know where you are until the big boys behind bars are smacking you around and youâre crying for your momma.â
Bart stood there, huffing at her.
âJosh is my boyfriend,â Jaden said suddenly in her drawl. âHe doesnât want anything to do with Sheila. You can tell her that. You want to fight someone? Go fight with her, and tell her to stay away from Josh.â
âThatâs bull crap,â Bart said, snarling.
âGo ahead,â Jaden said, gritting her teeth. âYou just touch me and see what happens to you. Wait till I tell my father youâre a racist, too. Heâll slap the cuffs on extra tight.â
Bart lunged at Jaden but pulled back just before he touched her.
Jaden never flinched.
âYou think Iâm scared of you ?â Jaden said, wrinkling up her face.
Bart took a step back and said, âYou better be, âcause when I get you back, you ainât gonna see me coming. There ainât gonna be no cops, and there ainât gonna be no witnesses.â
Bart turned and started away before spinning around and walking backward as he spoke. âBoth of you, you better watch your backs.â
Bart kept going, now laughing demonically at them.
Jaden just stood staring and shaking her head. âWhat a moron.â
When Bart rounded the corner, Josh asked, âYou think heâll do it?â
âDo what?â
âGet us.â
Jaden swatted the air, scooped up her cell phone, and said, âCome on. I donât want to be late for my dad. If he comes out and Iâm not there, heâll walk home alone.â
Josh hurried to catch up to her.
âHeâs not really a cop, too, is he?â Josh asked, fallingin alongside her.
Jaden furrowed her brow and glanced at him, shaking her head again.
âNo,â she said. âJust a doctor.â
âWell, you sounded pretty good,â Josh said.
âI said you were my boyfriend, too,â Jaden said. âAnd we both know thatâs bologna. Even if I wanted toâwhich I donâtâmy father wonât let me date until Iâm sixteen.â
âThatâs good,â Josh said, his face suddenly burning. âI donât mean because of me or anything. I mean that he cares about you like that.â
âSpeaking of caring,â Jaden said, âyour buddy Benji lit out like a cockroach.â
âHeâs a good guy,â Josh said, looking over his shoulder in the direction Benji had disappeared. âHe might have gone for help.â
âWell, I sure didnât hear any cavalry bugles,â Jaden said.
âDoes your voice do that a lot?â he asked.
âDo what?â
âYou talk kind of southern when youâre excited,â he said.
She shrugged without comment.
They walked for a block in silence before Jaden said, âDonât you know you could twist that moron up into a pretzel?â
âWho, Bart?â
âYeah,â Jaden said. âYouâd kill him.â
âHeâs a lot older than me,â Josh said.
âSo heâs older,â Jaden said. âIâm glad you donât want to fightâthatâs for morons. But if it came down to it, youâd kill him, and you donât even know it.â
âI guess,â Josh said, straightening his back a little.
âBut donât worry,â Jaden said. âIâve seen the type. Heâs all talk. Here it is.â
They had come to the big brick hospital that covered three city blocks. Before them stood the loading docks, a dark cavern of concrete cut into the side of the hill. Enormous garage doors stood in a row deep in the shadows beyond the raised platform, and a handful of Dumpsters had been crowded into the far corner of the blacktop below. Several cars had been nosed up along part of the concrete wall near the Dumpsters. One caught Joshâs eye.
A sliver of light appeared, then grew into a rectangle from which