klyn precinct. The smell hit her instantly-a nauseating m

ffed suspects cursed loudly from wooden benches. She kept her head down, weavi

e told the desk serg

uter. He flipped through a stained logbo

were five crisp hundred-dollar bills and a lone, crumpled ten-the absolute entirety of her

as she slid the cash un

eys and grabbed his rad

clanged open at the

shirt was splattered with dried blood. His lip was split wide

of her lungs. She ran forward, rea

is head away, d

hed his plastic bag of belongings from the

violently that the pen tore through the cheap paper. Sh

dead silence. Overhead, an elevated subway train roared past, rattl

Alexia ripped her ha

ing with suppressed rage. "Why are

imal. "Because they were talking tras

ce. Her fingers instinctively curled into t

out. "They said you're a sugar baby. They said you're letting som

ough Alexia's eardru

is morning flashed in her mind. A wave of p

intending to slap the insolence out of him. But as her hand hover

ropped to

ke through. "You have no idea," she sobbed, her chest heavi

gh exterior. He stepped forward, his hands h

shoved

. "I didn't just fight them because of the rum

red her hands. A cold, venomous

nt back to the underground tables. He lost it all

bled backward. Her shoulder blades hit the rough b

antically. "That was for Mom's prescript

, smearing blood on the red clay. "He's a parasite, Al

her. The endless black hole of her family. The

pavement. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped

shoulders, pulling her into a tight, desperate hug. He rested his chin o

only real thing she had left. Alexia bu

paper. She wiped her face with the back of her sleeve and

led out a crumpled ten-dollar b

es. Then go straight to school," she

three times as he walked t

ner. She pulled her phone out of her pocket.