Behind the Hood (Behind the Lives) (29 page)

Jess rubbed her eyes. “Where have ya been? Didja get my phone message?”

“No, I—”

“We had a break-in.”

“What wuz taken?”

“Nuthin’—”

“Eh?”

Her face screwed up. “Someone wanked off onto my knickers.”

“What?”

Jake’s crying picked up in volume. Nike moved off the bed, and ran a hand up and down Jake’s back. “Ssshh, sweetie.”

“I found my good pair of knickers in the clothes’ basket,” Jess continued.

“You call the police?”

“Of course I did.” She glanced down at her watch. “And why are you so late?”

“I had to catch the bus back after droppin’ off the van. And why didja stay here for? You should’ve gone to Mum’s.”

“I called her, but she wasn’t picking up either, so I went next door to Mrs. Cassidy’s house and stayed there until dinner time.”

“You could’ve gone to a mate’s house. Selena’s only just down the road.”

Jess rubbed her forehead. “I didn’t want Selena knowing. She would’ve told my brothers, and no way in hell did I want them turnin’ up here again.”

Nike frowned at the memory of her two brothers roughing him up before the wedding, just because he wanted to get married at his marae and not their church.

“I’ll call Mum now,” he said, passing Jake over to her. He pulled out his phone from the jeans lying on the floor and pressed speed dial. When she didn’t pick up he tried her mobile. After a few rings she answered. He could hear noise behind her, a man talking and the sound of trolleys being wheeled around.

“Mum, are you at the hospital?”

“Yes.”

“Why you still there? It’s well past visiting hours.”

“Something happened—”

“Is Maia alright?”

“Yes, but...” She paused. “I saw Tama at the hospital. The police took off after him. It was so scary.”

Nike gripped the phone tighter. He was definitely going to kill the bastard.

“Nike ... are you there?”

“Yes.”

“He didn’t come for Maia. The police said his cousin was shot in the stomach.”

Nike loosened his grip. “Which cousin?”

“They said his name’s Michael Thomas. The poor boy’s in a bad way. They’re not sure he’ll pull through.”

Mikey? Nike ran a hand through his hair. Christ, he was just a kid.

She continued, “I won’t be going to work tomorrow. I’m staying with Maia until I bring her home at lunchtime.”

“I thought she wuz leaving tomorrow night.”

“Well, they reckon she’s okay to come home earlier.”

“S’pose that’s good. Are you able to pick me, Jess, and Jakey up at seven-thirty tomorrow morning?”

“What happened to your van?”

“I’ve got a new job, but that’s not why I’m calling. We had a break in today. Nuthin’ wuz stolen, but I’d feel safer if Jess and Jakey stayed at your place tomorrow. I also need a lift to work.”

“Is Jess and Jakey alright?”

“They’re fine.”

“Thank God for that. I couldn’t handle it if anything else happened.”

“Well … are you able to come over?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Thanks, Mum. I’ll see ya tomorrow then.”

“Okay, take care, Son.”

“I will.” Nike hung up and placed the phone on the cabinet, then held out his hands for Jake.

Jess held onto him, her expression mad. “Why didn’t cha tell me ‘bout that money being paid into the credit card?”

Crap! Nike dropped his hands.

“Well ... where’d ja get it from?”

“Um ... I’ve been doin’ a bit of extra work to pay off the credit card. I’ll go bring Jakey’s cot into our room.” He headed down the passage. He didn’t want to lie to her. Yeah, he left out details and had told a few white lies ... but shit, he couldn’t do whoppers.

She followed. “Couriering?”

“Yeah.” He picked up the cot. “Please move, it’s heavy.”

She stepped aside. “Who for?”

“A mate.” He grunted as he manoeuvred the cot down the passage.

“What mate?”

The cot scraped against the door. “Fuck, will ya let me concentrate, please?”

“No, tell me who your mate is.”

He placed the cot at the end of their bed and glared at her. “What’s with all the fuckin’ questions? I’ve had a long day. Give me a break.”

“
You’ve
had a hard day?”

Nike exhaled. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

Jess placed Jake into the cot. “Then tell me who it is.”

Nike climbed into bed. “We needed the money.”

“Who’re you workin’ for?”

He pulled the covers over himself.

“Answer me, Nike.”

“Ash.”

He heard her breath in sharply. “Not the gang leader?”

“He’s not a gang leader.”

She walked around the bed. “Please tell me you’re not delivering drugs for him.”

He looked up at her. “I’m sorry—”

“Why, Nike? Why would ja do sumpthin’ like that? You hate drugs.”

“I wuz desperate.” He sat up. “We couldn’t pay the bills, you were stressed, and Ash kept askin’ me. I caved.”

“Nike...”

He cringed.

Jess cupped his face. “You hafta stop it. I couldn’t bear it if you got caught. I need you. Jakey needs you.”

He exhaled. Shit, he didn’t deserve her. “I told Ash today I’m not doin’ it anymore.”

She kissed his lips. He wrapped his arms around her, returning the kiss. He wanted to lose himself inside of her, to forget about their fight and what he’d done. He jumped as Jake let out a high pitch squeal. But that would have to wait. He let go of her and scooped up his jeans.

“Why ya gettin’ dressed for?” Jess asked.

“I’ll sleep in the lounge.” He pulled on his jeans.

“Why? I’m not kickin’ ya out of bed.”

He pulled on his T-shirt, picked up the bat and a blanket. “It’s not that, I just wanna make sure no psycho tries to get in while you’re sleeping.”

“Oh. Okay.”

He gave her a kiss then headed for the lounge.

40

Maia

“Where’s Mikey?”

Maia’s mother popped her phone back into her jacket. “What, love?”

“Where’s Mikey? You said he’s been shot. I wanna see him.”

“You know this boy?”

“Yeah, he’s in my class at school. Please, Mum, I wanna see him.”

“You can’t, sweetheart. He’s in intensive care. They’ll only let family in.”

Maia screwed up her face. “But he visited me.”

“They won’t let you in.”

“Then tell them I’m his girlfriend.”

Her mother’s face fell. “You didn’t tell me you were going out with that boy. When did this happen? Is that why you snuck out ... to see him? What were you thinking? For goodness sake, he’s Tama’s cousin. You haven’t had sex with him, have you?”

Maia rolled her eyes as her mother blathered on. She hadn’t even kissed a boy let alone had sex with one.

“No, Mum, I’m not goin’ out with him. Just tell them that so I can see him.”

Her mother let out an audible sigh. “Sheesh, Maia, you had me going there for a moment.”

“Well ... can you get me in?”

“Okay, I’ll give it a try. But no promises it’ll work.”

Maia glanced at the carnations as her mother left the room. She was grateful that she’d slept through Mikey’s visit. No doubt she would have screamed like crazy.

The old woman across from her coughed. Maia’s attention shifted to the empty bed where Stella had been. She wondered how the girl was doing with her thug boyfriend. Man, she was just as bad as Stella. But … it wasn’t like she was going out with Mikey. And all she wanted to do was to make sure he was alright.

An image of Mikey’s face from Saturday popped into her head. He’d looked guilty and upset when the other guys were laughing, but he still chased her. She shook her head. Guys were just too hard to understand, especially Mikey. He’d always seemed interested in her, but never asked her out. If he had she would have said yes, but instead he attacked her.

Still feeling exhausted from not sleeping well, she let out a loud yawn. The nightmares with Tama were driving her nuts. She couldn’t nap off without seeing his horrible face. She rested her head to the side, willing herself not to think of Tama. Her eyelids slowly drifted down.

***

“Maia, are you asleep?” her mother asked.

Maia opened her eyes and stretched. She grimaced, wondering how long it would take before she could stretch without hurting. Although she was healing well, it still felt like Tama had left his blade inside of her.

Her mother frowned. “You alright love.”

“I shouldn’t have stretched. It still hurts.”

“I’ll go get a nurse.”

“No, Mum. It wuz just a twinge.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yup.” Maia undid her straps. She didn’t want to wait. If Mikey was as bad as her mother had said, she wanted to see him straight away. She swung her legs over the side of the mattress.

Her mother held out her hands. “I’ll help you, love.”

Maia took hold and stepped down onto the lino. Pain stabbed between her shoulder blades. Gritting her teeth, she lowered herself into the wheelchair and smoothed down her hospital smock. She wanted to lean back, but knew that was a shit poor idea.

They took the lift down a few floors then headed for the nurses’ station.

“I’m here to see my nephew,” her mother said to the nurse at the counter.

Maia’s surprised expression quickly transformed into a frown as her mother started fidgeting just like Nike did when he tried to pull swifties on her. Shit, those two were awful liars. Her gaze flicked to the nurse, hoping that her mother hadn’t ruined her chances. She smiled when the solid looking woman with a grey bun came out from behind the counter and led them to the end room.

“He’s by the window,” the nurse said. “And be very quiet; all the patients need their rest.”

Green curtains surrounded each bed, while the beeping of the monitors provided a background rhythm. Her mother wheeled Maia past three beds and pulled back the last curtain. She flicked the light-switch above Mikey’s head. A faint glow lit up his face. He was asleep with his head lolling towards them. His arms rested on top of a grey blanket, while tubes and wires protruded from his body.

Maia stared at his face. Being good looking didn’t counterbalance chasing her and being the cousin of the biggest psycho alive. Shit, she was the insane one for still liking him. She felt like a bloody hypocrite after what she’d told Stella. Yeah, Mikey didn’t hit her, but he still tried to grab her against her will. She should hate him and be happy that he was hurt. Instead, she felt sick seeing him like this.

Insane or not she reached out and picked up his hand. It felt cold, the skin a lot paler than normal.

“Sweetheart, you alright?”

Maia shook her head.

Her mother reached out and wiped her cheeks. “Why you crying, love?”