Breaking Out (6 page)

Chapter 4

Sneaking Around the Knight

“Okay, read me the next one,” Lucian said as he sat behind his messy desk, reading glasses perched low on his nose, and made notes in his ledger.

Evelyn took a deep breath. “
Cllll . . . Clep . . . Cleptone . . .”

“Clapton.”

“
Clapton In . . . Indeew . . .”
She blew out a frustrated breath.

“Take your time.”

“
Clapton Indeew . . .”

“It's a soft
U
, like in under or umbrella.”

“Clapton Induss . . .
I don't know it.”

“That's because you haven't sounded it out yet. Don't get frustrated. Take your time. Remember how
ies
sounds at the end of a word.”

He was so patient with her. She looked at the statement again. “
Clapton Indust..ar..ies.
”

“Now put it together.”

“
Clapton Indust-ar-ies . . .
Clapton Industries!”

“Very good!” His eyes creased softly at the sides as he gave her a praising smile.

She grinned proudly from the club chair pulled close to his disordered desk. Lucian was a perfectionist and neat in everything except the way he kept his workstation.

This had become part of their Sunday morning routine. Lucian would order breakfast, they'd eat, she'd change into one of his shirts from the week that still carried his scent before the cleaners could wash it away, and she'd read through a stack of invoices as he recorded the names in his ledger. It was a task that would probably take less than ten minutes for him to do on his own, but it was good practice for her. She had come a long way from the illiterate girl she was when they met last fall.

He added the name into the ledger and placed his pen in the crease of the binding. It took Evelyn a while to realize most people did their bookkeeping on computers. Lucian told her he preferred the feel of the pen between his fingers and the appeal of the leather-bound ledger. She liked seeing him like this.

Stretching, Lucian let out a wide yawn that ended with a manly, animalistic-growl-type howl. “Let's do the rest later. Why don't you take a break? I have to make a few phone calls.”

Evelyn left the invoices on the chair and stretched as well. There was no use putting the organized stack of paper on his desk. That thing was like a black hole.

As she snuggled onto the sofa and mindlessly hit buttons on the remote, she considered how much her life had changed from the endless struggle to survive it once was. Here she sat, toes warm in a thick pair of wool socks, fire burning in a glass insert ten feet away, television at her disposal, and a bracelet worth God only knew how much weighing down her wrist. It was bizarre.

She came across some Sunday morning cartoons and put the remote aside. Adult programs bored her, although she did enjoy the
Gilligan's Island
reruns. Having never gone to school or lived in a real house, she simply couldn't relate to the shows women her age usually liked. Once she watched a court show where two friends fought over a pedigreed dog, and she wanted to reach through the screen and strangle them both. Some people just didn't know what real problems were.

Lucian spoke softly in the background, his velvety voice mingling with the pings and whizzes coming from the television, accompanied by her occasional giggle. A scraggly character showed up and her mind wandered to faces from her past, one in particular.

No matter how she tried to forget about Parker, she couldn't let him go. He'd hurt her the last time they spoke. His disapproval held more weight in her conscience than she was comfortable admitting. He basically accused her of being someone seduced by money. Of course he didn't know how deeply she had grown to care for Lucian at the time he made his accusation, but there was no excuse. His words hurt. They weren't true, but it took her a long time to convince her bruised pride of that.

Lucian tried convincing her that Parker only said those hurtful things because he was in love with her and jealous, but that wasn't true either. She and Parker had known each other for almost ten years. He'd come to the tracks when she was just a girl, probably around ten or twelve. Evelyn never knew when her real birthday was, so keeping track of her age was always a challenge. She assumed her age to be closer to twelve because she recalled that was the year she had just started to develop and get hair where she had none before.

He was fourteen, a couple of years older than her. He didn't look like he belonged on the streets. Parker had papers that certified his age and other important information, which he carried with him at all times. She had nothing like that. According to the government, she didn't really exist. Lucian was working on obtaining legal documents for her, but it was difficult when there was no record of her existence.

There had always been something about Parker that said he'd been on the other side, known what it was like. He'd somehow known money well enough to hold disdain for wealth. He could read heavy hardcover books and loved to. He was cultured in a way only educated people were. There was a lot to envy about him.

Evelyn decided at an early age she would not become like the rest of the John and Jane Does out there. It had been her life's objective to get a job and get off the streets. That was how she met Lucian. To those that knew her plight, it was easy to see how some might mistake her as a gold digger. But she and Lucian and those they trusted most knew the truth of it. Evelyn felt entitled to nothing of his wealth and had no interest in it. She only had a desire for earning her
own
money, not taking someone else's.

Although she gave up her job as a maid at Patras, that didn't mean she was turning into a kept woman. She had worked into the New Year, but her appearance in a service uniform began raising eyebrows when people recognized her as the woman on Lucian's arm who'd been wearing an evening gown the night before. It was sort of weird working for, and sleeping with, the owner of the hotel. And there was no way she was giving up Lucian. So she gave up her job. Lucian was ecstatic, but she needed to start looking for a new one.

Lucian preferred her not to work, and while there was no immediate need for money, she'd been without her own income for almost a month, and that was enough. Income meant personal security. It was time for her to find new employment. She dreaded that discussion.

Her gaze drifted to Lucian. He was sitting at his desk, speaking softly into the phone. His reading glasses hung low on his nose, and he needed a shave. No one else saw him this way, vulnerable, relaxed. Heat spread in her chest. He was hers.

As she turned back to the television, her mind returned to Parker. Unlike Lucian's strong presence Parker was . . . less intimidating. He was thinner, due to the difference in their lifestyles. Sometimes Parker had facial hair, usually in the colder months, but when he shaved, his skin still had a youthful glow Lucian's lacked. Lucian was a man. Evelyn still saw Parker as a boy only slightly older than herself.

Shortly after she and Parker met, he had come to her rescue. She could still recall the shock of seeing him attack Slim, a disgusting pervert who lived at the tracks. Slim had come into the abandoned mill she and her mother occupied. Pearl had gotten in the habit of trading herself for drugs, mostly heroin. One day Slim came by and Pearl wasn't there.

He entered what Scout considered their private space and seemed reluctant to leave. Scout wasn't ignorant about certain things, even at her young age, but she was taken off guard when Slim touched her. No one touched her in those places. She'd pushed his grubby hand away, repulsed by how filthy his fingers were, but he only pushed back. Instinctively, when his grip on her thigh tightened, she screamed and Parker came running.

She'd been so confused and upset she began to cry, something she never allowed herself to do in front of others at the tracks. After dealing with Slim, Parker held her and promised her she would be all right. He had become a force of his own to reckon with, shocking her with how lethal he could become when pushed. Nothing made sense that day. Parker somehow crossed into her personal space the way no one else on the streets ever could.

It wasn't until after the fact that she realized they were
friends
. On the streets she was known as Scout because she was excellent at scouting out good finds. She knew the underbelly of Folsom like the back of her hand. She was a survivor, determined to get out and make a real life for her and Pearl. Scout didn't have friends. Caring for those on the streets would only hold her to that unfavorable part of her existence. But Parker had become one.

A cold chill ran through her as she wondered where he was now. He was smart, smarter than the rest of them. It was Parker who taught her the basics of reading, giving her enough knowledge to land a halfway decent job. Television was unavailable where they were from, but the Folsom library was a public place. Parker spent most of his days entertaining himself with books. He sometimes took her with him. Those days were her favorites.

They'd curl up on the braided rug in the children's section and he'd guide her through children's classics. The first book she ever read a page from was
Green Eggs and Ham
. She was around eighteen, and it was probably one of the proudest moments of her life. She could only read very small words. Having Parker read to her was much more enjoyable than struggling to hear herself clumsily piece together letters.

Growing up within and never leaving a ten-mile radius, books opened a world of imagination for her. She saw things in her mind she could only dream of ever seeing in real life, the ocean, Egypt, the Big Top, all described in such thought-out detail she could taste the cotton candy and breathe the salt air without ever leaving that magical braided carpet.

He made it a goal to read her as many classics as possible,
The Catcher in the Rye
,
The Color Purple
,
Of Mice and Men
. She couldn't get enough. Scout became obsessed with words. Even if she couldn't read big words, there was no stopping her from saying them. She clung to every syllable he spoke, like a thief.

Then there were the more mysterious sides of Parker. When a person is homeless, there is little entertainment, so in the fall they enjoyed watching the little league practice and play games. The T-Ball players were the cutest. She and Parker made a habit out of finding entertainment that was free.

One day she'd gone looking for Parker so they could find something to do together. He had a few places he hid out when he wasn't at the library. She ended up finding him in an alley, where she heard noises. When she peeked into the shadows, she wasn't prepared for what she saw. Parker was doing to another woman what Slim had wanted to do to Scout. However, this woman seemed on board with his plans.

Scout gasped, and Parker immediately turned and cursed. The woman gave Scout a nasty look that haunted her for days. She now was old enough to know that Parker was having sex. That afternoon, a world of mixed emotions opened up inside of her over the span of a minute. She supposed she'd always looked up to Parker in a way, found him admirable. She wasn't jealous of the woman. Sex scared Scout and she wanted nothing to do with it. Yet, there came a twinge of something she couldn't name when she realized Parker was doing it with that woman.

He chased after her, completely discarding the other woman. When he caught up to her, he grabbed her arm.

“Scout, what are you doing here?”

“I . . . I was looking for you.”

His face was creased with frustration, and his cheeks were flushed. “You shouldn't have come here.”

His words irritated her. She jerked her arm away. “I'm not a child, Parker. I know what you were doing.”

“I know you're not a child. I just . . . I didn't want you to see that.”

“Why?” She was truly curious about his reasons.

He frowned and wedged his hands in his pocket. Looking away, he mumbled, “It's dirty.”

She frowned as well. “You aren't the only person who does that, Parker.”

“I know. But I don't like it.”

“Then why do you do it?”

He shrugged. “Guys are different. We need . . .”

She waited quietly for him to continue. His cheeks grew redder and he said nothing. She touched his arm. “It's okay, Park. I get it.”

He shook his head and curved his lips into a barely there smile. “No, you don't, but thanks for trying.”

Her hand dropped from his arm. “Thanks.” She was insulted. “You know, you aren't much older than me—”

“I know that! God, Scout, I know that.”

“Then why do you say things like that, like I'm some dumb kid?”

“Because you're a good girl and a good girl shouldn't see two people going at it like animals!” he hissed.

She drew back. Her understanding of sex was twisted. She'd seen her mother and other men. There was no modesty. She saw things no child should probably witness. She only needed to see it once to determine she never needed to see it again. But to her knowledge, there was no way to have sex that wasn't animalistic.

After they stood awkwardly silent for a while and the woman he had been with slunk away, he said, “Come on. I'll walk you back.”

They walked in silence, she playing back what she'd seen, and Parker scowling about what he had inadvertently showed her. One thing she was sure of, he did not see her as a sexual being, but as more of a little sister. This pleased and irritated her for reasons she didn't understand.

Evelyn smiled, remembering how, after that, he made a point to read adult stories to her. They were never graphic, but sometimes they mentioned some of those less animalistic couplings he must have been referring to. He would sometimes blush when he read her the more adult parts of those classics.