Ask Me If I Care Page 3

  I did not want to be here.

  In fact, I wasn’t sure why I was here.

  Well, that was a lie.

  I knew why I was there.

  I was reporting a suspected bullying to the school resource officer, and I was making my father come with me.

  Though, this would’ve all been way fucking easier if the school had a permanent full-time resource officer. But, since they didn’t, they were using a couple of volunteer officers.

  “Why do we have to hurry?” I whined as I ambled after my dad.

  “Because I have to go pick up the cake for your mother’s birthday, and I can’t do that if I’m here,” he growled.

  I gritted my teeth, wondering why I’d bothered to ask him to go with me in the first place.

  Then I thought about Avery, the sweet teenager that’d been through enough this year, and I remembered why.

  Spine stiffening at the reminder of how Avery had been treated by her fellow students lately, I walked proudly into the police station and followed my father through a maze of corridors to not the chief’s office, but the assistant chief’s office. My dad’s temporary office.

  The real assistant chief was out for the foreseeable future, and would be until he either recovered from his heart bypass, or they found someone to replace him. Sadly for my dad, he was the frontrunner for that particular position and he knew it.

  Dad and Luke, the chief of police, had been friends for years.

  I’d grown up with Luke’s kids, and thought of Luke as my second dad. And Luke thought highly of my father, and he wanted the best at his back.

  Needless to say, every couple of years, Dad would wiggle out from under the hat of the assistant chief position, Luke would fill it, but then something would happen and Dad would be right back where he started all over again.

  I knew that it was time for Dad to admit defeat, but he wasn’t really wanting to see the writing on the wall, so to speak. He liked his free time, and I couldn’t say that I blamed him.

  “I’ll go get Toomey.” Dad paused. “While you wait, I’m gonna run next door before they close and order your mother some flowers so I don’t forget. And, if I have enough time, I’m gonna run and get the cake. I’ll be back for you.”

  I rolled my eyes and took a seat behind my father’s desk, making myself at home.

  “Thanks, Dad,” I muttered. “Just don’t forget that I’m here and have no way home.”

  Dad rolled his eyes. “There are more than enough people who’d be willing to take you home, drama queen. One of which is your brother who gets off in about twenty minutes.”

  “If I go home, I’m not going to the fall fest that you want me to go to so bad.” I scrunched up my nose. “Plus, Lock smells.”

  Dad rolled his eyes and walked away, leaving me to sit and wait for Toomey to arrive.

  Toomey was who I assumed was the frontrunner in taking the school resource officer position, and I didn’t like him at all.

  More so, I didn’t like how he treated my kids.

  He was a good cop—or so I’d heard—but there was a certain type of person that could handle kids, and I didn’t think Toomey was that person.

  Also, he didn’t like me.

  Why didn’t he like me?

  Because I turned him down for a date right after I’d broken up with Ryan, and he hadn’t appreciated my candor.

  I may have been a little harsh. I’d told him no way in hell. Not even if he was the last man alive on the planet.

  Sure, it’d been kind of a knee-jerk reaction on my part after being burned by Ryan, but Toomey didn’t know that. And he never gave me a chance to explain.

  When he came in five minutes later, his face was a blank mask.

  “I need to talk to you about a matter at the school,” I said as I gestured toward the seat on the other side of my dad’s desk.

  Toomey’s eyes went dark with anger, but he sat there anyway.

  “I have a student who is being bullied, and I worry about her welfare,” I said without preamble. “There was a restraining order filed against the girl that did most of the bullying, however, I think she’s pushing those boundaries and I’d like to talk to you about ways that we can fix this before it gets out of hand.”

  Toomey, ever the professional, talked with me over the next ten minutes about what could and couldn’t be done in the situation.

  “I’ll have a talk with the other officers that frequent the school,” he said as he stood, looking as if he wanted to run. And fast. “We’ll discuss it, and I’ll get back to you if needed.”

  I highly doubted that I’d hear anything else at all.

  But it was a start.

  Avery was a beautiful person, and I didn’t think that she deserved the lot that she got in life.

  “Thank you, Toomey,” I said, smiling at him.

  Toomey’s eyes went dark with anger all over again, and I nearly rolled my eyes.

  In the next instant, he was gone, nearly barreling into the very girl that we were just talking about.

  Avery had her camera in front of her, and she was directing Hayes, who was glaring hard at Toomey, to where she wanted him to stand.

  “Right there in front of that blank wall,” Avery instructed. “Bonus points if you want to take your shirt off!”

  Hayes stood stoically in front of the wall, then stared blankly at Avery.

  I covered my mouth with my hand and snickered, causing Hayes to direct his intense gaze toward me.

  I waved. “Hi, Hayes!”

  His eye twitched.

  “You know, a shirtless photo would sell better,” I teased.

  He looked away, then put his hands behind his back, making it even more formal of a pose.

  I shook my head and leaned back, watching the show.

  I opened my dad’s top drawer, letting out a little squeal when I found his stash of M&M’s and pulled them out, practically dumping half the bag onto the top of his desk. Then, one by one, I ate the reds then the blues, followed by the yellows and the browns, saving my favorites for last.

  The greens and the oranges, which I ate together.

  All the while I kept my eyes on the prize. Or, at least, Hayes.

  I wasn’t sure what drew me to him, or why I wanted to look at him at all since he seemed so freakin’ scary to me.

  Whatever the reason for my infatuation—because I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since the banquet the night before—my interest was piqued. So I continued to watch him even though I knew it was ticking him off.

  When he left, I didn’t miss the look of annoyance he shot my way.

  “Hi, Ms. Downy.” Avery waved.

  I grinned. “Hello, Avery! And you can call me Ares!”

  Avery laughed her way down the hallway, leaving me there to finish off my greens and oranges.

  I was finishing off my last two when my dad finally showed back up.

  His eyes narrowed on the two pieces of candy on the desk. “You better not have eaten my whole stash.”

  I tossed the bag underneath the desk and kicked it with my foot.

  “Never.”

  ***

  An hour later I found myself at the fairgrounds.

  “This is absolutely fucking nuts,” I said to my dad as I saw all the people. “Why are they all here?”

  “There’s gonna be free food.”

  I looked over at my father and stared at him in surprise.

  “There is?” I said.

  He nodded once. “That’s why all of them are here. For the free food.”

  I gritted my teeth.

  Today was the fall fest for kids that my father’s police department put on every year.

  Every. Single. Year.

  And this was the first year that I’d been helping that it’d ever looked like this.

  “Hot dogs.” He answered my next question before I’d even asked it. “That’s what we’re g
iving. One to each person.”

  “What if you run out?” I asked, staring at the crowd.

  “It said until supplies last.” Dad shrugged.

  I just shook my head, unable to comprehend.

  “I’m only staying an hour,” he said. “I assume that’s when all the hot dogs will be gone and everyone will either leave or put up some cash for their kids to play the games. And since it’s your mother’s birthday, I’m not staying very long. So go do what you’re gonna do, and I’ll go smile and shit.”

  I snickered as my dad pulled away and left me standing in the middle of the road.

  He was stressed out as hell, and I couldn’t figure out why.

  I mean sure, today was my mother’s birthday, but she still had at least two more hours until she was off of work.

  Deciding that worrying about it wouldn’t help, I took a look around to find where I needed to go.

  Just as I was about to head in the direction to help serve hot dogs, a little boy that was no older than two fell over and spilled his entire bucket of candy right in front of me. Then he promptly burst out crying. The balloons that he was wearing around his wrist nearly flew away, but I caught them just in time, looping them around my own wrist.

  I walked over to him instantly.

  “Oh, no,” I said as I helped him pick it up. “Let me help you.”

  The little boy gave me the saddest eyes that there were ever to be had.

  I put the last of his candy, and a little bit of grass, into his bucket and smiled. “All better.”

  His little lip quivered, and I looked at his outfit, wondering what his parents were thinking.

  He was in a dirty shirt, even dirtier jeans that were about three inches too short for his chubby little legs, and a mullet.

  I caught his grubby little hand with mine, then stood up and looked around for his mother.

  This part of the area wasn’t congested with people yet, so as I looked around, I had about three options. And all of those options were playing on their phones, not paying attention in the slightest.

  I gritted my teeth and walked up to the only woman that was within thirty feet.

  “Excuse me, ma’am,” I said. “Is this your son?”

  “Orange balloons?” she asked, not looking up from her phone.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said, getting pissed.

  She finally looked up then stared me straight in the eyes for all of two seconds, then looked back down at her son.

  The woman grabbed the little boy by the hand and started yanking him away, uncaring that his little feet couldn’t keep up with her fast pace.

  The boy fell, hit the ground, then got right back up because his mother yanked him up by the arm.

  I got angry and said, “Hey! Ma’am!”

  The woman didn’t turn.

  “Ma’am!” I tried again.

  The woman turned, gave me a look that clearly said ‘stay out of it’ and kept walking.

  So I lost my temper and threw the bucket.

  It hit her in the back as I said, “You forgot your son’s bucket.”

  She turned and picked it up, leaving all the stray candy on the ground, too lazy to pick it all up.

  I narrowed my eyes again and walked over to it after she was about five paces ahead of me.

  After picking up the candy, I ripped open a Snickers and glared at her back.

  “Thanks for the balloons,” I snapped.

  She froze and turned, her eyes flaring when she saw me with the balloons.

  “I just paid five dollars for those,” she snapped. “Give them back.”

  I rolled my eyes, turned on my heel, and kept walking.

  I viciously tore into the Snickers and threw the trash into the trash can.

  “Those are my kid’s balloons! Give them back!” she yelled.

  I flipped her off and kept walking.

  I also managed to not call social services and report that a dumbass had control of a child when she shouldn’t.

  Then I realized that this kid’s ‘Halloween outfit’ wasn’t an outfit at all.

  The mother had been dressed in head to toe designer and clean as a whistle.

  Her son, on the other hand? I would’ve assumed he hadn’t had a shower in days.

  ***

  Hayes

  “That’s her,” my sister, Christiny, said.

  I looked at Ares, who had her arms crossed over her chest with a mutinous expression on her face.

  “What about her?” I asked curiously.

  “She’s the one that stole Raj’s balloons,” Christiny snapped.

  I looked over at Ares again, one of my boss’s daughters, and then looked back at Christiny.

  I’d seen the entire encounter take place, and Raj didn’t give a fuck about losing his balloons. Christiny did.

  “What do you want me to do?” I asked. “Arrest her?”

  Christiny glared. “I want you to go talk to her. Get my balloons back.”

  Her balloons.

  The only reason she fuckin’ wanted them was to tie them around Raj’s wrist so if she lost him in the crowd, she could easily find him.

  Honestly, I wasn’t sure why she was even here.

  But I was already tired of it.

  “Listen, Christiny,” I said. “I’m here working. I need you to move along. Go take Raj to play some games or something.” I looked down at Raj. “And for God’s sake, give the kid a fuckin’ bath. He’s filthy. I can’t believe you even brought him out like that.”

  Christiny bared her teeth.

  “Desmond is supposed to be here with his other family,” she sneered. “I want them to see what kind of life we’re having to live without his help.”

  I blinked.

  “Desmond isn’t going to fall for that line,” I said. “You have a professional baseball player for a brother. Who’d be willing to help you if you only asked. Not to mention I gave you five hundred dollars last month on top of Desmond giving you child support. Where are you putting the money if it’s not into Raj’s care?”

  I looked pointedly at the new phone that Christiny was holding.

  The old phone had a crack down the middle of the screen because she’d let Raj play with it to keep him occupied while she got her nails done.

  “I don’t have to listen to this,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Where’s my kid?”

  I nearly rolled my eyes.

  “He’s by the hot dog cart,” I said. “Ares is handing him a hot dog as we speak.”

  Christiny’s face turned mutinous as she practically stormed over to the stand, grabbed her kid, and hauled him away kicking and screaming.

  Ares wiggled the hot dog at her, asking her if she wanted it.

  “I’ll take it,” I rasped, holding out my hand.

  She gave it to me, her eyes wide.

  She hadn’t known that I was there.

  “Umm,” she said. “Do you know her?”

  I tugged on the balloons still attached to Ares’ wrist.

  “She’s Ryan’s sister,” I answered.

  Ares tilted her head.

  “I knew Ryan had a sister, but I never met her,” she said softly. “I’m…”

  “Glad that you didn’t meet her?” I laughed, filling in the blank.

  “Ummm, yeah,” she admitted.

  Her eyes went back to mine. “She’s not your sister?”

  I shook my head. “No, well technically she’s a step-sister. But she’s Ryan’s sister. No relation to me. His mother was married before she met my dad.”

  Ares snorted. “Uhhh, yeah. You could say that.”

  I eyed her.

  “I can give you the balloons back,” she said. “But shit, she just made me really mad. She was yanking him and pulling him along, and he was dragging his little feet on the ground. And she let him get lost in the first place…”

  I held up my hand to stop her.

&
nbsp; “I know,” I said. “Trust me, I know.”

  Her eyes went soft. “Kinda between a rock and a hard place, huh?”

  If only she knew.

  “Have a good one, Ares.”

  With that, I walked away, managing not to look back until I was in the shadows.

  Only then did I allow myself to sneak a peek at the very first thing that caught my attention in years.

  And what a beautiful thing she was.

  Chapter 1

  If you don’t mean what you say, shut the fuck up.

  -Ares to her brother

  Ares

  Six months later

  “Mom,” I said into the phone, praying that she would check her messages in time.

  “What?” she asked, startling me.

  “You answered. Oh, thank God.”

  “What is it?” she asked, sounding alarmed now.

  “My period is here. I’m at your house. You don’t have any tampons at all.” I moaned. “I have a date in like forty-five minutes. Can you bring me some tampons?”

  “No,” she said. “I’m at work. I can’t just leave. Why can’t you just leave?”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose.

  “Because I’m here with Lock’s demon spawn while he goes and buys an anniversary present for his wife,” I answered. “And I don’t have a car seat.”

  My mother hummed in understanding.

  “Your dad is at the store.”

  I groaned.

  “Mom,” I whined. “I’m not asking dad to buy me tampons.”

  “I can’t do this, Ares.” My mother sighed. “I’m sorry.”

  I sighed, long and loud. “I’ll figure it out.”

  Turns out, I didn’t have to.

  Because my dad called moments later, sounding amused.

  “So I heard that you need something from me?” he drawled.

  I closed my eyes and tried not to feel embarrassed.

  Having a period was a normal bodily function.

  It wasn’t the end of the world if your father knew.

  “Yes,” I sighed. “I do.”

  He chuckled.

  “What kind do you want?” he pushed. “Tampons or pads?”

  I tried not to let mortification overwhelm me.