Excerpt from Red Now and Laters by Marcus J. Guillory, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Okay, Momma."

I didn't bother to take up the accusation because it was true and Ms. Johnson didn't have any business looking at an eight-year-old pee anyway. She lived next door and I did pee. On her house. Right under the bathroom window. She saw me peeing and I saw her slamming a syringe in her arm. We made eye contact and she looked surprised. I guess she was doing something bad. If she was a kid she wouldn't have said anything, let bygones be bygones. Fuckin' adults.

Before I opened the front door, I smelled it again—burning wood. But the house could burn down for all I cared. I was headed to Ricky Street to see what all the damn noise was about.

Excerpted from Red Now and Laters by Marcus J Guillory. Copyright © 2014 by Marcus J Guillory. Excerpted by permission of Atria/Emily Bestler Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.