A/N—Here we go again!! Here are some shout outs. It's been awhile so I figured all of you readers were due.
NeverBeTamed – I'm glad you like cliffhangers, I love to write them so if any of my chapters have that effect I'm a happy camper.
Cloakedauthor21 – Glad you liked it, but you need your socks its cold out. :D
Elleestjen—Hopefully it stays interesting enough. I'm still tossing around ideas of an ending in my head so we'll see what happens.
Raeghann— Yay I'm so glad you've still been following this! I think you're an amazing writer so your input is welcome and appreciated. I'm happy that I've managed to stick to the time period as well as I can. I slip up sometimes and want to have someone use slang that they shouldn't so it's hard but I try. Update your stories now, y'hear?
Breezy233—I'm so glad you like this story and have been sticking with it. I love Spot too but don't let him hear that, he'll get an even bigger ego. Your favorite chapter is mine as well!!! I wrote it and read it and was all *swoon*. Maybe I should start writing romance novels hah.
Dimonah Tralon-- *twirls fake mustache and laughs evilly, swirling a black cape up to hide her face* I can't make any promises, but it's inevitable that Spot is gonna kill Riot when he finds out anyways, because that's just how they are. I love those types of relationships where most of the time you just wanna kill 'em but then they go and do something sweet to get out of it. Men…*snorts*
And awaaaaaaaaay we go! –A/N
"Uhm is there a reason why you feel the need to lock the door?" Spook just stuck the key into a pocket and pointed at a chair. I sat obediently, not wanting to piss him off even more. There was something a little overly aggressive about him no matter what Cinder said.
"I locked the door so we won't be interrupted by people because I want you to tell me what's really going on" I think my eyebrows must have climbed to the top of my forehead as I stared at him in shock. Shuffling my feet and twining my fingers, I gazed at my hands, seriously contemplating what I should say.
"I think Cinder told you the gist of it" was all I could come up with. Spook glowered at me, his violet eyes darkening and his face growing red with anger. I saw his jaw muscles bunch and he spoke through clenched teeth.
"There is no way that kid is mine, she left me and took up with that petty hoodlum in Brooklyn. And you think that I am gonna just roll over and take her back?"
"You did just a little while ago, why not now?"
"Cuz now she's knocked up and I'm not the father!"
"And how do you know that? Can you do math at all?" Spook gave me a perplexed look and I almost laughed…almost. A sudden banging on the door made us both jump although I jumped higher than Spook. Sassy's angry voice demanded that she be let in and I gave Spook a shrewd look.
"What do you care what Cinder's done, when you've been sleeping with Sassy? Do you know what that does to a girl, knowing that her bully kicked her out of her own turf and then took her place in her boyfriend's bed?"
"Her bully, what do you mean?"
"You NEVER had ANY idea that the reason Cinder left was because Sassy MADE her?" Spook tilted his head to one side, a thoughtful look on his narrow face. We both kept ignoring the thuds and shouts from outside the room. I never took my gaze off of Spook's face, hoping that he would see my sincerity. This whole mess was getting thicker and murkier the deeper I waded into it.
"I thought she left because she didn't want to be around me anymore. But then I managed to convince her to come home just to have her run off again. I never had any idea that Sassy was bothering her, she never told me. None of the other girls ever said anything either." I snorted and shook my head at him, wagging a finger in exasperation.
"Do you really think that the girls here are going to say much of anything at all? This lodging house isn't exactly female friendly let's put it that way. Besides, if Sassy managed to get rid of the boss's girl and took her place you really think they're going to act up against that? God boys are so dumb!" Spook leapt to his feet and came within an inch of my face, bending down so that I could see up his nose, a thought that tickled me to no end even though I was scared.
"SHE left ME and went to Brooklyn and started going around with another boy. You think that I'm going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that I'm here alone? I did what she did to prove to her that if she could I could."
"No," I said coldly "You did it to hurt her and nothing more because you yourself were hurt." Spook backed off and sat down with a sigh, his shoulder's slumping.
"I think you need to look back when the last time she was here and then look at now and count the days in between. She's a few weeks along, and she was here a few weeks ago. So all I have to say to you is that you need to do some serious thinking about that and what you want to do about it, because she needs you right now. Fine, she went with Spot, but you went with Sassy so I'd say you're even." I took a deep breath and fell silent after the mini tirade I had just delivered. Spook dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his face hard before looking back up at me. His eyes were older than they should have been and he seemed tired.
"Just…Make her go away for now, I need to think about all of this and I need to talk to some of my newsies about what happens when I'm not around. But…just take her away…I'll be in touch." We both stood up and he unlocked the door, Sassy just about falling ass over tea kettle when he swung the door open. Righting herself, she gave Cinder a look of venomous satisfaction as I took Cinder's elbow and started guiding her away.
"What happened? Why won't he talk to me, why won't he believe me? Spook....SPOOK!" She cried in anguish as we left the lodging house. Fresh tears fell from her swollen eyes as we made our way out of Harlem and back towards Brooklyn. I felt like I was guiding a zombie because she just plodded along, her tears fading to sniffles every few minutes.
"Well that's just fucking brilliant isn't it?" Misery's disgusted words echoed in the dark. I glanced over at her and she looked at me expectantly.
"I tried, okay? I really, really tried…he said he needed time to think."
"Yah well it would have gone a lot smoother if I had just cut up that dumb broad"
"Misery as always, your desire to do others harm is so endearing" Silver's dry tone made Misery wince but she grinned cheekily at her leader after a few seconds.
"Listen, Cinder we'll talk more but right now we need to get back, Spot's probably smacking people's heads together wondering where we are, plus it's so cold that if I was a boy I'd be missing some parts." Cinder drew in a sharp breath and then laughed a shocked look on her pale face. We left the other two girls off in Manhattan, stopping to warm ourselves in the lodging house briefly before making our way to Brooklyn.
We hopped onto the back of a trolley that took us over the Brooklyn Bridge and we dropped ourselves off once we made it past the sentry point. I knew that there was not a chance in Hell that we would get back without anyone noticing but we could try anyways. I grabbed Cinder and pulled her into a pub as we walked by it, and we sat in the back away from the crowds of people.
Lighting a cigarette, I spat out flecks of tobacco and paper and moodily watched the smoke curl up and disappear. Neither of us said anything for a while, both of us thinking. I ordered a pint just so we wouldn't get kicked out, but I didn't feel like drinking. The crowd here was raucous and mostly male so I knew it wasn't a good idea for us to stay here long but I felt that it was the best place to speak to Cinder.
"What do you want to do?" Cinder's blue eyes flickered up at me before she began picking at a lump of wax from the candle on our table.
"I…I want to be with Spook but if he doesn't believe me, he won't want me. Not if he thinks the baby is Spot's. Did he say anything to you?" I inhaled a drag of smoke and let it out slowly.
"He said that he needed to talk to his newsies and see if Sassy really was as horrid to you as you said she was. He also said that he needed time to think over what was going on, I mean you hit him with a lot y'know coming in there and saying that he was going to be a father." Cinder nodded her face pinched and miserable. Then she brightened a little bit and took a sip of the glass of ale.
"Well the other girls will tell him the truth…They don't like Sassy either but it bothers me that he can't just believe me."
"Look you left because of Sassy and he thought it was because of him. No one spoke up and defended you so he let Sassy comfort him just like you went to Brooklyn and let Spot comfort you. I don't know why they didn't help you in Harlem and maybe that's an important piece of this because are you going to raise a baby around people who wouldn't even speak up in your defense? You gotta lot to think about and so does he so I say just stay calm and let things happen as they happen."
Cinder blinked and tucked a strand of her red hair behind an ear. She pursed her lips and contemplated what I said for a minute before nodding and then giving me a sad smile. Putting out a tentative hand, she touched my arm and then squeezed it briefly.
"I wish I had come to you sooner Riot…You're a lot different from the other girls and I really don't deserve your kindness after standing between you and Spot." I was glad the room was dimly lit for I knew my cheeks were bright pink as I awkwardly patted her hand back and shrugged, taking a huge swallow of the ale.
"Hey now I'm just doing what any other person would do…Sheesh you might even say I was too nosey for my own good, don't make me out to be a saint." Cinder laughed and stood up, shrugging into her coat. I followed suit, suddenly tired and wanting to go back to the house.
"True, you are very nosey but you listen too and that's important." Together we walked outside and began to head back to the lodging house. It was so cold that it stole your breath away and we made it home in record time, scraping our boots on the edge of the stoop before heading inside.
The night was just winding down, and as we entered the lobby only a few people were still awake. Bookworm was finishing a Brother's Grimm story, sitting on the couch surrounded by wide-eyed boys. I knew there would be a couple of nightmares had tonight and shook my head. Cinder scribbled her name into the ledger and I put mine after hers. She inclined her head with a slight smile at me and began walking up the stairs.
"So where have you been?"
"GAH! Don't DO that!" Spot's voice had come from right behind me and I whirled around, a hand on my chest willing my heart to not leap out and fall on the floor. He stood with his arms crossed, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, an ashen eyebrow raised expectantly at me. I decided to play dumb and just gave him a shrug and began unbuttoning the Army coat I wore. It had difficult buttons and I concentrated on that instead of the impatient growling noise that was coming from the boy in front of me.
"Where were you?" Spot moved behind me again and grabbing the shoulders of the coat, yanked it off of me. Tossing it onto the chair behind the desk that the ledger was on, he grabbed my upper arm and propelled me towards the kitchen. There wasn't a Hell of a lot of privacy to be had living in such close quarters but the kitchen seemed to be the easiest place. Once we plowed through the door and he stopped, I ripped my arm out of his grasp and rubbed it.
"That fucking hurt you bastard" I grated at him, pushing my sleeve up to see the marks. He looked ashamed for half a second before raising his eyebrows at me.
"My, my Riot what a mouth you have."
"Better fucking believe it." I snarled as I pinched his arm hard. He yelped and jumped back an incredulous look on his face, blue eyes glinting dangerously. I sat down at the small table, still rubbing my arm with a defiant look on my face.
"How do you like it?" I asked him as he stood there probably debating on whether to slap me or laugh. I could see the transfer of emotions cross his face and it was an interesting sight to behold. He settled on dropping into the chair next to me, his hands coming to rest on the table in fists, twitching slightly.
"One more time, Riot…where were you?"
"Why?"
"BECAUSE I WAS WORRIED DAMN YOU" I winced at the roar of his words and gave him a goofy smile.
"You were?" He pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes momentarily before opening them again, his mouth quirking up slightly. I scooted my chair closer to him and nudged him with my elbow.
"You're cute when you're angry…gimme your arm, the one that I pinched." He offered it to me warily, a questioning look in his eyes. I kissed the dark red spot on his forearm and grinned at his expression.
"Now it won't hurt anymore…didn't anyone ever kiss your boo-boo's before?"
"No, nobody ever did that before" he said darkly before catching my hand in his own and kissing my upper arm in response.
"Well there's a first time for everything," I said to him my voice thick. It brought tears to my eyes at the thought of these kids growing up without someone caring whether they lived or died. It just wasn't fair, but then again that was reality.
I laid my head on Spot's shoulder and he rested his cheek on the top of my head. The door to the kitchen opened and someone came in then left with a hastily muttered apology but we didn't move. I was happy to just sit there with this boy and let my mind wander. But of course, Spot being Spot, he couldn't let things go as easily as I.
"So where were you?" Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes tight and answered him bracing for the ruckus that was going to follow.
"Harlem, okay? I went to Harlem"