The Tales of Flesh and Blood

Breathless With Bruises

I waited at the back of the building, where the exit was from the gym. It was cold outside, but it wasn't too bad. After Miss Hemsphire released us, she'd allowed Landon to go ahead and shower in the boy's locker room. His friends knew him well enough to leave him alone, and I was smart enough to wait until they were already driving out of the parking lot before I dared going outside. Luckily, the cheer team had already left by then, so I didn't have to ponder if I was going to run into Becka Jorden, which was a plus. It was amazing in itself how I hadn't seen her in the past few days. The girl was a classified idiot.

If only I was smart enough to steer clear of the boy who was three times my size and wouldn't mind popping my face.

"Hey, we need to talk," I said the moment the metal door opened and behold, the big guy in the flesh appeared out of it. He took one look at me and laughed, his hair still mopped down on his head.

"Tria, you are the last person I want to talk to," he informed. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the wall.

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to get a gun pointed at my face and then taken all the way down to Richard's," I replied, just as sarcastically. "Yet, here we are."

He hesitated.

"Look, Tria-"

"Frenice, Landon?" I pushed myself off the wall. "Do you have any idea who his buddy is?"

"Yeah, Tria, I know-"

"You do? Oh, lovely, because I didn't know until I had a fifteen-year-old newspaper shoved in my face."

"It's not like Locman showed up on your doorstep," Landon tried to argue, but I was already shaking my head. "Frenice just wanted to know about your mom-"

"Landon, she's dead. Everyone in the entire damn school knows that. I don't know shit about her. Why didn't you just tell him that?"

"For the same reason you agreed to get in the car with him," Landon snapped. I couldn't object to this, so I just shook my head and stepped forward to say quietly,

"You need to get him off my back, Landon. I was with him for maybe two hours before these guys thought it would be cool to break into my apartment and scare the shit out of Hadi. They were trying to do some power grab-"

"Oh, shoot, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I hissed. "The point is, I don't want Frenice on my back. I don't want any ties to Locman. I'm trying to get Hadi out of here, not bury her further in all of this damned nonsense."

Landon sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Tria, but this isn't my problem," he said after a while. What the hell? I curled my fists at my sides.

"What do you mean, it's not your problem? You're the one that got me-"

"No, Tria. Frenice approached me looking for you."

"And why the hell would he look for me, huh? Why didn't you tell him off?"

Landon gave me a dubious look.

"Like you've ever told Port 'no'?" he challenged.

"Yeah, I have, actually," I replied, just as serious. "I got my ass beat for it, but I didn't give anyone out."

Landon scoffed.

"And if he'd used Hadi as leverage? You would still refuse?"

I pointed a finger at him. This was getting pathetic. All I wanted was for the big guy to get the other, more intimidating guy off my case. What was so hard about that? Clearly, he had connections. I knew people. Lots of people, all who owed me favors I would never collect because, face it, going to people for favors would only dig me in deeper holes. People didn't like being in debt, and I didn't like having to rely on people to pay them. However, if this asshole was going to ditch me after placing me in a situation that I couldn't get out of . . .

"You leave her out of-"

The big guy did something that I should have expected, but for some reason, didn't. He struck out at me with speed that should have been lost on someone his size. By the time I realized what was happening, I was being pinned to the wall with one of his giant hands on my throat. He wasn't squeezing it - not yet - but he applied enough pressure to make me nervous. My first instinct was to fight back, and I think he saw this coming, because as he moved to lean in, he yanked me forward only to bash the back of my head against the brick wall. I became distinctly aware of a loud clack! and for a moment, dots flooded my vision. The sharp, rattling pain that came with hitting the back of one's head wasn't too shy to appear, either.

"I won't hesitate next time," he warned. "He's interested in your damn family, not mine. I don't care if Locman's got you listed - oh, don't object," he added when I tried to open my mouth. Getting choked, it turned out, was not fun. "Your roommate works three jobs and neither one of you are on drugs. Anyone with half a brian can figure out who the money's going to. We just don't talk about it. Get your own shit handled, and leave me alone."

Or else, the look in his eyes said. By that point, I could feel the heat surging to my face as I struggled to breathe. I tried to talk, but it came out as a pathetic wheeze that would otherwise have had me coughing. Still, he wouldn't release me. The tips of my fingers were getting a tingly feeling in them -

I must have blacked out for a brief moment, because by the time I came to, I was on my knees, gasping for air as my body shook with heavy, violent coughs. Meanwhile, Landon just stood next to me, waiting for me to catch my bearings.

"I'll see you around," he said, though he didn't say it with any of the smug cockiness he would have had with any other kid he decided to beat up. "By the way, Port wants to see you."

It took me a while to get back up to my feet, but by then, Landon had already disappeared, and my throat still burned like hell anytime I breathed. I rubbed my neck, where Landon's fingers had easily overlapped. Oddly enough, the first thing that went through my head was, How bad is this going to bruise?

Good thing I normally wore hoodies, anyway. Now, to go see my landlord.