Between the Cracks Read Online Free Page A

first. I ran my thumb back and forth over the blank screen, listening to the sound of the shower running. Hayden had been in there a long time. I leaned over, knocked on the wall and called out, “You all right in there, bro?”
    I got back a muffled, “Yeah. I’ll be done in a few.”
    Hayden could go to dark places. I’d witnessed some pretty low moments with him. Many of his worst included Sienna. Tee was as opposite to Sienna as a person could get, which probably made this whole thing harder to deal with.
    I only knew the version of Tee who hung out in the shop and gave Hayden the gears about cupcakes. Everything else—her past, the things she’d seen—that information had been passed on to me through Hayden. But his brain didn’t wo rk the same way as most people. The way he saw things was different. Sometimes that was good, other times it wasn’t. He’d own her leaving as a failure on his part.
    With Tee, it had been clear from the beginning that she wasn’t a chick he planned to bang and ditch. Now that he’d seen what Tenley’s life would have looked like if all those people hadn’t died, he was going to be hard to manage. Hayden was good at getting inside his own head and staying there. Sometimes I was grateful that I didn’t have his smarts. It was as much a curse as a gift.
    Twenty-five minutes later, the bathroom door opened and Hayden came out with a towel wrapped around his waist. The skin that wasn’t covered in ink was bright pink and irritated looking. “I used all the soap,” he said matter of factly. “And the hot water.”
    “I can shower later.”
    He laid his clothes over the chair, rearranging them until they were creaseless. Then he went back into the bathroom and the hair dryer came on.
    “Getting pretty for me?” I called, hoping to get a laugh out of him. I didn’t expect to succeed.
    “Fuck you,” came the reply.
    The bathroom door was still open, so I leaned forward and caught a glimpse of his reflection in the full length mirror hanging in the hall. He was blasting a pair of boxer shorts with the blow dryer.
    I got up off the bed and came around so I could see him clearly. “What the hell are you doing?”
    “What the hell does it look like? I’m drying my boxers. I’ve been wearing them all day. It wasn’t like I was going to shower and then put them back on dirty. It’s bad enough I’m going to have to wear the same clothes tomorrow.”
    “Right. Gotcha.” I left him to it and palmed the remote so I could channel surf while I waited for him to be done.
    “Feel better now?” I asked when he came out a while later wearing the dry boxers.
    He nabbed a Gatorade from the table and flopped down on his bed. “No. But I’m clean, so there’s that.”
    I muted the TV. “Should we make a plan for tomorrow?”
    “I don’t know that it’s going to make a difference. As much as I hate it, that shithead has a point. Even if she didn’t want to, she left with him. I think that spells out pretty fucking clearly where we’re at.”
    “I don’t know, H. She’s got a lot going on, and that Trey guy is shady. I wouldn’t trust a damn thing that comes out of his mouth. I think we should try again in the morning.”
    “I guess.” He punched his pillow and turned his attention to the TV. “You mind turning that up. I’m done talking.”
    I must have passed out at some point, because I woke up to my phone vibrating against my cheek. I fumbled with it, blinding myself with the glare of the screen. It was Sarah. I answered the call, glancing over at Hayden. He’d fallen asleep sitting up with his arms crossed over his chest. The TV screen glowed black, casting a dim shadow across the room. I rolled off the bed and shut myself in the bathroom.
    “Hey, how’s it going?” My voice came out all gravel.
    “I’m sorry I woke you.”
    “No problem. I’d wake up to the sound of your voice any time. How many times did you call before I picked