No. I am not aroused by the simple thought of Gabriel Legend. I’m not. Because that would be bad. Like, really bad. It would be the dumbest idea I’ve ever had in the history of ever.
No, no, and hard no.
But the wordhardunleashes another wave of longing. I glance at the clock. The minutes are ticking down until my call with Ryan and Christine, and I have to eat breakfast, or I won’t get a chance to because Kelsey will be working on me.
Food or snooping? That’s the question.
After another moment of deliberation, I make my decision and stride into the kitchen with my phone in hand.I’ll multitask.
Ten
Legend
“Gabriel, are you there?”
I groan as I open my eyes, the bright light of morning streaking across my room telling me it’s way too fucking early for someone to be at my door. But considering it’s a female voice and not Bump’s, I can’t get too pissed. Especially because it sounds like Melanie, Q’s fourteen-year-old niece who lives just down the street.
As I roll out of bed, I snag a pair of sweats and pull them on. I wish I had time to take a piss, but Melanie comes first. I’ve known her since she was a baby, and she doesn’t bother me this early unless it’s important.
I grab a bottle of water off the counter in the kitchen and chug some before opening the door.
“What’s going on, Mel?” I ask the girl wearing jean shorts and a T-shirt with her hair in two thick braids. She rocks on the heels of her shoes, clutching the strap of her book bag, and won’t meet my eyes. “Hey. What’s up?”
When she finally looks up, she has tears in her eyes.
My first thought is,Who the fuck do I have to kill this morning?But because I know me being pissed won’t help the situation, I duck down a little to get on her level.
“The guys at the bus stop were being dicks, so I walked away ... and I missed the bus. Mom is gone. Dad’s already working ... and I don’t really want to tell anyone else, because you know they’ll get crazy and threaten to kill someone, and that’ll just make it worse.”
I’m even more glad I kept my initial reaction to myself. “Let me get a shirt and my keys. I’ll give you a ride.”
Roux shoves her way to the door as she hears Mel’s voice.
“Can Roux come too? Dogs are way cooler than people.”
I can’t help but smile at her statement, even though I don’t like her defeated tone. “You’re right on that one. She can come, but only if you take her out first. I’ll meet you both downstairs, and we’ll go.”
Happily, Melanie grabs the leash off the hook by the door and leads Roux, who comes up to the girl’s elbow, out into the hallway.
Thankfully, Bump doesn’t pop his head out the door as I walk by, because he’d want to go too. I shoot a quick text to Q to let him know Mel missed the bus, but I’m taking her to school so he can tell her mom and dad.
I wait until we’re a half mile from my place until I start asking questions. “What did those asshole kids say to you?”
“They kept telling me that I need my V-card punched or I’ll be the school prude.”
My fingers grip the steering wheel almost to the point of pain. I haul in a deep breath through my nose and let it out my mouth so I don’t lose it. “You’re in eighth grade. Everyone’s supposed to be a prude. You’re way too fucking young for that shit.”
Melanie drops her head against the seat. “Everyone’s doing it. Likeeveryone.Even the weird girl who transferred in last year and only wears black lost her virginity. I’m like the only girl in my grade who hasn’t. Everyone knows it too. It’s embarrassing. Someone even shoved a bunch of notecards with the letterVwritten on them in my locker last week, and they ended up all over the hall floor when I opened it.”
As she hugs her book bag to her chest, I debate what I should do. My instinct is to walk into that school and interrogate every single one of those little fuckers until I find out who did it, but I can’t. One, I’m not a parent, and that makes it fucking weird. Two, I’d get arrested because I’d want to beat the shit out of the kid who made her cry.
Melanie fills the silence. “Sometimes I think I should just do it so they’ll stop teasing me.”
I slam on my brakes at a stop sign, and Roux yelps in the back seat. I throw a hand back to pat her head as an apology as I meet Melanie’s sad eyes. “Don’t you fucking dare let those little pricks peer-pressure you into something you aren’t ready—and shouldn’t be ready—to do. Promise me right now that you won’t do that shit until you’re way the fuck older.”
“Mom would yell at you for cursing so much,” she replies matter-of-factly.
“If you’re old enough to talk about sex, then you’re old enough to hear me cuss.”