Wrong Side of Town (4 page)

When I didn’t say anything, Nathan heaved a sigh and scraped his chair against the tiled floor, moving closer to me.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and bent his head close to mine. “I’m sorry, Estee, I didn’t mean to talk about it. I just-I just worry so much about you guys. I can’t wait until I graduate, until I get a good job, until I can take you and Anna away from all this crap.”

“I know,” I whispered, tears stinging my eyes.

Nathan was in his third year of college, and the future he talked about was still a couple of years away. Until then, I would have to take care of Savannah as best as I could.

“Do you want me to move back home?”

I turned to face Nathan, surprised by his words. My mouth tightened and I pulled away from him. “Don’t you
dare
come back home, Nate. You need to focus all your energy into doing the best that you can at college and that’s not going to happen while you’re still living here. Do you understand?”

Nathan nodded and I could see relief flicker momentarily in his eyes. I knew my brother would’ve come back home if I’d asked him too, but he was also glad that he didn’t have to. I couldn’t blame him for feeling like that. This place was a hell where you had to fight to survive.

“Oh, before I forget, I grabbed this from the notice board on campus and thought you might be interested.” Nathan pulled something out of his back pocket. “They’re looking for a tutor for a ten-year-old and they’re paying a lot of money.”

Nathan handed me a flyer and I studied it, chewing on my lower lip as I read the details.

‘A lot of money’ was an understatement. They were paying a hundred dollars an hour. That was more than any tuition fee I’d ever heard of and they had requested the tutor every Tuesday and Friday. That was two hundred dollars a week!

The only problem was it clashed with my Friday at the community center. I guess I could drop one day of volunteering if I got this job. The idea of earning that much money was definitely tempting albeit a little strange.

I wasn’t a greedy person, but we needed that money. We needed that money to pay bills and to buy groceries. I was in desperate need of a job that paid well, otherwise we wouldn’t survive.

It looked like Penthill was very quickly becoming my new hangout now. “Do you think they’ll turn me down for being in high school?”

Nathan shrugged. “I figured they wanted someone in college, but you’re just as smart if not smarter. Be a bit more confident and you’ll get the job. It’s a ten-year-old, no biggie. You’ve handled worse.”

My brother was right. I had handled worse. I handled worse every single day.

“So, are you gonna call up?” Nathan asked, shifting away from me and grasping his cup again.

I slowly nodded. “Yeah, I think I’ll call now. Are you leaving or sticking around for a while?”

“I don’t wanna be here when he gets up. I have a class this afternoon so I’m gonna head back to campus.” Nathan stood up and planted a kiss on my head. “Let me know how it goes with the job.”

I stood up and followed him as he headed out, and then went into my room to figure out what I was going to say.

It was strange the amount of money they were offering as the tuition fee. And the only detail the flyer really gave was that the location was Penthill and that ‘Dylan’ was supposed to be the one to contact.

With a shrug, I reached for my cell and dialed the number at the bottom of the page. The phone rang and rang and rang. Maybe they were busy. I guess I could try again but it would have to wait until after school. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to wait that long just in case someone else beat me to it.

Just as I was about to hang up, someone answered the phone.

“Helloooo!” It was the voice of a little boy.

“Um, hi, I was just calling about the position that was advertised—“

“Oh! You want to tutor me?” The boy sounded excited; his words all came rushing out at once.

“Well, yes, I saw that a tutor was—”

“Can you meet me this afternoon?”

My brows knitted together at the sudden offer. The boy hadn’t even asked for my name and he was already asking to meet me. This was too weird, even for me.

“Maybe we should check to make sure your parents are alright with us meeting.” I wasn’t sure how legitimate this was, and as sweet as the boy sounded, I didn’t know if he was really in a position to be making these decisions.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “No, it’s fine. My brother said I can choose who I want my tutor to be.”

“Oh, okay.” I still wasn’t sure how to proceed. “Is that your brother Dylan? Can I speak t him?”

“I’m Dylan,” the boy responded. “And my brother isn’t here right now. But we can meet you at the Penthill library at 4. I’m really looking forward to meeting you!”

A part of me was bursting to say yes, but the sensible part of me was still wary about the entire situation. “Are you sure about this, Dylan? Should you make sure your brother is okay with this?”

“It’s fine! I’ll see you this afternoon!” And without saying anything else, Dylan hung up.

Still reeling from the bizarre exchange, it took me a few minutes to realize that he hadn’t even asked my name.

Chapter Four

Vincent

“Should I tuck in my shirt?” Dylan asked from beside me as we leaned against the door of my truck.

My little brother and I couldn’t look any more different from each other if we tried. I was dressed in my usual blue denim jeans and denim shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and cigarette hanging out of my mouth. I looked like I was about to go and beat the crap out of someone.

Dylan, on the other hand, looked like he was about to head off to church. The little squirt was wearing a pair of tan slacks and a white shirt with the buttons done up almost to the top. I reckon he was trying to impress his tutor. All he’d told me was that she was a girl and she sounded nice.

His last tutor had been this stuffy, college guy, and I’d had enough of his arrogant bullshit and probably scarred him for life when I’d had a “talking to” with him about his attitude. Hell, not my problem he was a sensitive ass.

Reaching over, I mussed Dylan’s neatly combed hair, making the blonde strands stick up. “I think you should relax, Dil.”

Dylan glared at me with bright blue eyes. “It took me ten minutes to get my hair right.”

The look on my little brother’s face made me chuckle, if only for the fact that he was so different to Ryder, Tyson, and me, which I was actually thrilled about. The three of us were stupid, reckless, broken and scarred. Dylan was still young; he was innocent and smart. He still had a chance to have a better life.

The three of us were part of a world that I didn’t want Dylan getting involved in. I knew that eventually Ryder would start introducing Dylan to what we did, but I was hoping that if I set Dylan on the right path from a young age, he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with the Madden gang.

That was why I fought the fights. That was why I put myself through all this shit. Because I wanted a better life for Dylan. I wanted him to have choices. For him to have a shot, I needed money. I needed money to put him through private school and to get him a tutor so he maintained his grades.

“You look fine, kid. We’re only meeting your tutor, not applying for college.”

“Yeah, but if I don’t get a tutor, I’ll fail Math and then I won’t go to college.”

The kid had a point. “Just smile and be the awesome guy you already are and I’m sure she’ll take the job.”

Dylan frowned as he peered up at me. “It’s not me I’m worried about, it’s
you
.”

I stared at him in surprise. “Me? Whaddya mean?”

Dylan sighed and shook his head. “It’s just…you scare off all my tutors. Can’t you try to be nice for once?”

“
Nice
?” The word sounded strange on my tongue, so I said it one more time just to get a better grasp of it. “Nice.”

No one had ever wanted me to be nice before. Ryder had always taught me to be tough and to never act like a pussy. Growing up, he’d always had this saying:
Never run away from a fight; even if you know you’re going to lose, fight like you’re a winner.

That’s what I kept telling myself every time I started showing signs of what Ryder called “weakness”. To him, a weakness was when you let someone in, when someone got too close. The only people we should share everything with were the brothers of our gang.

Any other displays of friendship, attachment, caring, kindness, or love were all signs of weakness, and Ryder didn’t stand for weakness.

“Yes,
nice
.” Dylan’s voice cut into my thoughts, and when I glanced back at him, he had a look of determination blazing in his eyes. “If you’re nice to people, they’ll be nice back. So, pleeease, be nice to the tutor. I want her to like me.”

The kid was worried for no reason. If the tutor didn’t like him, I’d
make
her like him.

There was the squeal of tires on asphalt, and a car turned into the parking lot of the library. It was a beat up old station wagon, pretty ready to fall apart. As the car screeched to a halt across the lot, my eyes darted over it critically.

There was no hope for that smoking crap pile of metal. Even I wouldn’t be able to do much to help it. That car needed to be put down, that’s how much pain the engine sounded like it was in. Poor thing.

The passenger side door opened and a girl got out. She shut the door and leaned in through the open window to speak to the driver.

As she spoke, I studied the honey brown hair that fell in long waves down her back. That color wasn’t out of a bottle—it was pretty obvious it was natural—and her hair was fucking hot. It was the kind of hair you wanted to grab onto when you were screwing a girl.

Her clothes were kinda plain, though. She was wearing an ankle-length skirt and a baggy sweater over the top. Who the fuck dressed like that?

Then, as the car finally drove away with a screech, she turned around, and it felt like my head had split in two. All of a sudden, it hit me who dressed like that. There was only one other girl I knew who dressed like that.

No fucking way. It couldn’t be her. It couldn’t be the girl I was trying to forget about. Life couldn’t be that screwed up that she would walk back into mine so soon after I’d decided I would never approach her in Penthill ever again.

“She’s pretty!” There was excitement in Dylan’s voice as he straightened up beside me.

She was more than pretty; she was fucking beautiful, old woman clothes and all.

Estella’s eyes widened as they focused on me, and that rose bud mouth that I wanted to kiss so badly, opened in surprise. She stopped a few feet away from Dylan and me, staring between the two of us like someone had slapped her across the face.

The feeling was mutual.

“Are you the tutor?” Dylan sprang forward, extending his hand towards her. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

“Um…uh-I.” Estella looked winded as she took his hand in hers—she continued staring at me with those whiskey eyes that intoxicated me.

Shit. I was completely screwed.

Dylan didn’t seem to notice her hesitance. “I’m Dylan Madden. I spoke to you on the phone this morning. I needed a Math tutor, so my brother put an ad…”

Estella’s eyes glazed over at those words. I could see her brain working as she tried to process the fact that we were Maddens. I waited for her to turn around and run, but it surprised me when she smiled down at Dylan and returned his handshake.

“Dylan, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Estella Markson.”

From where I was standing, I could see Dylan’s ears turn red as he dropped her hand. “Estella? That’s such a nice name. Are you going to tutor me, Estella? Please say you will! I’m having trouble with fractions and I want to do really well in school.” I knew he was giving her that smile—the Madden smile. The smile that women found irresistible.

“I think I can help you with fractions and anything else you need help with.” Estella’s smile only grew, until her entire face was glowing and radiating warmth that I’d never experienced before. Just from that look on her face, you could tell she was kind and genuine. I wanted to soak in that smile of hers and bask in the glow radiating from her face.

Something stirred in the pit of my stomach, like tiny shivers were somehow working their way inside me. Fuck that. I didn’t want to feel whatever the fuck I was feeling. This wasn’t going to happen. I had to put an end to it.

I strode forward and placed both hands on Dylan’s shoulders. “This isn’t going to work out. We have to go now, Dil.”

Dylan twisted out of my grasp and backed away from me until he was almost pressed up against Estella. “Why? I like her.”

Groaning, I pushed a hand through my hair in frustration. It wasn’t going to be easy arguing with Dylan once he was determined about something. “You’ve known her for about a minute. You’ll get over it.”

I reached out for him but he shrunk away against Estella who wrapped a protective arm around him and frowned at me like I was the enemy. Shit. If only she knew I was doing this to keep her out of my world. She didn’t need to have any part in it.

She gave me a level look. “I have no problem with being Dylan’s tutor.”

My jaw clenched. I wasn’t used to people not agreeing with me. But that was what had drawn me to Estella; the fact that she stood up to me even when she’d been intimidated by me. “That’s not going to happen. Deal with it.”

This time, I grabbed Dylan by the arm and began dragging him back towards the truck. He let out a cry of protest, which I ignored, and didn’t stop until I’d opened up the passenger side door.

“Vincent, wait!”

I’d just been about to throw Dylan into the passenger seat when Estella’s voice made me stop. Dylan, who up then had been crying and yelling, also stopped to crane his neck around my body so he could catch a glimpse of Estella.

My body was extremely tense when I turned around to meet her, and found her standing directly behind me. The proximity to her made me want to shrink away, but that would make me the queen of pussies everywhere, so I held my ground like a Madden would.

“What?’ I barked out, liking the way her mouth turned down at my cold tone.

Good. I didn’t want her to like me. I wanted her to stay the hell away.

Her eyes darted past me, before returning to me and sizing me up. “Can we talk in private?”

No. Fuck no. I didn’t want to get any closer to her than was necessary.

For some reason, I was nodding. My Goddamn head was nodding. Why the hell was I nodding?

We walked a few feet away from the car, out of earshot of Dylan, and I started speaking before she could open her mouth.

“I don’t want you to tutor my brother, do you get it?”

Estella folded her arms across her chest, and I could tell I was in for a battle. “No, I don’t really get it. Did I leave such a bad impression on you last night that you won’t even consider me for the position?” There was a smirk forming on the edge of her lips that I wanted to take into my mouth and devour.

The point she was trying to make came across loud and clear. She was a good girl; I was the one who’d left a bad impression on her, yet I refused to hire her. She couldn’t understand why and I couldn’t explain it to her. My gut instinct was telling me to stay away and my instincts were never wrong.

“You’re obviously not right for the job.” That was the only thing I could think of in response.

“And why is that?”

“Because I said so.” Yeah, I went there. I was twenty-years-old and I’d just used that as an excuse. I wanted to punch myself in the face.

Estella stared at me like I was crazy. “That might usually work for you in your
line of work
, but that isn’t going to fly with me. You really need to come up with something better than that if you expect me to believe you.”

She took a step towards me, irritation clear in the lines of her forehead. I didn’t know why she was being so damn stubborn about this. Why did she want the job so badly?

Well, I wasn’t going to let her throw me off my game, so I took a step closer to her until I was so close that I could see the faint freckles that dotted her cheeks.

I folded my arms across my chest to match her. “I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

“That’s what happens when you get high on power.” Irritation flared up in her eyes and she stared at me like she wanted to throw something at my head.

“I’m not high on power.” I smirked at her. “I’m just on a steady diet of awesomeness.”

She let out a small sound of indignation and raised her hand as though she was about to push me, but my fighter’s senses kicked in and I reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could make impact.

“Are you attempting to act violently towards me, Estella?” I could feel a smile tugging at the edges of my mouth as she shot me a dirty look.

“I-you-ugh!” She stammered, her expression changing from irritation to embarrassment. “You are so frustrating!”

I lowered my head closer to hers. “Darlin’, I think you mean ‘attractive’, ‘irresistible’, ‘sexy’.”

“You’re none of those things,” she scoffed, looking pointedly at a spot just past my ear. She took a deep breath and then turned back to me. “Look, your brother seems to want me as his tutor so I don’t get what your problem is.”

My smile fell as we go back to the point. She was right; Dylan wanted her as his tutor and I couldn’t disappoint him. He’d had enough disappointment in life. Finally, I nodded, still unsure why Estella made me feel so conflicted about, well, everything.

“Fine, you can tutor him, but it has to be here.” I nodded at the library. “That’s if you pass the interview.”

“But the tutor always comes to the house!” At some point during my conversation with Estella, Dylan had approached us and was now standing in between us with a pout on his face.

Estella raised a brow in question at me which made knots form in the center of my stomach. There was no way I was going to let Estella in my house. If she was already affecting me like this, if she already had the ability to get inside my head and bring my guard down, I didn’t even want to know what was going to happen once she saw how we lived.