13

“I’ve got nothing to pay with. And I haven’t grown what you want yet for adult payment. I won’t suck you off! If you try anything, I’ll bite it off!” the brat blurted out, throwing me into a state of complete fucking shock.

“Are you stupid or what?!” I snapped, looking at this walking soup kit. “Do I look like some kind of pervert to you?!”

“Who the hell knows,” she mutters indifferently. “It’s a normal thing. You see worse than that on the streets. Rich uncles have their own cockroaches in their heads…”

“Has anyone ever taken payment like that from you?” I ask the question… and I’m almost afraid to hear the answer.

Bitterness rises in my throat and anger clouds my eyes when I even imagine that someone might do such things to children. How the hell can anyone do something like that to kids?! How sick in the head do you have to be for a child to turn you on?!

“No. I’ve been lucky with that so far,” and I swear it felt like a stone dropped from my chest.

We came out onto a busy street and I dragged the brat into the nearest café. Once inside, the girl began looking around nervously but with interest, and we sat down at a table. A waitress immediately came up to us and looked at the girl with disgust. It was clear from her face that she wanted to kick the child out, but then she noticed me and spread into a fake smile.

I ordered a huge pizza, fries, and a bunch of other little things kids usually like. For myself I only took coffee.

“What’s your name?” I ask just to keep the conversation going.

“Masha,” the girl muttered shyly, lowering her eyes to her hands.

“How old are you?”

“Eleven.”

“You don’t look eleven,” I snort, because outwardly she looks maybe ten at most, if I compare her to my nephews. Though kids are different, and my boys are pretty big guys. And me… well, the Yartsevs in general aren’t exactly short.

“Well, that’s what I am… What is this, an interrogation?” a pale eyebrow arches.

“Just curiosity,” I twist my mouth sarcastically, copying her. “Do you have parents?”

“I do,” Masha sighs tiredly. “Only what’s the point…” she mutters quietly under her breath, but I heard it.

When the food appeared on the table, to my surprise Masha didn’t jump on it. On the contrary, she looked at it with hungry eyes but didn’t eat.

“What’s wrong?” I don’t understand.

“There’s so much here,” the girl says without raising her sad gray eyes to me. “I’d rather take it with me and eat it for a few days.”

Fuck! Something scratched unpleasantly inside me when I heard that.

“Eat as much as you can,” I look at the girl seriously. “I’ll order more, you’ll take it with you.”

Shyly and uncertainly, Masha began eating the offered food. But it was obvious she was restraining herself and controlling how much she ate. Apparently she often goes hungry, and the girl simply can’t stop saving food.

I ordered more food, and they also packed up what was left for us to take with us. After paying, we headed to the place where my things were supposedly kept.

We stopped near an inconspicuous five-story building that should have been demolished a long time ago.

“I’ll go and come back.”

“Yeah, sure, like I’ll believe that,” I stop the brat. “You’ll run off and then try finding you.”

“I won’t run! I promise,” she glares angrily with her huge eyes.

“No, kid. I’m going with you.”

Masha didn’t argue and we went together. On the first floor she stopped by a battered wooden door and opened it.

“Wait for me here,” the girl asks. “I’ll be right back.”

I decide not to push my luck and wait by the door behind which the blonde disappeared with the bags of food.