Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
MOJAVE
With the shit going on with Battle’s crew, I was more on edge when I went to pick up Frankie from school on Friday.
I tried to focus on being present, there wasn’t anything I could do about any of it right now anyway, but I couldn’t help scanning the parking lot at least a dozen times while waiting for the doors to open.
Rachel couldn’t be here to join us, she had a new case that she had to handle and that meant a drive to the city, which didn’t help the anxiety any when she wasn’t where I could see her, but I masked the discomfort when Frankie came skipping out of the school doors, her cheeks flushed and her hair damp around the edges like she’d been sweating a lot.
I cocked my head at her when she was close enough, asking, “Why are you all sweaty?”
“Some boys were playing dodgeball at second recess,” she said, beaming at me. “They let me play too.”
That was a first, and I couldn’t help the suspicion when I asked, “Were they bein’ mean about it?”
She shook her head, joy unwavering. “Nope! One of them accidentally got me in the face, but he apologized and shared some of the candy in his lunch as an apology.”
She tugged on my shirt, the absence of my cut only making me more uncomfortable even as I dropped to one knee to give her the leverage to clamber up onto my shoulders.
A precaution Prez demanded when Battle’s crew started drawing the pigs’ attention.
He didn’t want any of their shit being put on us, so we were forced to not wear our colors for a while.
I hated it, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I just had to deal with the discomfort.
I waited for Frankie to be comfortable before standing, my hands holding her ankles to keep her steady. Luckily, she didn’t wiggle too much, instead resting her arms on my head to prop up her chin as we walked.
“Where’s Ms. Rachel?”
“She had to work. Here, you call her,” I offered, pausing to fish out my phone and hand it to her. I figured Rachel wouldn’t mind, she let me do the same thing when I was the one who’d missed pick up and it seemed to make Frankie happy.
“Hello? Oh, Frankie, hi!”
I figured Frankie must’ve had her on speaker because I could hear her without issue, but it wasn’t until Frankie shoved the phone in my face that I realized it was a video call.
“Hey. We’re walkin’ home. Figured you’d want to say hi,” I said awkwardly, leaning back a little so Frankie wouldn’t shove the phone in my face.
Rachel beamed at me. “I do! Frankie, how was school today?”
“Fun!” Frankie chirped. “Some boys let me play dodgeball with them.”
“Oh! That does sound fun!” Rachel exclaimed. “Have you met these boys before? Are they in your class?”
I hadn’t thought to ask questions like that, which made me glad I’d thought to call Rachel. She knew the important shit to ask.
“Nah, there are no nice kids in my class,” Frankie said with a flap of her hand. “These boys were older than me, I think fifth graders, but they were super nice. We normally don’t go to recess with the older kids, but Ms. Judith said we had a new recess time.”
I shot a questioning look at Rachel, wondering if she knew about the change.
Rachel didn’t look surprised, explaining, “One of the places Hunter liked to bully Frankie was during recess when teachers were distracted trying to monitor several classes in such a large space. When I discussed what to do about the bullying with the principal, we agreed a different recess time to separate the two would be better. A shift of only thirty minutes for recess would keep the kids apart and give Frankie a break from Hunter. I’m glad she also made new friends.
Did you learn their names yet, Frankie?”
In the reflection of the phone, I saw Frankie wrinkle her nose. “I forgot.”
Chuckling, Rachel nodded. “That’s okay. It’s hard sometimes to remember names right after you meet someone. I’m glad they were nice, though. Did your team win?”
“Yeah!” Frankie shouted straight into my ear, making me wince.
Rachel shot me an apologetic look, but Frankie was talking too fast for either of us to get a word in edgewise to talk about it.
“Not every round, but the boy who partnered with me was super fast! If I got him the ball, he could get people out faster than I could! It was fun!”
She chattered about the recess with gusto until Rachel had to go back to work and we arrived back at Frankie’s place.
To my surprise, both parents were home and packing up the car.
I frowned as I helped Frankie off my shoulders, tucking my phone into my pocket and following Frankie through the gate. “Are you goin’ on a trip?”
Frankie’s footsteps slowed as she noticed what her parents were doing. Louder than I’d asked, she demanded, “What’s goin’ on?”
Frankie’s dad glanced over his shoulder, looking annoyed that he had to explain it to her. “We’re going to visit grandma and grandpa. We told you that yesterday.”
Most little kids were excited to visit their grandparents, weren’t they? I sure as hell didn’t expect Frankie to shake her head rapidly and outright refuse to go.
“No! I don’t want to! I want to stay with Mojave!”
Her dad made an irritated sound, throwing a cooler into the back seat. “Too bad! You’re goin’! Hurry up and pack your clothes!”
“No!” Franke screamed at him. “I hate it there! I don’t want to go!”
“No one cares what you want,” Frankie’s mom snapped as she stomped out of the house, for once not in her restaurant uniform and instead in casual clothes with her hair tossed into a bun. She reached for Frankie to force her, but Frankie dodged away and hid behind me, still shouting.
“No, no! I don’t want to!”
Growling out a frustrated noise, Frankie’s mother hissed, “Either you get your ass inside and pack or we’ll leave you here alone for the whole weekend! See if I care!”
“Hey,” I snapped, glaring at her. “You can’t do that.”
Her attention swung to me and her eyes widened in anger. “Mind your own business!”
“It is my business when you plan on abandoning a kid for an entire weekend,” I shot back. “She’s just a kid. She shouldn’t have to go somewhere that makes her uncomfortable.”
Throwing her hands up, Frankie’s mother shouted, “Fine! You take her! I’m not giving up my one weekend off because she wants to be a brat!”
She stomped off without a backward glance, slamming the door to the car so hard, it rocked.
I knew better than to think Frankie’s dad would be any kinder.
He didn’t even glance in Frankie’s direction when he shouted over his shoulder, “Last chance! If you don’t get her in the car, we’re going without her! ”
No way in hell was I going to force Frankie to go with them when she was that adamant about not going.
It was their jobs as parents to reassure her if they had to go somewhere she didn't like. Since neither of them were willing to even try, Frankie didn’t move from her spot behind me and Frankie’s parents drove off with Frankie’s mother giving me the finger as they pulled out of the driveway.
I scowled at the receding car, but it didn’t click until they’d disappeared and my ears stopped ringing that I’d basically been volunteered to watch Frankie for a whole weekend. Could I even do that?
When I turned to look at Frankie, she was still clinging to my shirt and hiding. I offered her my hand, tugging her along to urge her inside. “Come on. It’s hot. We’ll go inside and figure out what happens next.”
Because I seriously doubted Frankie’s parents were going to come back.
Several hours later, I knew I was right.
Frankie’s parents never came back. Driving away hadn’t been a scare tactic to get Frankie to fall in line, and even if it had, Frankie still wouldn’t have willingly gone along.
After she was sure they weren’t coming back, she stopped hiding and relaxed, bringing me some drawings she’d done with the few art supplies she had in the house.
She was completely unbothered by her parents leaving, and I wondered if she would have even responded to being left home alone for a whole weekend if she’d been on her own when the confrontation happened.
Since I wasn’t sure what to do next, I called Rachel back. At minimum, she needed to know what happened. Abandoning their kid had to be enough to get the judges or whatever to take her out of here.
“Hello?” she answered distractedly, like her attention was elsewhere.
“Hey,” I greeted awkwardly. “Something went down and I thought you’d want to know.”
Her tone cleared and became more attentive when she realized it was me. “What happened? Is it Frankie? Is she okay?”
“Yes and no,” I said, heading for the kitchen to stand behind Frankie when I noticed her climbing onto the counter to get a bowl.
“Frankie’s parents were getting ready to leave for a trip when I dropped her off.
Frankie didn’t want to go, and when she hid from them, they threatened to leave her home alone all weekend.
I argued, told them they couldn’t do that, and Frankie’s mom said then I could take her instead.
They drove off right after and haven’t been back since. ”
The only thing that came out of the other line was a choking sound, like Rachel couldn’t get words out to respond. I felt the same way. It was fucked up that they’d drive away and leave Frankie alone.
“I– They– What?” Rachel exclaimed, forcing me to jerk the phone away from my ear.
When I put it back, she was full blown ranting, which I’d never heard from the normally calm and patient woman before.
“That’s illegal! They abandoned their daughter!
I just– I can’t even– They don’t even know you!
No offense, I know you’re safe and trustworthy with Frankie, but they don’t know that!
Have they even said more than a few words to you? ”
“No,” I answered with a frown. I hadn’t thought of it that way.
Frankie’s parents had only asked me one question since I showed up in their kid’s life, and that was whether or not I was a pervert.
They never asked what we did together, why we hung out, nothing.
They didn’t know me from Adam, and they were willing to just hand her over to me for an entire weekend without even knowing where I lived.
“Mojave?” Rachel drew my attention back to her. “Are you willing to watch her? I won’t be back until tomorrow morning at the earliest. I can call Ted to take her if you’re uncomfortable–”
“No. I’m good,” I interrupted, though I wasn’t sure how the hell I’d make that happen.
I didn’t even have a car. And I didn't have any gear for Frankie to use to ride my bike. I didn’t want to stress Rachel about that though.
She was busy working and couldn’t come back to handle the situation herself right now.
Tomorrow, we could discuss what would happen next.
“I’ve got her for tonight. I’ll call someone in the crew for a ride and I’ve got space at my place…
” Sort of. I’d need to use the pull out couch because the second bedroom was a storage room, not an actual bedroom, but it was only for a night. It’d be fine.
Rachel let out a relieved breath. “Thank you, Mojave. I’m glad she has you to look out for her. I’ll come back as soon as I can. Can you send me your address? I’ll drop by once I get back.”
I grimaced. I didn’t actually have an address. The plot of land I lived in was technically unregistered. That far out in the desert, no one ever checked. “I’ll, uh… drop a location once we get there. It’s sort of out there.”
“Okay, if that’s easier,” she agreed amiably. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Yeah, talk to you later.”
In the meantime, I needed to figure out how the hell to get Frankie to my place without a damn car.