The baby’s been asleep for twenty minutes—a new record—which means I’ve finally got time to myself. Time to get back to what matters.
The raid’s reforming in ten, and Malik’s been on my ass all week about missing DPS checks.
I adjust my headset and pull up the game, fingers already finding their rhythm on the gaming laptop I scored a few Christmases ago from that lady before she died. The screen glows in the dim apartment, the only real light since Harper’s always on me about the electric bill.
Through the wall, Mrs. Chaudhuri’s TV blares some Bollywood soap opera. The couple upstairs is fighting again. Something crashes, followed by muffled shouting.
This studio apartment in East Austin is a shitbox.
But it’sourshitbox, and that’s what matters.
Real life is complicated and messy, sure. But I got the girl in the end, and that’s all that matters.
I always knew I was smarter than all the dipshits around me.
And look at me now—I got the girl, and I’m in a place of my own, with no one to smack me around or tell me what to do?—
A whimper cuts through my concentration.
Goddammit. Fuck. Not yet.
Ijustput him down.
I turn up the volume on my gaming headset and pretend I don’t hear the baby’s whining. The leather presses against my ears, blocking out everything except the game.
Harper got her new gig through one of Dani’s cousins. That woman’s family network never ceases to amaze.
Dani saw Harper sketching late one night at the kitchen table—we all knew she wasn’t going to be able to keep up washing dishes at the end of the pregnancy. I figured Dani would toss us out on our asses when Harper’s belly got too big to hide from everyone at work.
Instead, she saw Harper’s sketches and got all soft about it. Then Dani introduced Harper to her cousin who owns a tattoo shop over on Fifth Street.
Harper started at the front desk, answering phones and booking appointments.
But everyone loves Harper. You can’t fucking help it. She’s got this light inside her that not even the shittiest of circumstances can put out.
Like she glows from the inside.
I saw it the moment I met her in the woods when we were twelve—this girl with leaves in her hair and a Zippo that didn’t work, looking up at me like I was something special.
Staying close to her is the only thing I’ve done right in my life.
Even if I had to do wrong to keep her.
The baby’s whimper turns into a cry.
My fingers still on the keyboard. I stare at the screen, watching my character stand there idle while the party chat lights up with messages.
Z you there?
Bro answer.
I grit my teeth and keep my eyes on the screen. “Come on, buddy. Just give me thirty minutes.”
Through the thin walls, I can hear Mrs. Chaudhuri’s TV change channels. A game show blares through the wall now, all bells and buzzers. The upstairs couple’s fight ends with a door slamming hard enough to rattle our ceiling light.
I’ve known life before Harper. Then lifewithouther when her dad swooped in and put her underneath the same roof as that fucking stepson of his.Caleb.
Even thinking his name makes my jaw clench.