Lion Den

Part 7

When Emma got home, she dutifully checked to see if her mother was home. Of course, luck being something that was rarely on Emma's side, her mother was waiting for her in the kitchen when she and Andrei walked through the door.

"So, you're the thug that's corrupting my daughter," her mother greeted them. Emma looked at Andrei. He was dressed in a plain black hoodie and a pair of faded jeans. He did not look like a thug.

    "I don't know about that, but I'm Andrei. Nice to meet you, ma'am. You have a lovely home." He extended his hand for her to shake, and she was taken aback by his politeness.

    "Oh, well, thank you. Emma, is your friend joining us for dinner? I invited the Matthews' over." Emma was floored.

    "Actually, we were going to the library to study. I won't be home until after dinner. I was just gonna grab something on the way." Why was her mother forcing her and Tony into the same room again?

    "How's Tony gonna eat with his jaw wired shut?" Emma asked innocently. Andrei stared at his own feet, but Emma saw the smile that was proudly widening across his face.

    "Oh, it'll just be the chief and his wife. Tony apparently wasn't feeling well enough to come over. Are you sure you two can't stay? You've been studying pretty hard, Emma. You should give yourself a night off." Emma shook her head.

    "I can't. I need to get my math grade up. I just came home to change." Emma's mom nodded, and she made her way up the stairs to her room, quickly undressing and redressing in a pair of sweats and a plain sweatshirt. She grabbed her keys and Andrei followed her out.

    She booked it to her car and started it up almost immediately. Andrei didn't say a word until she gunned it onto the interstate, pushing the old engine up past 85, ignoring its protests. He was wobbling in his seat, holding onto the grip bar.

    "Where are we going?" Emma shook her head and banged her hand on the steering wheel.

    "I don't know yet. I guess we'll just drive until we run out of gas. I have enough money to fill up the tank again anyway. God, my fucking mother! Where does she get off, trying to keep Tony and I together?" She was shouting at that point, her throat trauma making the noise come out like a big, wet hiss, and she felt Andrei's hand on her shoulder.

    "Hey, Emma, just try to relax. Take some deep breaths." Emma wasn't listening to reason.

    "I swear to God, that woman only cares about herself! She's never done anything but criticize me and try to hurt me!" Emma was screaming at that point, hurting her still tender throat, and Andrei looked scared. The car was wheezing, the gears all grinding.

    "Baby girl, just relax. You're good. You got me, right?" Emma looked over at him and felt an unbidden smile upturn her lips.

    "Yeah, I have you. But I don't have Marisol anymore. My mother thinks you're the scum of the earth and is trying to push me back together with an abusive piece of shit." She shook her head, sadness blanketing her mind. Andrei looked at Emma and felt his heart break. He felt something in his chest blossoming, something he'd never felt before. He would do anything to protect her, but he didn't know how to save her from her mother.

    "I wish you didn't have to go back there." She scoffed. She had felt the same way. Since her father died, Emma felt like her house was more of a prison. The love was gone.

    "I'm not even sure my mom would even notice if I never came home, some days." He looked at her for a good long while.

    "Why don't you come live with me?" She scoffed.

    "In an old crack den?" She could tell she offended him.

    "It's not much, but don't insult it. I hired professionals to clean it up after my Ma died. We'd have to be careful, but you'd be fine. It's got deadbolts on the front and back doors." She considered it.

    "Maybe. I'll pack tonight." She suddenly veered off an exit on the interstate and started heading towards the library on the edge of town.

    Andrei was surprisingly good at math, and he helped her with the hard trigonometry problems. She inquired about his education.

    "I don't go to school. I dropped out to be a full-time baller when I was seventeen. An education ain't gonna do me much good. I'm finna get my GED in a couple years if I can get out of the Leónes." The Leónes, the most notorious street gang in her town. The bright pink square of the bandana he usually wore in his back pocket signaled to the outside world who he ran with.

    The Leónes were behind most of the Major Crime in the city, and it was suspected that they were the ones that had killed Mayor Bailey himself. No one knew who put the hit out on him, but Emma had vowed to find that out and avenge her father.

    "Hmmm. You're smart enough that you could get into any college you wanted." He shrugged.

    "Do you really think I have the money to go to college?" She stayed silent after that, going over the concepts and the rules of Pythagorean's theorem.

    After Emma's brain was too full of information, she finally left the library. It was only 6:30, and she didn't feel like going home yet. She knew the chief and his wife would still be in her home, her mother was going to stretch that dinner for all it was worth.

    "Is there any place where we can go and wait for Chief Matthews to leave?" Andrei looked at her sideways.

    "Well, if we don't stay for too long, we can probably go to my house. No one should be in the neighborhood. But you have to be ready to run away if anyone shows up." She nodded. He thought about the danger, but it seemed like her own home was a bigger danger to her at the moment. What was the worst that could happen?

    So, for the evening, he took her back to his old place. The building was tiny, with two bedrooms up on the top level and a spacious basement that she wasn't allowed in. The house reeked faintly of cat pee and skunks to Emma.

    "I have a room upstairs that's a sort of guest room. You could stay there all night if you'd like, just lock the door." Emma smiled at him.

    "Thank you, but my mom would definitely call the cops if I didn't come home at curfew tonight. She tracks my location on my phone, and I doubt that you'd want a bunch of pigs sniffing around here." Andrei looked at her sideways.

    "Right. I didn't think of that. Well, my friends usually show up around ten to come to get me. You'll want to leave before then." She nodded in understanding.

When she got home around 9:30, her mother, the chief, and his wife were all gone. She fished her knife out of her purse and brandished it, checking under her bed, looking in her closet, scouring the room to make sure Tony wasn't hiding anywhere. Part of her knew it was silly and irrational, but she was scared. When her room was clear,she lied down on her bed and fell into an uneasy sleep.