Free Brick (Double Dippin') by Allison Hobbs Page A

right now, but he was surprisingly unworried, viewing his situation as more of an inconvenience than a hopeless state of being. His mind was too focused on revenge to worry about a comfortable bed.
    “How long has your pop been living on the streets?” Brick asked.
    “About seven or eight years. I don’t know if he’s dead or alive, but I have to try to find him.”
    “I got a room with AC back at the hotel. I’m not gonna use it. It’s yours for the night, if you want it. But I really don’t think it’s safe for you to stay there, now that you got beef with Cash Money—and Mom Dukes.” Brick chuckled uneasily, trying to make light of the dangerous encounter he’d led Anya into.
    “Can you give me a ride to the women’s shelter in Germantown? I’ve stayed there from time to time. They may have an available bed.”
    “No problem.” Brick wished that he could be more of a help to Anya, but he had troubles of his own. He didn’t need any extra baggage.
    Driving along Stenton Avenue in Germantown, Brick noticed one fast food place after another. “You hungry?” he asked Anya. The least he could do was offer the poor thing a meal before he dropped her off at the shelter.
    “Kind of.”
    “Is KFC all right with you?”
    “Anything’s all right with me. Beggars can’t be choosers,” she said with a pained smile.

 
     

CHAPTER 14
     
     
    I nside KFC, Brick and Anya ate in silence. Anya tore into a drumstick and then a chicken wing while Brick was still working on the same chicken breast. Big and muscular as he was, Anya was eating him under the table. The girl was hungry.
    Noticing there were no napkins on their tray, he got up and grabbed some napkins from a dispenser. “Here you go.” He set the napkins down in front of Anya.
    “Thanks,” she muttered, steadily chewing.
    “How old are you?” he inquired.
    “I’ll be twenty-one soon.”
    “You don’t look any more than seventeen or eighteen.”
    “Well, I feel like I’m eighty.” She gave a weary sigh.
    “Where you from, if you don’t mind me asking?”
    “I was born here in Philly; moved to Indiana when I was a little girl.”
    “Did your pop stay here in Philly, after you and your mom left town?”
    “My mother didn’t exactly leave town. She’s deceased.”
    “Sorry to hear that.”
    “I was eleven years old.” She shrugged. “It’s been so long, I barely remember her. Anyway, I stayed with my father and grand-mom for a while. After my grandmom passed, my dad wasn’t able to take care of me. He sent me to Indiana to stay with my aunt.Aunt Minerva isn’t a blood relative. She’s more like a friend of the family. I didn’t have an easy life, but I try not to dwell on the past,” Anya kept her eyes down as she wiped her hands with a napkin. She was acting as if she hadn’t been affected by losing her parents, but Brick could sense the subject made her tense and upset. He was sorry he’d persuaded her to divulge her personal history.
    “I’m broke right now, but not for long,” she continued in a much stronger voice. “When I get on my feet, I’m going to hire a detective…do whatever it takes to find my father. I’ll get him his own crib or he can come back to Indiana with me. It’s his choice—whatever makes him happy.”
    Brick had also lost his mother when he was young, and he felt a connection to Anya. She was lucky to have a support system back in Indiana. Part of what made Brick tick—the dark, treacherous part of his soul—had developed during childhood, when he was whipped and abused, threatened and taunted by the adults that were supposed to be taking care of him.
    He wondered if Anya’s aunt had treated her right. But since he wasn’t willing to share his personal story, it wasn’t fair to ask her for details about her life.
    Besides, Brick and Anya were only two passing ships. He was on a mission that would end in murder. While Anya, on the other hand, was desperate to save a life.
    They were on