of the bed and gaze into his troubled blue eyes. “Ok, go ahead.”
He picks up the ball cap and studies the fraying brim as if the peeled back threads hold the courage to say what he's about to tell me. “Your dad asked me to come work for him when I graduate.”
One.
Two.
Three.
I haven't had to count to calm myself in a long time. You get older and learn to just deal. But this. I'm old enough to know my father gets what he wants, and for some reason he's set his sights on Xavier.
Four.
Five.
“Say something,” he urges.
“Why does he need you?”
“Don’t you get it, Rhi.” He stands from the bed. “He wants to hire me to do his dirty work.”
I shake my head, pushing his words away. “No, he wouldn’t.” But, who am I kidding? It is so like my father to take the one good person in this world and try to corrupt him. Once, Xavier told me he would take me away from this place, and I was afraid, but now I pray for it.
With each passing day, I realize the depth of what it is my father does. The “business associates” who come and go at all hours. The mayor and police chiefs who visit often. The Internet is a powerful tool, and so is my curiosity about the words I've overheard dropped:Omertà, soldier, underboss. I know what they all mean. I know Ralph doesn't carry a gun when he drives me to school to protect me from the everyday moms and dads dropping off their kids. I know Sam and Lester aren't just carrying guns to keep the mailman out of the big iron gate. And I know my mom doesn't have a shadow following her everywhere she goes because she wants one.
I won't let this happen.
Xavier is everything wonderful in this world. And he’s all mine.
Well, maybe notmine, but I spend more time with him than my own family. Unlike Xavier, I may have a father in my life, but he might as well not be there except to give me a last name.
“I thought you were going to leave and go away to college?” I finally respond. “And then I’d join you.”
That's our plan: when we graduate, we’ll go far away and leave all this behind. I have my life all mapped out, and it takes place in Maine now. I'll have a house, with a wraparound porch, on the shore and a little shop where I sell greeting cards I've designed.
“It’s ok. I would never work for your father.” The determination in his voice rings strong and true throughout the room.
I bite the corner of my lip, my eyes meeting his. “What are you going to do?”
My dread vanishes with the curve up of his lips. It's still my favorite thing. Xavier has one of those easy smiles, like you're the only one in on a secret with him. He can flash it at me from across a room, and it instantly changes my mood.
“Don't worry about it.” And just like that, he dismisses all the negativity weighing down the room to pull something from his jeans pocket. “I got you a present.”
“What is it?” I try to not sound overly eager, but gifts from Xavier are always special. The stuffed rabbit sitting on my bed meant more to me than the expensive dresses my parents gave me last Christmas.
He steps closer, dangling a delicate, gold chain from his fingers. “Happy birthday,” he says, dropping it in my outstretched palm.
I glance down and run my finger across the cool metal of the attached charm—golden birds nestled, side by side. “I love it.”
“They’re turtle doves. My mom used to tell me the story of the two turtle doves when I was a kid.” He reaches in and separates the charm, holding one of the doves in his hand. “Legend says, they’re a symbol of friendship. As long as you have one, and I have the other, then we’ll be friends forever. No matter what your father does.”
