Run Away Child

Fight Night

“The hood part of Kankakee.”

“Why?”

“You wanted to know about my childhood so this is where I grew up when I moved to Illinois.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I lived here, Momence, Plainfeild, Romeoville, and now Bradley.”

“You moved around a lot growing up.”

“Lived in at least ten different states.”

“Wow, I have only lived in Bradley.”

“I know. In the posh part.”

“What does that mean?”

“You are posh. That’s why you were confused as to why we were in the hood.”

“I am not posh Sophia.”

“Jordan, your parents live in a six bedroom house with six bathrooms, ten acres of land, gated community, and on top of all of that your dad has at least five cars and your mom has three.”

He looked at me as if he was just realizing how different we grew up.

“That doesn’t mean that I am going to be like that.”

“Jordan I grew up wondering when my next meal was going to come. If my parents were going to be able to afford to send me to school or to pay the bills. Everything that I have I worked for and I'm not saying that in a rude way I'm saying it in a ‘I have seven brothers and there was not a chance that they could afford all of them’ way.”

He looked down and I don’t think he knew what to say.

“Michael had to become a gang member and sell drugs on the street in order to keep us in school. He never did anything heavy and he is still a member but he’s not so in that they would really need him for anything. My brothers and I grew up like that so that’s why I don't like spending a lot of money or just having expensive things. Because you never know when you are going to lose your job or something happens and you need money that you don’t have.”

“You never talk about these things.”

“Because it’s a part of my life that I am not proud of but I am not ashamed of it because it turned me into the person that I am today.”

“I don’t know how you do it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You grew up poor and basically raised by the streets and your brothers, but yet you are so humbled and aren’t the typical person that grew up like that. You aren’t rude to people and you are just someone that grew up rough but turned into an amazing person. And yeah my parents might have money now but they didn’t always.”

I looked at him confused.

“Before my dad started his business he was just a car mechanic and my mom was a waitress. We were barely making anything so I didn’t ask for much growing up. When Nick and I got to the age that we could start working and stuff like that we did and we tried so hard to help our parents. Once the business started picking up they told us that there was no need to work anymore and that the business was going to take off and make our family a lot of money. And it did.”

I pulled the car over and looked at him.

“Are we here?”

“No, but I have to do something real quick and I can’t do it while driving.”

“Which is?”

“Jordan, we both had pretty messed up childhoods but there is something else that you need to know. It’s about how I would make money.”

“What? Please tell me that you didn’t see your body.”

“I would never. But it’s not good either.”

“What is it?”

“Have you heard of ‘Black Bird’? Basically the Robin Hood’s of the hood?”

“Yeah?”

“That was me and my brothers.”

“What?”

“I would jack cars. I would sell parts, build cars, break them apart, and stuff like that. I almost got busted by the cops one day so I stopped. Michael would sell drugs, only weed, and our younger brothers would be the distraction.”

“So you are trying to tell me that you and your brothers were the group ‘Black Bird’ and you would jack cars and sell weed to make a living?”

“We never hurt anyone. I would have quit as soon as someone got hurt.”

He turned his head away and he looked furious.

“I'm sorry.”

He looked at me and he grabbed my face.

“I promise you, you will never have to do that ever again. I'm not mad and I'm not going to say anything. I'm just happy that you are finally telling me about your past.”

He kissed me and a tear streaked down my cheek.

“Don’t cry.”

“I was just scared that you were going to leave me after I told you. Not even Mirza knows about this.”

“I figured. This is something really personal and could be used against you if you told the wrong person.”

“Trust me I know. But I trust you with my life so I trust you with this.”

He smiled and wiped the tear off of my cheek. 

“Lord he is going to kill us if we aren’t there soon.”

“Exactly.”

I pulled off and drove to the restaurant. We got out of the car and saw Veronica and Michael standing there waiting for us.

“There you are. Where did you two go?”

“I told him everything. He deserved to know.”

“You did what?”

“I told him. And his reaction was better than expected because he’s here right.”

“I can’t believe you.”

“You told Veronica.”

“After we got married!”

“And now you are having a kid.”

“You told her already? I wanted to tell her during dinner.”

“I'm sorry. The moment was just too perfect and I couldn’t wait. You can reveal the gender when we find out.”

“Fine.”

“Back on the topic of you telling your boyfriend about our past. I can’t believe you could be so stupid!”

“I told her about my past too. It was only fair that we did this now and we have known each other for several years. I trust her more than I trust my own brother.”

“And I trust him with my life. He was there for me about Geo when no one else was and he helped me then.”

Everyone went silent.

“You were the one who helped her?”

“Yeah, I took her to the hospital and fought him.”

I turned and looked at him.

“You did what?”

“I might have tracked him down and fought him.”

“Wait what happened? Who is Geo?”

“I’ll tell you during dinner.”

“Let’s move off of this topic right now before something bad happens.”

“Good idea. Let’s go inside and eat.”

We walked inside and it was a really nice restaurant.

“Hello, do you have a reservation?”

“Yes, Michael Jacobs.”

“Right this way Mr. Jacobs.”

Jordan looked at me.

“Jacobs?”

“His dad’s last name.”

“I forgot he was your half brother.”

We walked over up the stairs to the reservation area and sat down.

“Here are your menus. What can I get for you to drink.”

“Whiskey, neat.”

“Water.”

“I will also have water and she will have an unsweetened tea with lemon.”

“Right away.”

She walked away and Veronica started talking.

“Alright, as soon as his name was said everyone shut down. Who is Geo?”

The three of us looked at each other.

“Geo was someone that Sophia was dating when I first met her. He was abusive and she hid it for about six months but one day she and I were hanging out and he was blowing up her phone. He tracked us down and slapped her around a little bit then threw her into his car. A few days later she was at school and I told her to come with me. I dropped her off at the hospital and tracked him down then beat the soul out of him. I went back to the hospital obviously and we got her medical help.”

“Oh my Lord. Michael, what did you do?”

“After I found out I called someone higher up than me to try to teach him a lesson about putting his hands on a girl. So they did and he hasn’t shown his face around here is what? Two years?”

“Sounds about right.”

“But yeah, once I got back to the hospital she was sitting there waiting for her name to be called. She was shivering and tired so I gave her my jacket and made her lay down on me. Once we were in a room they took some testing and it was just a lot. Once they were done she was terrified so I never left her side.”

“Eventually I told him to get on my bed because I wanted someone to hold me so I felt safer and he did. He called one of his friends to bring us something to eat and after that we just stayed friends, I dated his brother for a week because he asked me out, and after a while of just being friends, Jordan I got together. It’s been three months right?”

“Yep.”

“I can’t believe that the two of you are only Juniors in high school and you have gone through so much.”

“Me either. You have no clue what has been happening for the past week.”

“Spill girl. I want all of it.”

We all laughed. We needed that laugh.

“This girl is new and her first day she started hitting on Jordan.”

“Dear Lord I hope that this girl is still breathing because my sister is crazy and will kill a girl.”

“Haha, yes she is still alive. Sadly.”

“Sophia, you cannot commit murder. We have people for that.”

“I know. Anyways, I told her to back off and she didn’t. Not even an hour later she tried to fight me and then called herself ‘my worst nightmare’. So I did your ‘strike one, strike two, strike three’ thing and let’s just say not only did I fight here there, she had the audacity to strike me at my own home and proceeded to fight me again. I broke her wrist and told her to back off or else she would be in a full body cast.”

“Atta girl. What’s her name?”

“Serina Vargas.”

“Short, Mexican, really long black hair, looks like someone just knocked her out twenty-four-seven?”

“That’s the one. Why?”

“She’s a Latin King.”

“No kidding. It was kind of obvious because of her last name.”

Everyone started laughing again.

“Honestly, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Don’t, I don’t want you to owe them anymore favors than you do.”

“Fine.”

“Thank you. Now let’s talk about this baby of yours.”

The rest of the night was really fun. We talked about the baby and how excited everyone was for it. We ate our food and it was really good. Michael had this rule growing up and we kept it alive to this day. It was that no one was allowed to go on their phones for anything during dinner. I already told Jordan this rule and he knew about it. 

The rule was formed because dinner was the time where we can talk about anything and not pay attention to our phones. Jordan and Michael got into an argument about who was paying.

“Jordan, put your card away. I'm paying for dinner.”

“I’ve got it.”

“Jordan, I will shoot you if you don’t put your card away.”

They stared at each other for a moment.

“Dear Lord your egos are huge. I'm paying and that is final. Jordan, if you argue I will stab you and Michael if you argue I will make you sleep on the couch.”

“You aren’t stabbing my boyfriend.”

“Fine we will stop.”

“Good because I'm full, pregnant, and tired.”

We all laughed and she paid. I left the waitress a twenty dollar tip and we left. 

“So where to next?”

“Why don’t we head to our apartment so they can check it out?”

“Sounds good.”

I texted them the address and Jordan wanted to drive home. We got into the car and Jordan looked at me.

“Are you okay? I saw your face when he was mentioned.”

“I’ll be fine. It’s just another part of my past that should stay in the past.”

“Alright.”

While he drove us home he held my hand. I tried to move it but he didn’t let go so I started recording.

“Jordan.”

“Yes?”

“Let go of my hand.”

“No, it’s mine now.” He said in a baby voice.

“Babe, you are acting like a baby. Can I have my hand back?”

“I'm baby. It’s mine now.”

I started laughing and pointing the camera at him.

“You were recording that weren’t you?”

“The whole thing.”

“Delete it.”

“Nope.”

He reached for my phone but I had it saved already and hid it in my ‘My eyes only’ so he literally couldn’t delete it.

“That was petty. I'm going to get a goofy video of you.”

“You have a picture of me and my brother being idiots. And several videos of me being an i***t and goofy. I have that one and a few more.”

“Good point.”

“Exactly. So I'm going to ask one last time, let go of my hand please.”

“It’s mine now.”

I reached over with my right hand and slid it up his thigh, almost touching his waist.

“Dear Lord help me because if I have to pull this car over-”

I cut him off by unbuttoning his pants and starting to unzip them. He immediately got hard.

“You were saying?”

I started kissing his neck and I could feel how hard he was trying not to react. 

“We are literally meeting your brother and sister in law at our apartment in five minutes.”

“We can just tell them that we got caught in traffic.”

He pulled the car over into an alley and looked at me.

“Less than five minutes.”

“Deal.”

I leaned over and started kissing him. He scooted his seat all the way back and I climbed into his lap. I unzipped the back of my skirt and pulled it up while he pulled his pants down. I opened the glove box and pulled out one of the condoms. I put it on him and he adjusted around my panties and put himself inside me.

I started going up and down slowly going faster and faster. He pulled the back of my head backwards by my hair and started kissing my neck. I started moaning more and so did he. 

“I'm about to c*m baby.” He said. 

I started going faster and I felt him get soft which meant he came. I continued riding him for a little bit longer and I tangled my fingers in his hair and started kissing him again. When I finished we were both out of breath. I got off of him and started fixing myself and so did he.

“Well, that was good.”

“Just good?”

“Well we just did it in the car, in less than five minutes. It wasn’t just good. It was really good but it wasn’t as good as the other night when you were in that lingerie.”

“Fair point. Now let’s get there as soon as possible.”

“We technically have two minutes left.”

“That was only three minutes?”

“Yeah. I'm also shocked.”

He pulled out of the alley and drove the rest of the way home. They were sitting there waiting for us. As soon as we got out of the car they walked over to us.

“Where were you two?”

“Traffic. There was a train.”

“That sucks. Glad we missed that.”

“Yeah, let’s just get inside.”

We walked upstairs and I felt a hand on the back of my skirt. It was Veronica and as soon as we got on the platform she stopped me.

“You didn’t zip it back up all the way.”

“Oh Lord. Don’t tell my brother please.”

“I won’t. Just be more slick next time.”

“Okay.”

We walked into the apartment and the first thing that Veronica did was check out the couch.

“It’s comfortable.”

“Thank you.”

“Tour?”

“Sure.”

We walked them around the apartment and they were shocked at how clean and neat the apartment was.

“I have to say sister, I'm impressed.”

“Well thank you. We are also thinking about getting a puppy at the end of the school year so we have more time and it will be our senior year. I have all of my credits already so I only have to go for a few hours then I get to go home.”

“Atta girl. I taught you that.”

“Yep, while you were in highschool you tried to get as many credits as fast as possible because that would make it so much easier to get into college. Well we have a plan on going to LSU him for football and a degree in criminal law and me in business. He will get drafted in the NFL and we will live off of that. And if that doesn’t follow through, I have my business degree and he could become a lawyer.”

“You have it all covered.”

“You know it brother. I always have at least five different plans.”

“Smart girl.”

“You know it. We both have straight A’s and we are both going to that college.”

“Why that one?”

“It accepts both degrees and it’s a really good football college.”

“And both of my parents went there.”

“So it’s a generational thing for you and you want to go to the same college?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow they have it bad.”

“I know, it’s worse than us.”

“Honestly though.”

“We are sitting right here.”

“In our home.”

We talked for a little while then I looked at the time.

“Hey it’s getting late and we have school tomorrow.”

Michael pulled out his phone and saw how late it was.

“And I have a plane to catch in the morning.”

We all stood up and I gave them each a hug. Jordan shook Michael’s hand and gave Ronnie a hug. They left and Jordan locked the door after them.

“And now, alone time.”

I giggled and he walked over to me. He pressed me against the wall and started kissing me. He took a step back and I grabbed him. I pushed him against the wall and he grabbed my leg. He picked me up and carried me to the room. I giggled as he put me on the bed. 

We were about to start getting undressed when there was a knock at the door.

“Who could that be at this hour?”

“I have no clue.”

“I’ll get the door.”

He got up and walked to the door. He opened it and he didn’t sound happy to see who it was. I got up and walked to the living room. It was Nick.

“What are you doing here?”

“I need your help.”

“With?”

“Someone is looking for me. A girl I used to know a few years ago that was obsessed with me. Apparently she is back and she has been looking for me.”

“Serina?”

“Yeah. Wait, how did you know?”

“She has been trying to fight Sophia for the past week. All because she dated you.”

“I didn’t know then. I thought that it was a little crush until I started seeing her at every game, practice, even at parties. She’s the reason I was doing so badly. Because she was in my head. Then she started telling people that me and her were dating even though I don’t know her.”

“Come inside.”

Jordan moved and Nick walked in. He shut the door and locked it. 

“Sit on the couch. Sophia and I need to talk for a moment in the kitchen.”

“Okay.”

We walked to the kitchen and he started whispering.

“Serina is getting out of hand. Call your brother or something.”

“I will handle her myself. I'm going to call her sister.”

“What do you mean by you will handle her yourself?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

I told Jordan to go talk to his brother while I call Camilia.

“Hello?”

“Camilia? It’s Sophia.”