Page 47 of Shallow

Finally managing to pick my head up, I tilt my chin to the side and, verifying that Mo and Kong are nowhere to be found, slowly crawl to my feet. Picking imbedded gravel out of my knees, I tuck away the emotion threatening to bubble to thesurface.

I refuse to cry. Nothere.

Smoothing my hair with one hand, I swipe my lip with the other and smear blood all over the back of my hand. Great. I dart out my tongue and run it over my lip, tasting the familiar metallictang.

And it just keeps gettingbetter.

My first instinct is to call Malcolm to come pick my ass up, but I can’t because the Brothers Klepto stole my purse. The purse which has my phone init.

Damnit.

Busted, broke, and now bleeding, I start walking toward what I can only pray is the way to the center, hoping like hell that in my current condition, I’ve become something I haven’t been in sevenyears.

Unrecognizable.

Sixteen

Shiloh

“What the hell happened to you?”Tiny blurts out as I limp through the door of the community center. “You get in a fight with a Rottweiler orsomethin’?”

I laugh, but the sound comes out more like a grunt. “Close. Except these dogs were about six-one with matching bandanas and I’m pretty sure they wanted to sniff more than my asshole.” Collapsing into a shitty metal chair, I let out a relieved groan that borders onobscene.

My eyes flutter closed, and I can only hope that when I open them, all five bewildered stares are gone, leaving me to wallow in what I believe to be well-deserved self-pity. Ten blocks. Ten stupid blocks with a couple of simple turns is all it should’ve taken me to hobble my violated ass to the community center. But no, that would be toosimple.

All flustered, I somehow managed to make four rights and a half-dozen lefts, getting myself lost. Sixteen blocks and two hours later, here I am, strolling into work late as hell and looking like Rocky after fighting Apollo for fifteenrounds.

Yes, I sawRocky II. I’m not just a prettyface.

“Wait, were they wearing white bandanas wrapped around theirheads?”

My eyes pop open to see Frankie standing right in front of me, his arms crossed over his chest. He looks pissed. Actually, he looks more than pissed. He looks ready to shanksomebody.

Shank is a great word. I learned it while doing time. Okay, so I was only in jail over the weekend, but trust me, I’ve seen someshit.

“Yeah, why? Is thatsignificant?”

Frankie scrubs his hands up and down his face then clenches them on top of his head. “They’re the Scorpions, Shiloh. White bandanas tied around the head means they’vepledged.”

“Pledged what?” I’m not playing dumb here. I’m really thatclueless.

“Damn, woman! What the hell does it matter?” he asks, unclenching his hands. “Loyalty? Their lives? To spray bullets at anyone who gets in their way?” He stops and narrows a suspicious gaze at me. “Where the fuck were you that you even ran up on one in the firstplace?”

The thought crosses my mind to let it all out. Exorcise my demons and admit to my newfound phobia of enclosed spaces and constant flashbacks of Kirkland. Instead, I do what comes natural—lie. “Alvarez Street, I think. My driver couldn’t keep it between the yellow lines, so I bailed. It’s not unheard of to actually walk places, youknow.”

Sorry for bus rolling you,Malcolm.

Frankie’s mouth hangs open. “Holy shit, you walked down Alvarez Street alone? What the hell were youthinkin’?”

“I was thinking how nice it was to feel normal for once.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I grunt as a sharp pain reminds me of my newly formedbruises.

“So, I take it they’re the ones who did that to yourface?”

All I can do is nod. Apparently, my silence sets off a chain reaction in the boys, starting with Tiny and running down the line as Romeo and some skinny new kid crack theirknuckles.

“Did they…” Tiny’s booming voice trails off as he pounds his fist into his otherpalm.

“No!” I yell, waving a frantic hand in the air. “Hell no. They stole my shit, knocked me around a little, and tookoff.”