Free One Wild Night by Jessie Evans Page A

anyone
else in the family, but we couldn’t be more different. I spend my
life cleaning up other people’s messes; he spends his lighting
fires for me to put out. He’s a smart-mouthed troublemaker who’s
already made a name for himself with the Giffney P.D. and the only
“bad” thing I’ve ever done was drop out of school when I was
seventeen to take care of the baby and the other kids after my
sister ran off. I work two jobs and do my best to make sure the
kids eat healthy and Emmie doesn’t watch too much T.V., while Danny
is constantly on the verge of being suspended for conduct code
infractions.
    The chances of him graduating junior high,
let alone high school, without a stint in juvie are looking less
likely with every passing year, but still…I keep trying.
    It’s not like anyone else around here is
going to be the voice of reason.
    “Seriously, D,” I say, knocking his hand
away when he reaches for my Coke. It was the last one in the fridge
and I need caffeine if I’m going to stay awake to celebrate my
stupid birthday. “I don’t want another call from Mr. Pitt. You need
to pull it together and finish this year strong.”
    “Whatever.” Daniel rolls his eyes. “Mr. Pitt
can suck my dick.”
    “I’m serious, Danny.” He reaches for my soda
again and I slap his hand a second time. Harder. “No more
language,” I insist in my nag voice, the one I can barely stand to
hear myself I’ve used it so much with him. “It’s the straight and
narrow for you. Even at home. I don’t have time to deal with any
more of your crap this month.”
    “What about your crap?” he mumbles. “You
cuss all the time.”
    “Please, D…” I cross my arms and shake my
head, too tired for the usual “but I’m an adult and I work my ass
off to feed you so I can do what I want” lecture. “Can you give me
a break? Just for a week or two? Until things calm down?”
    He sighs, his lips pulling down at the edges
as his gaze slides toward the envelopes spread out on the counter.
“Everything’s going to be okay though,” he says, the sass gone out
of his tone. “We’re not going to lose the house, right?”
    “Of course not,” I lie, forcing a smile.
    I refuse to let my brothers worry the way
I’ve worried my entire life. One stomach full of acid and holes is
enough for this family.
    “I’m sorting it out,” I continue, gathering
the bills into a pile and shoving them back in the shoebox I keep
on top of the fridge, wishing I could make our debt disappear as
easily. “But if you’ve got any money left over from all that snow
shoveling you did in January, it would help. I can pay you back
once tips pick up at the restaurant.”
    Daniel shrugs. “You don’t have to pay me
back. I’ve only got forty bucks left, anyway. You can just take
it.”
    “Thanks, booger.” I smile, a real one this
time, remembering why I couldn’t have made it through parts of the
past few years without this kid.
    He’s a pain in my ass, but he’s also my
right hand man when I need him.
    “I love you,” I say, ruffling his hair. “You
know that, right?”
    “Puke,” Danny says, but there’s a smile
tugging at his lips when he lifts his hands into the air, warding
off the hug he can no doubt sense is coming. “I’ll go get the
money, but you have to tell Ray to get out of the bathroom. I’ve
been trying to get a shower since I got back from practice and he’s
been in the bath for a fucking hour and a half.”
    “Language!” I call out to my brother’s
retreating back. “And check Emmie’s pull-up while you’re
upstairs.”
    “Whatever,” Danny calls back, but I know
he’ll check.
    He loves Emmie, probably more than he loves
anyone in the world. Danny was a nine-year-old obsessed with
monster trucks and boxing robots when our big sister, Aoife, left
her daughter at our house and split. Nothing in Danny’s nature up
to that point had indicated a paternal streak, but he couldn’t get
enough of his baby niece.