Fuck.
“I knew it!” Chi-chi screeched. “Someone’s in there.”
The knocking began on the door and didn’t let up. Two sets of hands this time. “Open up!”
I rolled over the options in my mind. Calling the cops was out of the question. They never came anyway, and I didn’t want them to see my mom. Maybe if they kept banging, neighbors would come out and help. But that was a long shot. Besides, most folks knew Chi-chi by sight, and if they saw it was him at our door, they’d mind their own business real fast. I could text Rosa, but I worried Johnny might see and try to play hero. Same with Deck. I thought about just opening the door and reasoning with Chi-chi. If I let him search the place, maybe that would end it. Since Johnny wasn’t here. Then again, the dude seemed real fucking crazy.
The decision was taken out of my hands a minute later when the door to the trailer was kicked in. The overhead light in the main room flicked on.
I scrambled up against the headboard, deciding it would be better to meet Chi-chi head-on rather than hide in my bedroom. Lurching to a standing position, intending to face him in the living room, I ignored the stabbing pain that shot up my leg when I put weight on my foot.
But I’d only made it to my bedroom door when Chi-chi appeared in front of me. He dragged his gaze up and down my body, making me feel sick.
He noticed and grinned. “Hola, chica.”
From a foot away, I smelled the liquor on his breath and could see the wide dilation of his pupils.
“Johnny’s not home,” I said with as much force as I could muster. “It’s just me and my mom.” I gestured to the bedroom across from mine, and Chi-chi peered in.
“Hello, Johnny’s mom.” He leered at her. “How about you stay in your bedroom while your daughter and I discuss some things?”
“What?” My mom sat up on her bed, wobbly and disoriented. “Cori? What’s going on? Why was there shouting?”
I wasn’t sure if she’d registered Chi-chi’s presence or not, or how aware she was. “It’s okay, Mom,” I reassured her. “I’ll talk to you in a minute.”
“Yeah. She’ll talk to you in a minute, Mommy.” Chi-chi reached back to grab his friend by the arm and shoved him into my mom’s room. “My boy Aaron will keep you company while your daughter and I have a little chat.”
Blond and blue-eyed, Aaron did not look like any of the other guys I’d seen following Chi-chi around in the neighborhood. He hesitated, evidently having no clue what the script was here. “Are you sure?”
Chi-chi replied with a punishing glare. Aaron held up his hands in surrender before sitting next to my mom on her bed.
“Cori?”
“It’s okay, Mom.” I kept my eyes pinned on Chi-chi as I spoke. “Hang out with Aaron for a bit.”
“But—”
“I think you and I had better talk uninterrupted,” Chi-chi said, pushing me back into my room until my knees hit the side of the bed.
He shut the door. I waited for him to turn on the light, like he’d done in the main room, but he didn’t. No matter. It was brightenough for me to see the pattern in the plaid flannel he wore over his chinos, and to make out the old-school Sonics logo on his hat.
Chi-chi stepped toward me. I stood my ground, putting all my weight on my good foot.
“Will my mom be alright with him?”
“I imagine so.”
Vague, but I’d have to live with it.
“Sit,” Chi-chi ordered.
When I didn’t comply immediately, he pushed me down. I decided not to fight him. Yet.
“I already told you Johnny’s not here,” I said. “So you can go.”
His right cheek lifted. He sat down next to me, squishing his thigh against mine. “Where is he?”
I wanted to cross my arms over my chest, but I kept my hands in my lap as I answered, “I don’t know.”
