After Emily and Ruth had a nice catch up at the café with a solid few hours studying, Ruth finally left campus to head out to the basketball court. Raffo was busy hanging out with his friends so she didn't bother letting him know she was heading over to the courts by herself. She wanted him to enjoy himself. They'd been attached at the hip for the last few weeks and the last thing she wanted to do was take him away from Johnny or Eddie, or even Mirana. As much as she wanted to be around him, she knew she could never have him to herself forever.

So she decided to go to the basketball courts and dribble the ball around one hoop alone. There were a few other guys there, but they were too involved in their game to pay her any mind. Her dribbles relaxed her body despite the exercise of it. It felt good to stretch out her body and elongate her limbs that needed a good basketball session. The last time she was there, it was before the powwow with Raffo awhile ago.

Ruth pushed all of her focus onto the sport, concentrating on making a decent amount of shots and forgetting school, writing, and New York City. It was just her and the hoop. Nothing else mattered-

"I remember you," a familiar voice pushed into her subconscious and Ruth screeched a little as she clutched onto her basketball mid-dribble.

Ruth looked to where she heard the little voice.

A pair of hazel eyes looked up at her through the disgruntled charcoal vines of her hair. There was a fiery recognition across her face round face and for some reason, the sprout of a large bird came to mind at the widening of her almond-shaped eyes.

A phoenix, to be exact.

"Phoenix," Ruth whispered.

The little girl cocked her head to the side. "You remember my name?"

Ruth awkwardly shifted from foot to foot, clearing her throat. "I um- your brother uh- told me a few times."

Phoenix's gaze lit up at the mention of Raffo. "Raffie! Is he here?" she asked, looking around Ruth's body.

"No, he's not. Not right now, anyway. Are you here by yourself?"

Fierce determination highlighted her fair features. "Raffie doesn't think I can come here by myself. But I'm seven- I can do what I want."

"I can see that," Ruth said.

Phoenix's eyes gleamed at that in satisfaction, the doubt in Ruth's voice going completely over her youthful head. Ruth glanced around the court, double checking that Raffo wasn't around to grab his sister, and when she found that it was just Phoenix there, she realized she had to see her home. Leaving her to walk home by herself would be more than irresponsible, and she knew she couldn't send her back alone.

How the hell did she even leave anyway if she wasn't allowed to wander to the basketball courts by herself? Or was her not being allowed to wander over here Raffo's rule?

"Er- isn't your mother looking for you?" Ruth questioned.

"No. Mommy told me to get Raffie since daddy's home. I thought he'd be here with you like last time," Phoenix said, shrugging.

"Well, he's not. And I think you should get back home before he finds you out here. By yourself. Again."

Phoenix knew her argument about being seven-years-old wouldn't fly so well with her brother. Though she frowned, she eventually nodded her head, knowing that what I was saying was right even if she hated it. "Yeah."

Ruth didn't want to offer to go with her, especially now that she knows there wasn't something right with that house, but it was her responsibility now to make sure Phoenix got back safely. She'd do the same with any child. "How about I walk with you? That way if we run into your brother, I can talk him out of getting you in trouble."

The damn germ had the audacity to finally look at her like the stranger she was. "Are you Raffie's friend?"

"Yeah. We're uh—pretty good friends."

That was an understatement.

"His giiiiirrlfriend?" Phoenix drawled, her eyes gleaming with mischief now.

"Let's get you home," Ruth said instead, deterring the conversation and pushing the two of them away from the courts. Nosey ass little kid. "Now lead the way."

"What's your name? Raffie said I shouldn't speak to strangers so if I know your name, we won't be strangers anymore."

What kind of logic-

"It's Ruth. And you completely defeated the purpose of that statement by the way, kid."

There was a pause.

"What does that mean?" Phoenix asked, tilting her head up at her.

"Never mind."

Phoenix shrugged her little shoulders and walked off in the direction of her home. Ruth tucked her basketball safely under her arm and followed behind Phoenix who kept in step with her. She babbled about whatever nonsense kids babble about the entire way there while Ruth looked around at the one story homes along the block, noting how close they seem to be beside one another, and the few dogs that lingered on a street corner. Their tired eyes made Ruth's heart ache and she mentally told herself to bring some food and blankets the next time she came to the basketball courts.

The neighborhood was relatively quiet overall. Nobody was sitting out on their porches yet or wandering outside. Raffo was right, however, about living so close to the basketball courts. It was maybe a seven minute walk at most before Phoenix bounded up the steps of a decent sized one story house. The coffee paint on the outside was chipping away, a sign of the obvious aging of the house, almost as if it were rotting from the outside in, with Raffo's truck resting in the driveway alongside another car she didn't recognize. She thought she saw someone move in the drivers seat of the car, but she didn't want to double take and look even more suspicious than she already did. She shouldn't even be there in the first place.

Raffo never spoke of the place for a reason. So as she followed a bounding Phoenix up the few broken steps, she had an ill feeling that there was something evidently wrong with her for showing up unannounced.

"I wonder if Mommy's cooking now—" Phoenix began to say before a slurred voice interrupted her jumble, her little hand frozen on the doorknob.

"Who the fuck are you?" a dark voice growled behind them.

Ruth spun around instantly, facing the brewing storm highlighting a pair of bloodshot, light blue eyes that almost matched Phoenix's pretty hazel gaze perfectly. Pale cheeks are sunken in on the sides from his obvious rage and he loomed over her shrinking body the closer her got. The man could have been handsome once upon a time, but by the beer bottle being clenched in his hand, she knew alcohol had stolen much of his beauty. He was really tall, she noticed. Taller than her and maybe even Raffo, with a lean body that was muscled just enough.

His brooding gaze fell on his daughter, who shrunk right beside Ruth.

"And where the hell have you been?" he snapped at Phoenix.

The young girl glanced towards the ground, her hands wringing nervously. "I—I was looking for Raffie, daddy. H—he's not home."

The man's eyes narrowed at this, his eyebrows drawing harder together as if to morph into one solid line. His jaw clenches and he cursed under his breath. "That fucking red-skinned savage. Can never do shit right."

Ruth reeled at the derogatory term. She staggered backwards a few steps as heat flushed throughout her body, causing her fingers to clench into fists at her sides. Grinding her teeth, she unconsciously recaptured the attention of the current man she wanted to strangle with all her might. Raffo's father or not, she'd keep him in his place if need be.

Raffo never mentioned his father to her before, and now she could see why.

He was a racist, no-good drunk.

And she didn't have time for racist drunks.

"I asked you a question. Who the fuck are you, girl?" the man said, glaring down at her.

"I'm a friend of Raffo's." Ruth was almost proud at how sturdy her voice sounded despite the rage slowly pouring into her body.

He snorted, his dark eyes filling with amusement. "That boy making friends with Colored whores now? Figures."

Ruth's eyes were nearly bulging out of her skull now. "Excuse me? What the fuck did you call me?"

She made the mistake of taking a step forward, ignoring the fact that there was a shrinking child behind her. In the midst of her seething rage, she pushed herself closer to the bastard of a man who raised his hand towards her. She tensed up for the action, knowing that his blow was coming in the blink of an eye when someone else intercepted the move before he could touch her.

A bronze hand came around from behind the man to grab ahold of the fist, preventing the situation from escalating.

Both Ruth and the man looked back, catching sight of the cold look stretching across Raffo's seething features. His dark eyes were narrowed dangerously beneath storming eyebrows and his lips were flattened considerably as his nostrils flared. The vein nearest his temple pulsed and if Ruth wasn't so angry with his father, she would have been terrified by the deadly look in his expression. She'd never seen him look so . . . so frenzied before. So ready to murder the man in front of her without thinking twice.

The man and Raffo had a flinty stare down.

"Don't . . . fucking . . . touch . . . her," Raffo snarled, his voice harder and colder than an iceberg.

"How sweet," the man taunted, ripping his hand from Raffo's, staggering to regain his balance as he did so. His chuckle sent shivers of ice down Ruth's spine. "The Indian brave protecting his Colored slut."

Raffo swung a heavy fist towards his satisfied father, but having expected this to be the response to his words, he quickly had the upper hand. The drunken man shoved Raffo away from him with more force than necessary, especially on someone who was supposedly your son. But before he could raise a hand to him, Ruth lurched forward into action and swung up an arm expertly so his hand hit her forearm instead. Ignoring the small pain at the tender spot that would surely bruise, she slammed her leg up against his waist and brought the punching arm down to stun him. The hard shove after pushed him into the ground, leaving him dazed and too winded to act.

Somewhere behind her, the faint cries of a little girl brought her back to the present. When Ruth looked up, she watched as Raffo scooped his sister up into his comforting arms. She half-expected him to thank her or be impressed with her self-defense skills, but she was sadly mistaken. His glare was practically blazing at her and any anger or pride she had experienced previously, quickly dissipated.

"What the fuck were you even doing here?" he all but shouted at her, trying to calm a distraught Phoenix despite being rattled himself. Her snotty nose full of crimson was pressed into his shoulder, her sobs drawing out blotchy spots on her face. "Do you see what you fucking caused?"

"I-I didn't—" Ruth stuttered, trying and failing to defend herself as she took a hesitant step back. She barely glanced down at the sad-excuse-of-a-man throwing up into the grass beside her. "I was taking your sister here—"

Raffo spoke to her like she hadn't said anything at all. His eyes blazed.

"YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO COME HERE," he boomed. Something flashed across his vision then, but Ruth was too terrified to catch it. "JUST GO. GO AND DON'T COME BACK HERE, RUTH."

"That . . . fucking . . . bitch," the man heaved below them, his murderous gaze zeroing in on Ruth.

"LEAVE RUTH!" Raffo shouted again at her.

With tears filling in her bluring eyes, Ruth spat out a spiteful, "Fuck you, Raffo." Without looking back once, she spun on her heel, and sprinted as fast as she could to her car, not at all caring that every part of her was hurting for a situation that wasn't her fault.

*****