“Do it,” Reed warned, egging the angry-at-the-world teen on, his lips barely moving, his eyes focused hard on Morrisette’s boy. “See what happens.”
Toby’s fists clenched again. He began circling Reed, searching for a soft spot, ready to throw the first punch. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Then you’d have an excuse to arrest me.”
“Try me,” Reed said, keeping the kid in his sights. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
The door to the apartment building burst open, and three girls, silhouetted by the lights in the building’s lobby, stepped onto the sidewalk.
Toby caught sight of his sister. He froze for a second, still sizing Reed up. Then, suddenly, he lowered his arms. “Hey!” he called to the group.
Priscilla, in the middle of the group, saw him, said something to her friends and approached. Like her mother, she was petite and compact, and her hair had once been as blond as Sylvie’s. Now, though, she sported an uneven haircut—shaved on one side of her head, and on the other, chin-length strands tinged green. A nose ring glinted in one nostril, and she was sporting what appeared to be a new, vine-like tattoo running up her forearm. “What’re you doing here?” she asked her brother as she spied Reed, her eyebrows knitting slightly. “What’s going on?”
Reed managed a faint smile. “Toby here was about to show me some of his cage-fighting skills.”
“What? No! Tobes … Oh, wait. I get it. You’re kidding, right?” She laughed a little, unsure, because she, of all people, knew how volatile her brother could be.
“Right,” Reed said and caught Toby’s eye, daring him to argue. Reed had always gotten along with Priscilla.
“He wanted to fight me,” Toby announced and jutted out his chin.
One of Priscilla’s neatly plucked brows raised. “Probably not a good idea, Tobes,” she admonished. “What—what are you doing here?” she asked again, then when Toby didn’t immediately answer, she put two and two together. “You got into a fight with Dad, again, didn’t you? And he kicked you out. Damn it, Tobes, I told you to just put up with it a little longer. You graduate in June. That’s only a few months … oh, shit, you didn’t get kicked out of school, too, did you?” She rolled her eyes and shook her head, her lips flattening and reminding Reed of his ex-partner. “God, why can’t you just roll with it for a few more weeks?”
“You don’t understand.”
“Oh, yeah, I do!” She looked over her shoulder to her two friends, who were watching the display. “Go on,” she called to them. “I’ll catch up.”
One of the friends took in the scene. “You sure?”
“Yeah, go. Go!” Then as the two left, she turned back to her brother. “You fought with Dad again. Admit it,” she demanded as the squirrel, tired of chattering, climbed higher in the tree.
“Nah. I was just in town.”
“And you brought along Mom’s partner?” she said in disbelief, underlining her words as she motioned toward Reed.
“He just showed up!” Toby said, then snarled, “Probably following me.”
Reed said, “Your aunt called. Toby’s been missing some school.”
“You got no right to butt in!” Toby shot back. “And don’t give me some bullshit about you caring or whatever. He only checks on us cuz he feels guilty!”
“It’s not guilt. It’s a promise I made to your mom.”
“Like paying for my schooling?” Priscilla asked. “I checked.”
The conversation wasn’t going the way Reed had hoped. “That’s different.”
“How?” Priscilla wanted to know.
It was complicated. Most of the funding for her kids’ college came from Sylvie’s death benefit; she’d set it up that way. The rest was paid by Nikki. Because she felt responsible. So, yeah, that wasn’t too far away from guilt. He said, “I always told your mom I’d look after you two.” He moved a finger between the siblings. “She asked, and I agreed, and I told her I’d make sure you got to go to whatever university or trade school or whatever you wanted after high school.”
“What if I don’t want to go to college?” Toby threw out.
Reed said, “Why don’t we wait and see after you graduate?”
“So that’s why you’re following me. Cuz you think you’re my counselor or something!”
“I don’t think that’s it,” his sister said.
“Hey!” The two girls Priscilla had been with had returned. “Are we going to Drake’s or what?” the taller of the two asked, while the shorter, heavyset redhead kept her eyes on her phone while her fingers moved quickly over the screen.