A Little Bit of Trouble Read Online Free Page A

she insisted on using. I even miss the stench of her cigarettes, she used to enjoy a smoke on occasion. She quit whilst pregnant with Annie and started smoking casually until Amelia and then started again after she had her.
         I wish I’d never moaned about that smell. It’s so stupid and trivial now. Of course, my intentions were good, I didn’t want her to die of cancer. I remember her response, “I enjoy it. You only live once.”
         “And what a life that will be, coughin g and wheezing your way through, with that foul lingering scent all over you.”
         She just shrugged me off, how right she was. Not abou t smoking, but about enjoying life. You do only live once, and sometimes that once is cut far too short.
     
    I’m getting morbid again. I should really try to sleep. I turn again.
     
         I don’t understand why she feels so much animosity towards me. Loryn I mean… I never bullied her or said anything bad to her at all. Sure I didn’t stop the others but I hardly joined in with more than a slight laugh and chuckle. She can’t honestly blame me for the actions of others?
     
    I really need to sleep now, this is ridiculous.
     
     
         Morning comes, I’m so bored. With no Amelia I have nothing to focus on. I have no work to do for the next three days. The movies and Xbox games I purchased yesterday aren’t calling to me. Christ my life is dull. What can I do?
     
         As if by magic my cell rings, I answer without looking at the screen… yet again. “Sup?”
         “It’s Marie,” okay, it’s not like her to be up this early. “Can you do me a favor?”
         Who you gonna call? “Depends on what it is.”
         “Come pick me up,” Call Lucas!
         “Where’s your car?”
         “I kind of maybe… got into a little accident last night. Involving a certain somebodies Wife and a crowbar.” Fuck. “Yeah, my thoughts exactly.” I must have said that out loud. “I’m at the cop Precinct.”
         “Why are you at the Precinct? Please don’t tell me you got arrested!”
         “No, but I did use pepper spray on the bitch and break her nose. That last part was by accident though.” Oh Jesus. “Yeah, my thought’s exactly.”
         “Now I know I didn’t say that out loud.”
         “No but your silence definitely spoke volumes. So, can you come pick me up?”
         I exit my apartment fully clothed, with all of my crap shoved into my pockets. “Already in the elevator babe. I’ll be there soon.”
         “Thanks Lucas.”
         “No problem. Why didn’t you call Maya?”
         “She’ll go mad at me. I swear I didn’t know he was married! He never had a ring, no photos in his apartment, nothing!” Yeah, Marie may be a bit of a whore but she never messes with another girl’s man. Or so she’s said. “I’ve got to go. See you soon.”
         The line disconnects, I place my cell in the cup holder attached to the console, before running my fingers through my hair and then I rub my jaw. I need a shave, my shadow is turning into a beard. Okay, focus Lucas. Focus.
     
         Go get Marie, find out what the hell happened, grab some breakfast and take her to pick up a loan car or to ‘borrow’ another from Maya. Call Sylvia and ask her how Amelia was last night. Then go home and twiddle my thumbs until school finishes or until my family decide to give my daughter back to me. Which at this rate will be… never.
     
         Traffic is pretty bad, it takes me almost half an hour to get to Marie, and she’s waiting outside the Precinct with a sad smile on her face when I do finally make it. I lean over the passenger seat and open the door for her. “Start from the beginning.”
         “So, I was… sort of maybe seeing this guy,” she clears her throat. “You don’t know him. I met him in Starbucks a few weeks ago. We got talking, he had no wedding band, I always check!”