Free Some Came Desperate: A Love Saga by Katherine Cachitorie Page A

arguments, she posed new arguments that were even weaker.  She was a handful, Nick thought, a woman who refused to see the obvious.  A woman who was getting louder the more outlandish her arguments became.  So loud, in fact, that even Nick felt compelled to slow her down.
           “Lower the volume, Simone,” he said as he flicked ash off of his cigarette.
           “I can’t help it, Mr. Perry.  Do you hear him?  He’s making me so angry!”
           “Because he disagrees with you?”
           “Because he’s just like everybody else.  They don’t know a thing about me but always want to judge me.  I’ll be a great guardian to my sister, I know I will.  But they won’t even let me try.  I know I’m not the most perfect person in this world.  I know I’ve got a record—”
           “A record?” Mark said as if he was on to something, and even Nick’s interest was piqued.
           “It’s nothing,” Simone said quickly, and then screwed up her face, upset with herself for even bringing it up.  She looked at Nick, who appeared, to her dismay, disturbed by the revelation.
           “You’ve been in prison, haven’t you?” Mark asked, anxious to pounce on this point, and Simone rolled her eyes.
           “I told you it was nothing,” she said.
           “Let us be the judge of that,” Nick said and Simone’s heart dropped.  She’d lost him.  Just on that one blunder alone she’d managed to turn him against her, too.  She was tired of fighting, tired of having to defend herself or her concern for her sister every time she turned around.  But what could she do?  She needed his help.
           “It was a long time ago, Mr. Perry,” she said with a plea in her voice.  “I was just a kid myself—”
           “You’re still a kid,” Mark said.
           Simone ignored him.  “I was just a kid and it was nothing.  I just want my sister back, that’s all, and I need you to help me.”
           Nick again tapped the ash off of his cigarette.  Then he looked at her.  “You were a kid?”
           “Yes!  I wasn’t even myself then.  I just–”
           “How old?”
           “How old what?”
     
           “How old were you when you went to prison,” Mark nastily interjected.  Simone ignored him and looked at Nick. 
           “Are you going to take my case or not?” she asked.
           “How old were you?” Nick asked again, his eyes piercing into hers, brooking no debate.
         Simone exhaled.  He wasn’t about to back off, she could see it in those eyes.  “Sixteen,” she said.
           “How old are you now?”
         Simone frowned.  “What difference does that make?”  When he didn’t respond, she sighed.  “Twenty-two.”
           “What happened?”
           “What?”
           “When you were sixteen, what happened?”
           “Nothing happened.”
           Nick puffed slowly on his cigarette as he stared at Simone.  It was nothing all right, he thought.  Was probably the most defining moment of her young life.  “What happened?” he asked again.
           Simone shook her head.  Why should she even bother, she thought.  He was judging her already.  “I was young and stupid, all right?  And I did something dumb.  That’s what happened.  Now are you going to take my case?”
           Nick took another slow drag on his cigarette but continued staring at her, continued, in her view, sizing her up.  He didn’t mind toughness in a tough lady, he actually admired it, but he did mind arrogance.  And stubbornness.  And little Miss Simone, he concluded, had way too much of both.  “No,” he said firmly, which surprised even Mark.
           “No?” Simone asked, unable to believe that he would decide so quickly.
           “Your case is not winnable, Miss Simone, and I