Chapter 24 Ronan
Twenty-Four
Ronan
Maryann had said she’d be home by six. I lay on the ratty couch watching ESPN and icing my eye with the same bag of peas she’d given me the first time Mitch Dowd had shown up. My body felt like it’d been hit by a truck, but I was more awake than I’d been in a long time.
Shiloh did that.
She stayed up all damn night, keeping the nightmares from taking hold. The kid in the kitchen watched his mom being murdered, but Shiloh took him by the hand and led him away.
And I told her I loved her.
It was too much to put on her after all that shit with Dowd, but I’d been half drunk with pain, and the blood and violence of the night left me wondering if I’d see tomorrow.
I didn’t want it to be too late.
At six fifteen, a knock came. I hauled my aching body off the couch, wincing at the pain in my ribs, and opened the door to Maryann. She whispered a curse under her breath at the sight of me and stepped inside.
“Where are the twins? Not alone?”
“At a friend’s until seven. They’re safe, Ronan.”
I nodded, and we sat at my kitchen table under the lone bulb.
“I sent the video to the police,” she said. “Anonymously. But it clearly shows his face. Especially that last kick,” she added, tears shining in her eyes. “But it’s too dark to see you.”
“Good. I’ll stay home the next few days. Make sure he doesn’t come back.”
“He’s not going to come back, Ronan. That was assault and battery. He’s going to jail.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
She sighed. “Let me see your eye.” I moved the peas, and she winced. “Damn it, this is bullshit. Do you feel well enough to go back to school? You need to graduate, young man.”
Despite everything, I was going to graduate. My grades weren’t great, but they were enough.
I did it, Mom. Barely.
“I’ll go back in a few days.”
“What will you do after? College?”
“Manage this building, I guess.”
“You can do more than that, but you don’t want to leave us high and dry, do you?”
“Maybe. I like it.”
That was the truth too. I liked taking care of the building and the tenants. I liked the idea that I was helping—in a small way—to provide a decent home when I’d had none.
“You’ve been good to us,” Maryann said and rummaged in her purse. She slid an envelope across the table. “It took me too long to save it up, but this is yours.”
I set the peas down and peered in the envelope. Two one-hundred-dollar bills lay inside. I immediately closed it and shoved it back across the table.
“No.”
She laughed a little. “Just…no? This is the partial rent you covered for me. And don’t bother denying it. Your uncle has never been in a good enough mood to let two hundred dollars slide.”
“I’m not taking this, Maryann.”
“You are, Ronan. For me. Because you can’t leave me feeling like shit. I worked hard to earn this, so you’re going to take it.” She slid the envelope back and crossed her arms, a single eyebrow arched.
I nodded once.
“Lord, you’re a stubborn man. But a good one.” She rested her chin in her hand. “If only you were twenty years older. Don’t take that the wrong way. I’m not a…what do they call it? A cougar? But you’d make an amazing dad for my girls. They love you.”
I sat back and quickly returned the peas to my face to cool the strange rush of warmth that flooded me.
“You’ve never thought of yourself that way?”
“No.”
“You have a lot to offer, Ronan. More than you think.” Maryann got up from the table and came around to me.
“Get back to school as quick as you can.” She pecked the top of my head.
“And for God’s sake, take care of yourself.
We need you.” She touched the pendant that lay against my shirt. “I’ll bet she does too.”
***
After Maryann left, I lay stretched out on my couch and called Shiloh.
“How are things?” she asked.
“Good, I guess. Maryann thinks Dowd’s going to jail.”
“Maryann is right. Bibi talked to her detective friend. Someone sent in a video that clearly shows Dowd attacking an unknown victim. He’s been arrested and will most likely face jail time. And he’s been kicked off the force, effective immediately.”
“Even without my testimony or pressing charges or whatever?”
“I asked about that too. Apparently, the victim is basically just a witness. They don’t have to press charges if there’s another witness. Like a video.”
“What about Frankie?”
“No word. Bibi says Mitch isn’t talking, which is weird. He seems like the kind of guy who’d rat out his own son.”
“He hates snitches,” I said. “Told me personally. But…he’s in custody now?”
“He is. So you can rest easy, okay? Everyone you want to keep safe is safe.”
I let out a breath and sagged deeper into the couch.
Safe. They’re all safe.
I wondered if my mom knew that too.
“You know there is an upside to all this madness,” Shiloh said in my ear.
“What’s that?”
“We don’t have to hide at school anymore.”
My eyes widened. “I thought you hated people being up in your business.”
“I do, but no sense in pretending if we don’t have to. Right? I haven’t been a…girlfriend to anyone. Ever. But I want to try.”
Girlfriend. Holy shit.
I felt her holding her breath, waiting for my reply. I knew it took a lot to show this side of her—the side that was unsure and unguarded.
“I’ve never been anyone’s boyfriend,” I said.
A small sigh came over the line, and I heard her smile. “What do you think? Want to give it a go?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I do.”
***
Days later, Shiloh met me coming out of the parking lot at Central. She wore a white sundress that highlighted the deep black of her hair and made her skin glow in the bright May light. Her smile when she saw me was fucking stunning.
“Hey, you.” She fell in step beside me and took my hand. “It feels weird, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I muttered. It felt really weird to have a girl like Shiloh beside me—my girlfriend—willing to show the world she was mine. As if I’d gone to sleep in my old shitty life and woke up in a brand-new one.
“Maybe we should do something about it,” she said. “Get it over with. Like tearing off a Band-Aid.”
We were crossing the quad, and Shiloh pulled me to a stop right in the middle and kissed me. In front of the whole school.
“I have to admit,” she said when she pulled away. “PDA is much less annoying when I’m the one doing it.”
I chuckled and spied Frankie Dowd watching us. He looked like hell—skinnier, his face pale—as if he hadn’t slept or eaten in days. He sneered and flipped me the bird but without any real fight. I sort of felt sorry for him.
I put my arm around Shiloh and steered her in another direction, shooting him a glare that warned of pain if he fucked with her. He slunk away quickly, but part of me wondered if I couldn’t drop my vigilance just yet.
“Prom is in the air,” Shiloh said, nodding at a huge poster strung between two poles. The Pogonip Country Club is proud to host this year’s senior prom—A Night Under the Stars! Get your tix now! “Word on the street is that my very own Violet will be crowned queen.”
I looked down at her. “You want to go?”
She stared. “Are you asking me to prom?”
I thought of the two hundred dollars Maryann had given me. I hated taking it, but if I spent it on Shiloh, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
“If you want to go…then yes. I’m asking.”
“I told you, dances aren’t my thing. And I didn’t think they were yours either. Are they?”
“Fuck no. But I want to do what you want.”
She slipped her arms around my waist. “Maybe we could do our own thing instead.”
“Like what?” I asked, and then it hit me all at once, like a vision from the future. “Never mind. I have it.”
Her brows rose. “Care to share?”
“No.”
“I don’t get a say?”
“No. Leave it to me.”
“He says to the type A personality,” Shiloh said, laughing. “I’ve planned all my own birthday parties since I was six.”
“You’re going to have to sit this one out.” I bent and kissed her. “It’s what boyfriends do for their girlfriends.”