Chapter 31

7:30 p.m. Sunday

Andy found his mother standing in front of the window looking out at the street below.

"What did Rico think of the idea?" Camille asked.

Andy had discussed Regan's proposal with his mother – because, after all, she knew Lupe Fuentes better than Andy did. Camille had offered no opinion, which Andy found strange, but suggested he discuss the matter with Lupe and her mother. That's when Andy told Camille about Rico's prohibition of any male attention toward the young girl – including Andy's.

"Rico's worldview is ... limited," Andy said as he sat down. The apartment was hot and Andy realized his mother hadn't been looking out to the street. She had been standing in front of the window fan that circulated the hot air in their living room. "C-B is a rich place and rich is always better."

"Rich is always better," Camille noted as she wiped sweat from above her lip.

"It's easier," Andy corrected. "It's not necessarily better. There's a huge sense of entitlement that permeates through the wealthy that I don't see in the kids around here. They know every day is a struggle. A lot of the people in Regan's world don't understand that lesson until it's too late."

"Are you two fighting over something?" Camille inquired.

"No," Andy replied. "I wasn't really talking about her – although there is a clear 'I want what I want when I want it' undercurrent even with Regan."

Camille chuckled and shook her head.

"There is that undercurrent in all of us," she said. "Right now, I want a damned air conditioner and I'm about ready to send you to the store to buy us one."

Andy smiled at his mother.

"I have the money for one," he said. "And I need to go get a hands-free set for my mobile phone. I can pick up an air conditioner while I'm there."

"How do you have money?" Camille asked.

"I found $250 in the pocket of my tuxedo pants," Andy said with a shrug. "Regan swears she didn't put it there. I figured it was Evan or Regan's dad. Hell, for all I know, it could have been Chris paying me off for giving him the time of his life. I decided, well, since I don't know who gave it to me – and no one is likely to admit to it anyway – I might as well use it."

"Let me change clothes and we'll go get an air conditioner," she said after considering the situation for a moment. "I mean, if you don't mind using your money for it."

"It was never my money," Andy pointed out. "I was going to find a way to slip it into your purse. Then you could have all the same fun questioning the suspects as I did."

Camille rolled her eyes and walked back to her bedroom. She looked at her folded clothing stacked neatly on the end of her bed and turned to look down the hallway to the young man who took such good care of her.

After she changed into a fresh T-shirt and bra, she walked back into the living room and found Andy with a ruler in front of the window. She saw his T-shirt was stuck to his back by a pool of sweat but she wrapped her arms around him anyway when he turned to face her.

"I want you to know exactly how proud I am of you," she said, looking up at him. "I try to let you know as often as possible but this last week has been a rough one for us. I'm sorry I've been so..."

"Motherly?" Andy asked with a smile. "That's all it's been, Mom. You've been worried about me so you've been motherly. I think the week we just had is what typical teenagers and their parents go through all the time."

"God, that would suck," Camille said, shaking her head. "I'm glad you're not a typical teenager."

"It's because you're not a typical mother," Andy said. He put his arm around her and ushered her to the door, grabbing his car keys off the counter as they passed. "You've always had higher expectations from me than other kids my age. You've always given me responsibilities as soon as I demonstrated that I could handle them. You've always been clear about the consequences if I didn't live up to those responsibilities."

He lowered his voice and gestured to the building.

"That's what makes us different from everyone else here,"

The stairwell was oppressively hot but there was no elevator. Camille's fresh clothing was sodden by the time they reached the bottom floor.

"We are going to be out of this dump as quickly as I can find a place," she said. "I will not live through another summer like last year!"

Andy shrugged. He had left for work at 11 a.m. most mornings and hadn't returned until after midnight. He missed the evening sun beating through the windows and turning the small apartment into a bake oven. Camille had been trying to sleep during those evenings and it had not gone well.

Mother and son waved to the group of teenagers that stayed perpetually in the entryway to the building. The group waved back.

"What Rico is doing for Lupe?" Andy said. "He's looking out for her the way you look out for me."

"It's creepy," Camille noted.

"From an outsider's perspective, yeah, I guess it is," Andy agreed after a second of consideration. "All he's doing is giving her a chance to break free. Do you know he has a case of Plan B pills he 'acquired' somewhere. He said the days of unwanted, neglected babies in this building are through."

"He's wrong," Camille replied as she sat down in Andy's car. She was willing to let him drive because his air conditioner worked better than hers.

"I know," Andy said with a nod. "Some people are too stupid to get out of their own way. But the option is there now. These girls, they were never going to go to the drugstore. They'd be too embarrassed."

"And they couldn't afford it even if they weren't too embarrassed," Camille interjected.

"Yep," Andy said with a nod. "It's why almost none of them are on birth control."

"I think that has more to do with religion than money," Camille countered. "Religion is why you're here."

"So that's why you said 'Jesus Christ' when you found out you were pregnant," Andy joked.

In truth, Camille had invoked the Savior's moniker that day – but with "Fucking" as the man's middle name.

"Back to Lupe," Camille said. "Rico thinks it's a good idea?"

"If he could move her to the suburbs tomorrow without taking her mother, he'd do it," Andy said, shaking his head. "By the way, he told me to let you know if you need some money for a damage deposit or to make things work when we move, all I have to do is ask."

Camille snorted.

"And what will he expect from us in return?" she wondered.

"Nothing," Andy said, turning to glance at her. "Mom, you have to understand: Everything he's doing for Lupe now, he's done for me and you in the past couple of years. The reason you could drive to work at night without any trouble is because he told everyone you were off limits. The reason no one hassles me on the way to school is because he told them I'm off-limits. Make no mistake, Mom, there have been those who haven't heeded Rico's words – and they've paid the price. Those two kids who tried to take your purse last year got beaten to within an inch of their lives and Rico let everyone within 10 blocks know exactly why it happened – and that it would be worse if anyone gave you any shit again."

"He's no hero, Andy," Camille cut in.

"I didn't say that he was," Andy noted. "But he's a guy who goes to extraordinary measures to ensure that the few decent people he knows don't wind up with problems they can't get out of. If you think his interest in Lupe is creepy then you'll have to wonder about his interest in you – and in me."

Camille sighed.

"I have wondered about it," she admitted. "The first few months, it bothered me a lot. Now I've just come to accept it. Have you spoken to Lupe tonight?"

"She had some homework to finish," Andy explained. "I'm going to drive her to school in the morning and we'll talk about it then. Rico said the decision is hers and he won't push her if she doesn't want to go. I believe him."

"He's never lied to me that I've found out about," Camille admitted. "I think that's what bothered me most of all."

"He scares me after two years," Andy confessed. "I see him ... I don't know. The undercurrent with him is not one of entitlement. It's one of ... violence. I saw those two kids who tried to steal from you, Mom. That's been, what, 15 months ago now? I doubt either is eating solid food yet."

"I don't know why you even told him about it," Camille said.

"I didn't say anything," Andy replied. "Rico has eyes all over the place. He has people on his payroll in every store in the neighborhood – and in most of the other apartment complexes. Very little happens in this area without word getting back to Rico in a few minutes. I would bet he knew about those kids before you ever got home from the store."

"I handled it," Camille insisted. "He didn't need to get involved."

"You handled it because it was two 14-year-olds with no weapons," Andy corrected. "What would have you have done if it had been two 20-year-olds with guns?"

"I'd have given them my damned purse!" Camille said angrily.

Andy nodded.

"The thing about this place is that once you're a victim, you're always seen as a victim," he said quietly. "Rico only reinforced the fact that you're not a victim. The next time, there might have been five guys who wanted something different than a few dollars. What would you have done then?"

Camille had no answer. Instead she chose to turn and look out the window as they passed out of their low-income neighborhood into the middle-class one that bordered it. Maybe she could find a place somewhere like this for Andy to visit on his return trips from college.

Regan watched with fascination as Joy shimmied out of her tight cut-off denim shorts. Joy's hot pink bikini panties came into view just before Ruth's hands came around Joy's waist to fondle the girl's butt.

Regan and Ruth were sitting on their respective beds, only a few feet apart. Joy stood next to Ruth's bed while she undressed.

"You have a nice butt," Regan croaked when Ruth's fingers had hooked the waistband of Joy's panties and slipped them downward. Joy looked back over her shoulder with a smile. She parted her feet slightly as she stepped out of her shorts and underwear, then reached back and spread her bottom to give Regan a better view.

Regan saw Joy's smooth pussy lips for a moment when the standing young woman had pushed her butt toward the opposite bed.

"Well, my best attribute is on display," Joy told Ruth in a husky voice. "Let's give Regan a glimpse at your charms, too."

She leaned forward, pushing her butt even closer to Regan, and lifted the hem of the Eisenhower T-shirt that Ruth had just put on. Ruth's breasts wobbled slightly when Joy pulled the garment over them and Regan found herself biting her lower lip.

"I see why guys like strip clubs so much," she muttered. Her words ended in a gasp when Joy bent forward and ran her tongue across Ruth's left nipple. From her vantage point, Regan could see Joy's pussy and butthole and could trace down Joy's back to Ruth's right breast.

The visual in front of her was incongruous but she didn't seem to mind. Ruth sat only in the pair of shorts Regan had "acquired" from Camille Drayton two nights before but Joy still wore a gray T-shirt tied below her breasts, socks and sneakers – with nothing in between. Strangest of all was the fact that Ruth was looking at Regan while Joy nursed on a breast. The girl's face was flush with the sensations Joy was producing.

When Ruth reached forward to spread Joy's cheeks, Regan fought the urge to unsnap her shorts and slip a hand into her panties. Instead, she let out a long breath and looked away. Her eyes had begun to sting because it had been almost a minute since she blinked, unwilling to miss anything that might transpire.

Ruth gave an inward smile and gently removed Joy's lips from her breast. Joy stepped back and for a moment, she was close enough to the opposite bed that Regan could have reached out and touched Joy's naked behind.