Fallin' From The Tree (StemxStud)

17

[ Valentine ]

I got back into my Lexus to check up on Dom. I knew that Teece could pull through her troubles, so now I was back focused on evading the cop's questions. So far they hadn't questioned me too harshly, but there was always a chance that I had left something behind that identifies me with the crime scene, and that Angela or whatever her name is, won't hold her side of the bargain.

I never expected shorty to be a little gang leader, she never struck me as the type. That little temper of hers will take a lot of lives, I can already see it. She would look cuter by my side than Keris did. Let me slow down, shorty's a whole minor, law or no law. But she'd be turning eighteen in a few months....

I pulled up to my house, seeing all of the lights on. It did raise up my electricity bill but I didn't want Dom living in the dark and causing suspicion if anyone happened to even see a shadow of light flicker on from outside the closed blinds and windows.

I parked and went to my apartment door. I wonder if any more of Keris' family knew about the hit job Keris tried to arrange. Even if so, they wouldn't dare mention it to the cops. But they might send someone else after me. I slowly opened the door and tried to remind myself to keep my gun with me at all times. I need to get one for Dom too since she's here all the time.

I locked the door behind myself and went to find Dom upstairs in my room. I retrieved her and she followed me back to the kitchen. "I visited Teece today," I told her. She had only met my best friend the morning Keris had went after Teece. She didn't know the easygoing Teece that I did, she only knew the woman wailing "I can't feel them, I can't feel them" over and over in agony.

"She wants to start physical therapy immediately," I informed Dom. "But otherwise, she's in okay spirits. I'm going to be spending a lot of my time up there with her and trying to figure out how we'll all move on with life."

"Anaela will help us," Dom piped up.

"If Anaela doesn't hold down her side of the bargain then I have prison time to worry about then you." I frowned, "Well not in that order. If the cops know you're with me then everything's different. If Anaela doesn't spare me I know she'll at least make sure you're safe. You're her friend and I can tell she values her friends."

Dom nodded, holding her hands together on the counter. "I miss being outside," she said sadly.

"I know a couple of months might sound like hell but my time will be split between you and Teece."

"You got some mail today," Dom told me, gesturing to the old mailbox attached to the house. I walked over and shifted through it. I frowned hard. "Well, my time will be split between taking care of Teece, you, and the bills."

"I can start working for Anaela now and make money. I'm sure she'd give me a cut along with the protection," Dom said quietly. I turned to her, "In truth I could have just let you go and you wouldn't have been involved in any of this. I'm sorry Dom."

"No, if you had let me go I would have been found, and would have been an outcast to the rest of my family."

"They c- Well of course your family couldn't offer you protection from your own family," I sighed. "There was no other family member for you to stay with?" I asked.

"My dad, if he's alive. I don't know anything about him," she told me.

"Well, I guess we'll start looking into that," I weakly smiled. "Could you go by Anaela's and ask about getting paid for me?" I nodded, "No problem. I was just stopping by to check on you anyways. Remember, don't let anyone in and don't go out."

"Okay," Dom said, studying the table.

I know teenagers. "If you go out it's only hurting you Dom."

She also knows too much.