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They all nodded at the same time as she answered their curious unspoken question Vince didn’t el Clearly, like Sal, he was sure none of the out alone with Grace’s baby sister

After Sofia explained where they’d find the koi food, they were finally able to s before looking up, and to his surprise Rose was s Then she wrinkled her nose that cute way she’d done earlier when he first mentioned the koi "Are you really such a bad boy?"

"No" The word flew out defensively surprising even hiht of him

"You don’t look bad" Her smile teased as they reached the pond "Oh how pretty," she said pulling a strand of hair behind her ear and looking down into the pond

Vince looked down at the koi, but his eyes quickly made their way back to her face She was a little on the plain side That could just be because she was so young and wore noabout her Sure, she was cute in a very innocent way, but it was ical Maybe the rebel in hi up reasons to piss his perfect cousins off for having such little faith in hi, so he smirked "So I don’t look bad to you, huh?"

Her eyes widened, and she sht eyes Okay

"Well except for that tattoo on your foreare to shove his hand in his pocket to hide the tattoo, he shrugged "Probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life"

"What is it?" She stared at it; her curiosity was even htened than it had been before his last statement Great

"It’s my incredibly stupid, temporary-insanity moment is what it is It’s what happens," he said as he took a seat on the rock bench next to the pond, "when you do ith your dumb-ass friends"

"You do weed?" she whispered, eyes wide open glancing around

He chuckled at the innocence in her startled eyes "Not anymore As a matter of fact, this stupid tat is the reason I stopped Of course I knew enough about the evils of drugs I’d seen plenty of people insome of my friends do some dumb shit because of it, and still like a dumb-ass I did it with theh, we decided getting these " He shook his head re he tried in vain to rub the daain I’ve never seen lad my brother hadn’t been with me That would’ve been bad"

"What does it say?" She sat down across fro the same stupidity he always did whenever he looked at it He explained the skull and bones was soed on walls--a symbol of their pact--brothers until death then the letters LP Locos just under it that was now permanently tattooed on his forearain he looked up at her She was still staring at his hand "I only hope this is as stupid as I ever get"

"I don’t think it’s so stupid Lots of kids at my school have tattoos So you would’ve never done sober, then I can see why it bothers you" She looked up at hiret when they’re under the influence"

He s shades between light brown and gold "So tells me you’ve never even tried alcohol"

She shook her head, frowning "No offense, but I wouldn’t do that to my body I’m on the volleyball and soccer teas and alcohol do, not just to your mind but to your body No thanks I’d like to keep my body just like it is; thank you very h: the part Vince had first noticed when he saw her Forcing his eyes away froh, he straightened up and looked in her eyes again

"But it’s crazy how many people I know that do all the tiain like she had earlier, and he was glad because ither touch her leg was doing to hi that sells the stuff The cops have raided his apartment a few times"

That’s when he realized that as different as they were, just how the sa where there was drug dealing going on, her neighborhood was probably just as run down as his The only difference was unlike hi the whole "victim of environment" bullshit he so often blahborhood?"

She sot even sweeter As usual, Vince tried his best to hide his feelings It was just ad for her--adirls in his neighborhood had gone bad so early because their surroundings , but faultless contradiction to that argument