donât pay, we donât shoot
you.
â Jerry had really lost his cool. His hair was a complete mess.
Cam caught Angieâs movement out of the corner of his eye. Her place was a few houses downâshe was taking out the garbage. Cam met Jerryâs gaze and understood.
A cold feeling went through him. He thought about Angie, and Joey.
And then he thought about Nikki.
Finding that much money in one month was impossible. Which meant that seeing her again was impossible too. Unless he could make a lot of money, fast.
He looked up and realized that Hu and Jerry had towed his fatherâs car away. He trudged back to Angieâs, but he only got halfway up the drive.
Angie met him there, her face a mask of anger. His two plastic crates were sitting next to her, containing all of his worldly possessions. He saw Joey open the screen door, but his mother barked at him to go inside.
âAngie, Iâm sorry . . .â he began, but he didnât know how to finish the sentence.
He didnât have to figure it out, because Angie slapped him, hard. âYour
friends
gave Joey a ride home from school today, Cam.â Her voice shook. âThose . . .
thugs
brought my son home from school!â A tear escaped from the corner of her eye, and she swiped it away.
âAngie, I . . .â Cam felt helpless, and sick. Seeing Angie so scared and angry was like letting his mom down all over again.
âI donât want to see you anywhere around me or my son or this house ever again. Do you hear me? Stay away from us, Cam! I mean it.â She threw both crates at him, stalked into the now-empty garage, and hit the button, closing the door.
Now he was carless
and
homeless.
Nikki had said he was one of those people who couldnât hold on to anything nice.
Sheâd been wrong.
He couldnât hold on to anything at all.
â¢Â â¢Â â¢
After Angie kicked him out, Cam was full of pent-up rage. It wasnât that he blamed herâshe was just being smart. He was pissed at
himself
for dragging her into this mess. With his mom gone, she was one of the few people in the world who actually gave a crap about him, and he sure as hell didnât want anything bad to happen to her or Joey.
But he still felt angryâat the universe for his mom getting sick, at his father for the fact that theyâd been up to their ears in debt before sheâd even been diagnosed. At the Tong for obvious reasons.
Parkour seemed the perfect distraction.
First, he stashed everything he owned in the corner of the break room at Lafayette. Then, he headed for the closest park and started practicing his cat leaps using the low wall at the perimeter. When that move felt solid, he started to use the benches to work on his dash vault.
As darkness started to fall, Cam realized he was getting tired, and he decided to head home.
And thatâs when he remembered he didnât actually have one anymore.
He snuck back into the break room at Lafayette Messenger and spent the night on the lumpy old couch, still leaping and jumping all through the night, in his dreams.
SIX
CAM SAT ALONE, looking down at the alley, watching a stray cat picking through a pile of garbage.
Heâd woken up early, before anyone came into work at Lafayette. He was stiff from the training and from sleeping on the lumpy couch. He spent the morning finding a new place to crashâfinally settling on an old seven-story building that was in foreclosure. Just the other day, on a delivery run for Lafayette, heâd spotted the place. It must have been a really nice place, once. There was even a small greenhouse on the roof. One of the glass walls had been broken, probably in a storm, but someone had draped a tarp over the opening to cover it. He had found a few old mattresses in the building, but with the nights so hot lately, Cam was betting it would be a bit cooler on the roof, so he dragged the least
you.
â Jerry had really lost his cool. His hair was a complete mess.
Cam caught Angieâs movement out of the corner of his eye. Her place was a few houses downâshe was taking out the garbage. Cam met Jerryâs gaze and understood.
A cold feeling went through him. He thought about Angie, and Joey.
And then he thought about Nikki.
Finding that much money in one month was impossible. Which meant that seeing her again was impossible too. Unless he could make a lot of money, fast.
He looked up and realized that Hu and Jerry had towed his fatherâs car away. He trudged back to Angieâs, but he only got halfway up the drive.
Angie met him there, her face a mask of anger. His two plastic crates were sitting next to her, containing all of his worldly possessions. He saw Joey open the screen door, but his mother barked at him to go inside.
âAngie, Iâm sorry . . .â he began, but he didnât know how to finish the sentence.
He didnât have to figure it out, because Angie slapped him, hard. âYour
friends
gave Joey a ride home from school today, Cam.â Her voice shook. âThose . . .
thugs
brought my son home from school!â A tear escaped from the corner of her eye, and she swiped it away.
âAngie, I . . .â Cam felt helpless, and sick. Seeing Angie so scared and angry was like letting his mom down all over again.
âI donât want to see you anywhere around me or my son or this house ever again. Do you hear me? Stay away from us, Cam! I mean it.â She threw both crates at him, stalked into the now-empty garage, and hit the button, closing the door.
Now he was carless
and
homeless.
Nikki had said he was one of those people who couldnât hold on to anything nice.
Sheâd been wrong.
He couldnât hold on to anything at all.
â¢Â â¢Â â¢
After Angie kicked him out, Cam was full of pent-up rage. It wasnât that he blamed herâshe was just being smart. He was pissed at
himself
for dragging her into this mess. With his mom gone, she was one of the few people in the world who actually gave a crap about him, and he sure as hell didnât want anything bad to happen to her or Joey.
But he still felt angryâat the universe for his mom getting sick, at his father for the fact that theyâd been up to their ears in debt before sheâd even been diagnosed. At the Tong for obvious reasons.
Parkour seemed the perfect distraction.
First, he stashed everything he owned in the corner of the break room at Lafayette. Then, he headed for the closest park and started practicing his cat leaps using the low wall at the perimeter. When that move felt solid, he started to use the benches to work on his dash vault.
As darkness started to fall, Cam realized he was getting tired, and he decided to head home.
And thatâs when he remembered he didnât actually have one anymore.
He snuck back into the break room at Lafayette Messenger and spent the night on the lumpy old couch, still leaping and jumping all through the night, in his dreams.
SIX
CAM SAT ALONE, looking down at the alley, watching a stray cat picking through a pile of garbage.
Heâd woken up early, before anyone came into work at Lafayette. He was stiff from the training and from sleeping on the lumpy couch. He spent the morning finding a new place to crashâfinally settling on an old seven-story building that was in foreclosure. Just the other day, on a delivery run for Lafayette, heâd spotted the place. It must have been a really nice place, once. There was even a small greenhouse on the roof. One of the glass walls had been broken, probably in a storm, but someone had draped a tarp over the opening to cover it. He had found a few old mattresses in the building, but with the nights so hot lately, Cam was betting it would be a bit cooler on the roof, so he dragged the least
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