Page 54 of Fight for You

"I'll always be good to her," I promise, meaning it.

"I know you will. You're a sweet boy, Michael. Ma Lucia would be so proud of you." She gives me a tired smile and then pats me on the cheek. "I'm going to sleep with her tonight so she won't be alone if she wakes up."

"That's probably a good idea," I agree, although I want to be the one in that bed with January, protecting her. Her mom clearly needs to reassure herself that her little girl is okay, though, so I won't fight her on it. I'll just crash on the couch so I'm here if my girl needs me. "I'm going to check on Titan."

"The boy who did this to her is in jail?"

"Yeah, Curtis Kaleo turned him in," I tell her.

Jana nods and then slips into the bedroom with January.

I watch as she climbs onto the bed with her and brushes her hair back from her face. They're so much alike, it's unreal. Jana is a little taller than January, and her hair is graying. Weary lines are etched into the skin around her eyes, but she's as sweet as her daughter. She works so damn hard to take care of January and Titan. She's a nurse, working an ungodly number of hours each week. I think she and my mom would have been great friends had they ever met.

I find Titan on the front porch, staring out into the dark.

"She's sleeping," I tell him, sinking into one of the chairs beside him.

"She was hysterical," he says, pain in his voice. "Mom and I couldn't calm her down. I thought she was going to hyperventilate."

"She'll be okay, Titan," I promise him, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. "We'll make sure of it."

He jerks his chin in the semblance of a nod.

"I may have fucked up."

He glances over at me.

"I went after Kaleo," I mutter, looking away from him to the street. Half the lights are out. Someone keeps busting them out with rocks. Every time I come home from school, I have to call and ask the city to have them replaced. I think they're about to give up on keeping this block lit up, but I don't want January out here without enough light to see in case Kaleo ever comes lurking around in the dark. "He's going to retaliate."

"Figured that's what took you so long to get here," Titan says like he's not surprised. "You make it count?"

"Yeah." I nod, staring down at my bruised knuckles. "I made it count. He won't come after January anymore. He knows I'll kill him if he tries. He says he turned Tony over to LAPD."

"Good," Titan grunts, though I'm not sure if he's talking about me making it count or about Kaleo turning Tony in for the shit he tried to do to January today. Not sure it matters either way.

"Maybe I should cut back on my course load so I'm around more," I muse, running my fingertip along a trail of dust on the arm of the chair.

"I've got it, man," Titan says, shaking his head.

"If he starts some shit–"

"If he starts some shit, I'll handle it. If you hadn't gone after him for this, I would have." Titan shrugs a shoulder, shooting me a look I can't decipher. "He had it coming for sending that motherfucker after January. If he retaliates, I'll deal with it. That's what you have me for anyway."

"You don't have to do it alone, Titan."

"Yeah, I do." He shoots me another telling glance. Sadness lingers in his gaze. "You can't drop your classes. January will never forgive herself if you do. You're good at this school shit. You need to keep your nose clean and finish it so you can give her the kind of life she deserves. I can handle Kaleo. Besides, I've got the boys to help me if shit gets too out of hand around here."

"You know this is the most you've said to me since Ma Lucia died?"

"Told you then we were drifting," he mutters.

"Bullshit," I growl at him. "We weren't drifting. You backed away. You didn't want us to leave you behind, so you decided to leave us behind first."

He shrugs again. "It is what it is. I'm not going to be the reason the two of you don't make it out of here. She's yours to take care of now, so I suggest you worry about her and let me worry about shit around here. It works better for everyone that way."

"For everyone or for you?" I ask him when he climbs to his feet.

"For everyone," he says, jogging down the steps. "Believe me, man. I'm the last person you need dragging you down. You're going to get the fuck out of here and take my sister with you. That's all you need to be worried about."