Free Little Peach by Peggy Kern Page B

sit on the couch, and try not to bother anyone.
    A knock on the door. Boost strides in with the short, loud boy who called me Little Peach. Complicated handshakes. A paper bag tossed on the table. Music pumps. They plop down on the couch and lean back like they’re home.
    Kat emerges from the bathroom, painted and smiling. She sits next to Boost. I go to my room and close the door.
    We leave at eight p.m., out into the orange fading sky. Baby munches on M&M’s in the backseat, a bottle of Coke between her knees. Devon nods to the music, his phone in one hand. Always.
    Room 5. Kat. Take your medicine. Drink your juice.
    I swallow.
    Wait.
    Warm.
    Smile.
    Knock knock .
    Two a.m.
    It starts with muffled voices through the thin walls of Room 5. Arguing. A girl’s voice rising. Something thumps. Then she starts to yell.
    Kat puts a finger to her lips. The trick is in the shower. We creep to the window and peek out.
    The girl bursts onto the balcony. Boost and Devon scale the stairs. We can’t make out what she’s saying, but her face is twisted up. She lunges for the stairs, but they surround her.
    “I ain’t doin’ this!” she cries, reaching out to Devon, who backs away as Boost slams his palm into her cheek. She hits the floor with a wet thud, a pile of hair and bone. Boost grabs her ankles. Her face drags along the floor, a chunk of dirty meat, and disappears behind the door of Room 2.
    Behind us, the shower switches off. The trick emerges, steaming and hosed off. Kat and I lock eyes. Then we turn, arch our backs, and smile.
    The next morning, Devon comes in and sits on the edge of my bed. He brushes the braids from my face, looks atme with those eyes that say, Hush now, Little Peach .
    “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
    I don’t know what to say, so I pull my blanket tight against my chin. I can still hear the slap against her face, the way she fell so hard against the ground.
    “She would’ve gotten us all locked up. Understand? They would have taken you away. Taken Baby away. You don’t want that, do you?”
    Baby’s dead asleep; her chunky arm hangs limply off the bed.
    No. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. To any of us. But I don’t want the other girls to get hurt, either.
    I haven’t even met the others. Kat knows them all. But to me they’re just the shadows I see when I walk up the rusty stairs to Room 5. They don’t talk to me yet.
    “I had no choice. It’s my job to take care of us. That’s what daddies do.”
    Devon rises, takes my hand. “C’mon. You wanna sleep with me tonight?”
    I search his face. My head hurts. I’m tired. I can’t make sense of this. “He didn’t have to hit her like that.”
    Devon sits on the edge of my bed again. “That girlwasn’t right, Peach. She wasn’t like you and Kat. Or Baby. You girls can hold it together. That’s why you’re here. With me. Girls like her? They’re dangerous. I’m here to keep you safe. C’mon. When I was little, my mama used to let me and my brother pile into bed with her when shit got bad. She called it the puppy pile. I think tonight’s one of those nights.”
    Kat’s already asleep. I climb next to her and press my head against Devon’s chest. He lays his hand on my back, gently, and hums in the fading darkness. It will be dawn soon.
    “Kat says you’re doing good. Next week, you’ll get your own room at the hotel.”
    He’s proud of me. I can tell.
    I close my eyes. His heart beats slow and steady. Thump thump .
    Devon’s voice is soft and warm. It curls into my ear. I sink into the mattress, his hand on my back, Kat sleeping behind me.
    “Someday, Peach. We’ll be outta here. Off to somewhere beautiful,” he says. “The most beautiful place you’ve ever seen.”
    July
    I am alone in Room 4.
    I gulp down my juice and wait for the heat that holds me tight from inside.
    The pill is magic. It helps me not be scared.
    Kat’s in Room 5. Baby’s in Room 3. Papery walls between us. I want to tell Baby