“You’re back.” His voice croaks as he speaks.
“Where’s the payment, Alfred? I have to go.”
He looks over to his television and nods. I rush over and open the black box sitting in front of the unit. Yanking up the lid, I see the cash.
“He set you up, you know. Why are you back with him?”
“I’m not,” I reply before heading out, box in hand, leaving him to get high all by him fucking self.
I only have one job, protecting my sister, she’s all that matters right now.
Josh is sitting out the front when I march to him. He has a cigarette in one hand and a glass of alcohol in the other. His eyes fall to the black box in my hand, then to me, and he shows me his rotten teeth in some sort of sneer.
“I knew you could do it,” he says, then nods to the money. “Take half as your payment.”
I throw the entire box at him, and he moves just in time for it to miss smashing into his useless head. Josh doesn’t live in the dumps like most drug pushers. No. The man isn’t stupid and doesn’t smoke nor use his product, but he does prefer the same drug as my mother, alcohol.
“Paige,” I yell.
The front door opens. Even though it’s a fucking mess inside, the outside has you fooled. Appearances make it look like it’s owned by someone who cares. Not someone who doesn’t give two shits about anyone or anything but himself.
When I see my mother standing there, I shake my head. “Where’s Paige?”
“August, come now… have a drink.”
I turn to stare at him. My hands are in clenched fists. He taps his side, where I know he keeps his gun. It’s what he uses to threaten those who don’t listen to him, and the problem is I know he can use it.
“Fuck off. I did what you asked, now give her to me.” That’s when I see Paige. She steps up behind our mother and leans on the wall for support.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Walking straight over to her, I grab her face and check her eyes, then her arms.
“You drunk?” I ask. She nods, but the smile she gives me doesn’t reach her eyes. “Come on, you shouldn’t be around this trash.”
“Hey, I’m your mother.”
“You’re not a mother’s asshole,” I spit to her. “Paige, start walking.” I reach for her as and she steps out of the house and smells like cigarette smoke. Her father is going to whip her ass and then mine.
Has she been doing this for long?
“I wonder if I can get you to do more things for her,” Josh says, looking at Paige. “I never thought I would see the day that you care for someone other than yourself, August boy.” He pauses, thinking about something. “What about that other girl I saw you with last week? We all know who she is.”
It’s no secret. Everyone knows who they are. Their family is one of the richest in our town.
Ignoring Josh because I know all he wants is a reaction from me, I keep walking, practically dragging Paige behind me.
I need a fucking car.
About halfway home, she stops and leans over, spewing. She misses my shoes by a fraction and I jump back.
“Fuck, Paige. How the fuck am I going to explain this to your father?”
She starts shaking her head. Then continues to be physically ill. When I think she’s finished, I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder. She hangs on, barely, as I run the rest of the way home.
When I finally step inside, I place her on the couch and grab a bucket, putting it next to her, then go to my phone and call her father.
He answers straight away. “August, everything okay?”
“Paige is here,” I tell him.
“Oh, she was meant to be staying at Courtney’s tonight.” He pauses. “I’ll come get her.”
“Look…” I scratch the back of my neck. “There’s something you should know.”
“August…”
“I found her at Carina’s,” I tell him, using my mother’s name.
“Is she okay?”
“She’s drunk.”
He pauses again, and I hear him saying something to someone else, followed by silence before he talks again. “You aren’t allowed to interact with Josh, August. How did you get her?” he asks with suspicion.
He thinks I’m back with him.
I don’t blame him.
I protected him, beat people for him, and sold for him.
But it was for money.
I needed to survive, and that was my survival.
At the time, I had no other options. No one in this town would hire someone like me.
“I had to do a job to get her,” I tell him, and I don’t know why I do. “I’m not working for him. It was his condition for me being allowed to collect her.”
“Of course it was. He wants you back. His clients are all scared of you. He needs that fear… he doesn’t have that bargaining chip anymore.” He huffs. “I’m almost there.” He hangs up, and I head over to Paige and push her hair back as she starts throwing up again.
My front door opens, and Glenn walks in, straight to Paige, complete in his police uniform.
“How long has she been seeing her?” I ask Glenn.
“She hadn’t been… well, as far as I was aware,” he replies and reaches down for her. She opens her eyes and scoots back on the couch. “Paige, you’re coming home.” He helps her sit up, and when she does, she looks back at me with hard eyes.
“Don’t go to that house again,” I tell her.
“You shouldn’t have called him,” she says, as a tear falls from her eye.
“I had to.”
“Yes, he did,” Glenn says and nods to me as he strolls out with Paige in his arms.
Chapter 15
Rylee
“When was the last time you saw him?” Rhianna asks as we drive to our parents’ house the following weekend. It’s been a week since I sat there in front of Anderson and his parents and even longer since I’ve seen August.
One man I couldn’t care less for, the other, well, he visits me in my dreams.
“That night when you saw us,” I tell her, pulling into the driveway.
“Well, Noah told me something interesting about him.” She closes the door, and we walk to the front.
“What?”
“You know all that furniture in his house? Noah said you had seen it.” I nod, and we wait before opening the front door. “He makes it all. Noah said he’s now making it for some of his top clients after he made a desk for Noah’s office as a thank you.” I don’t say anything, just nod. “He’s good. Noah said the desk he made is probably one of the best he’s ever seen.”
Our mother opens the door and says, “Why are you waiting out here?”
“Ry was telling me all about work. You know, that fun place she goes to every day.” Rhianna walks past our mother, whose eyes fall on me.
“Where is Noah?” our mother asks, her eyes staying on me, but she’s asking Rhianna.
“Working,” she says and calls me. “Ry, come on, what are you doing?”
“Anderson is here,” my mother says quietly.