PMU Boxset 2

by MacMillan, Jerica

  “Okay.” Sarah took the paper and stuffed it in her backpack, slinging it over one shoulder on top of her gray Marycliff sweatshirt, tendrils of her messy bun falling down over her neck and around her face. Abby felt a strong pull of sympathy for the girl, like you might for a lost puppy. This was her third round of teaching the language labs in the foreign language department for Spanish I and II. She’d started over the summer and continued on through the school year. The freshmen seemed to get younger every year, and some of them seemed so lost and alone in her class that she just wanted to adopt them and take them home and tell them that everything would be okay.

  Instead, she watched Sarah leave the room, then picked up the assignments she’d collected today and headed into the office across the hall to gather the rest of her things. She’d just finished the last lab on Friday, and she wanted to hurry up and get these grades entered into the computer so she could leave. It was her birthday weekend, and she knew Lance wanted to do more than just the party that Megan had planned for tomorrow. He’d hinted at making it an extra special weekend, and she was excited to see what he might have planned. Even though she still didn’t like surprises in general, his surprises had grown on her. They were always sweet and thought out with her likes in mind—a little present, a romantic dinner, a night in with their favorite takeout and a movie. What would he have planned for tonight?

  Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t pay attention to where she was going, navigating the office space to get to her desk in the corner of Dr. Ramirez’s office more by memory and peripheral vision. So she was surprised when Dr. Ramirez called her name.

  Her head snapped up from the old computer she used for her grades. “Hmm? Did you need something?”

  Dr. Ramirez shook her head, peering at Abby over the top of her reading glasses. “No. I’m almost ready to leave for the day. But did you not see your visitor in the main office?” She inclined her dark head toward the door.

  Abby followed the motion, leaning back in her chair to look out the open doorway. In a chair against the wall across from the receptionist’s desk slouched her brother, his knees spread wide, taking up as much space as possible, his hands folded across his stomach, his head leaning back against the wall with his scuffed and faded hat pushed down over his face.

  She sighed. What was he doing here? He’d come to her apartment before. Why not go there again? Unless he was trying to avoid Lance? Hmm. Maybe so.

  “He says he’s your brother.” Dr. Ramirez peered at Abby over the top of her reading glasses from where she sat going over papers at her scarred wooden desk. Her brows were drawn down, and the corners of her eyes creased with concern.

  “He is.” Abby had told her professor a little about her family background. She was sure Dr. Ramirez remembered that her brother had left just before she’d started college. She’d been a brand new freshman, struggling to make everything work between taking care of her mom, going to classes, and trying to work part time to cover additional expenses. Dr. Ramirez had taken Abby under her wing like the little orphaned puppy the student she’d been helping earlier reminded her of.

  “I didn’t realize that you were in contact with your brother.”

  “I wasn’t. He showed up a couple days before Christmas. He’s been staying with my mom.”

  Dr. Ramirez moved closer to Abby, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay with him being here? You don’t seem happy to see him.”

  Abby shook her head. “I’m not. I don’t know why he’s back in town. He wants something, but won’t tell me what. Or how long he’s planning on staying.”

  “If you feel unsafe I can call campus police, or …”

  Dr. Ramirez trailed off as Abby shook her head again. “No. That won’t be necessary. I’ll talk to him. He has a reason for coming here, but I won’t find out what it is unless I talk to him. I’m sorry he’s here disrupting everything.”

  With a dismissive sound, Dr. Ramirez waved away Abby’s apology. “Don’t apologize, Abby. You couldn’t have predicted this.” She paused, looking thoughtful before continuing. “I want you to know that you can come to me if you need help. With anything.”

  Abby nodded. “Okay.” But she said it more to pacify her professor than because she had any intention of taking her up on her offer. She could handle this on her own. And even though Dr. Ramirez had taken her in, Abby wasn’t like that scared little freshman. She was stronger than that. More independent. She’d been taking care of herself since long before she turned eighteen. She’d handle her brother and find out what he thought showing up here would accomplish. Without anyone’s help.

  She stood and moved toward the door, aware of Dr. Ramirez staring after her. Her brother shifted in his seat as she approached, straightening up and pushing his hat back onto his head. She’d figured he’d been feigning sleep. He’d probably been trying to listen in on her conversation with Dr. Ramirez. With the door open, he’d might’ve caught some of it, though they’d kept their voices down, so she couldn’t be sure how much carried out here. Not that it mattered. Standing before him with crossed arms broadcasted that she wasn’t happy to see him. She saw no point in hiding her feelings. So if he’d overheard their conversation, who cared?

  “Why are you here, Aaron?”

  He tsked. “So harsh, Abby. Can’t a guy come visit his sister?”

  “Not when that guy is you, no.”

  He looked up at her and stood, his habitual smirk in place, his blue eyes calculating. She knew that look. He’d worn it almost constantly by the time he left. A far different person than the brother she’d grown up with, the one who’d fixed her lunches until she was old enough to do it herself. Who’d put Band-Aids on her knees and comforted her when their mother was too wrapped up in her own problems to deal with theirs. He’d hardened as he’d gotten older, growing more calculating, trying to get everything he could out of anyone who offered, and many who didn’t.

  Very different from her. She tried not to take anything from anyone if she could help it. She worked hard to make her own way and stand on her own feet, not relying on anyone else to be there for her, having learned the hard way that she couldn’t trust people.

  Aware of the open office doors and the receptionist sitting a few feet away working on her computer but also listening to their every word, Abby gestured toward the door. “Let’s go across the hall to the empty classroom. We can talk there.”

  She led the way to the classroom she’d just vacated, Aaron following behind her. Once inside, she shut and locked the door so they wouldn’t be interrupted. When she turned around, Aaron had propped himself on the corner of a desk, one foot dangling, the other still on the floor. She maintained her distance, crossing her arms again. “So tell me why you’re here, Aaron. I’d like to get this over with so I can leave.”

  His eyebrows went up. “Big plans tonight?”

  “Not that you’re likely to remember, but my birthday is tomorrow. So yes. I have plans. But even if I didn’t, I’d still rather keep this short.”

  “That’s right. Happy birthday, Abs.”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  His smirk turned into a grin. He liked that he was getting to her. She needed to rein in her reactions to him, quit giving anything away. She’d grown used to being free with her thoughts and feelings living with Megan, then with Lance. Her friends and boyfriend didn’t try to use her feelings to manipulate her. Aaron would. It had been a while since she’d had to adopt this carefully controlled facade to try to stay on even footing.

  “Aw, come on, Abs. I’m your big brother. I was the first one to ever call you that.”

  He sounded so proud of that fact. She let out a deep sigh. “Seriously, Aaron, can we just cut the crap? Why are you here?”

  He looked down and cleared his throat, taking his hat off and running a hand over his short blond hair. “Uh, well, I need some money.”

  “So you came to me?”

  He shrugged and looked at her. “Your boy ga
ve me a couple hundred last time. Figured you were a good place to start.”

  A couple hundred? Abby choked back her surprise, making sure her eyes didn’t but out at the amount Lance had given him. She hadn’t realized he’d had so much on him.“Why?”

  “Because he’d give you money if you asked, not me.”

  She clenched her jaw at that and shook her head. “No. Why do you need money?”

  “Oh, ah, well …” He looked away again, licking his lips. “I owe money to some guys.”

  “For what?”

  He looked her over, trying to gauge her response. “Well, I put some money on a game last week. Seemed like a sure thing, easy way to get some cash, but I lost it.”

  “Why don’t you get a job?”

  Swallowing hard, he shook his head. “I don’t have time to wait for a job to come through. These guys’ll hurt me if they don’t get their money. Soon.”

  “How soon?”

  “Next week.”

  Shit. This was bad. “Is that why you left Arizona?”

  His eyes darted around, and he nodded.

  “But the money you need from me is for the guys up here. Not down there.” He didn’t respond, but she took that as confirmation. “Why not just leave again?”

  No response.

  “Ah, I see. You don’t even have enough money for that.” She paused and studied him. His eyes had turned pleading, his habitual smirk gone now. He was desperate. “If I give you money, are you going to actually pay these guys? Or are you just going to take off again?”

  He rubbed his palms on his thighs. “So you’ll help me?”

  “I didn’t say that. Just asking a question.”

  No answer. No surprise there. She figured he hadn’t decided yet if he’d stay or go either.

  “How much?” When he maintained his silence, she let out a frustrated sigh. “How can I give you any money if you won’t tell me how much you need?”

  “Four thousand dollars.”

  She huffed out a laugh. “You think that I,” she pointed to the center of her chest, “have four thousand dollars just lying around to give you?” She did, actually. There was about that much left from her student loan disbursement. She had it earmarked to pay for rent and utilities for the semester. She used what she made teaching the language labs to cover food and fun money. Lance had gotten angry with her for insisting on getting the disbursement since he could’ve covered their rent and utilities easily, and she wouldn’t have had to take on as much debt. But she had a hard time letting Lance pay for her stuff. What if he left? Then she wouldn’t have any money or a way to pay for rent. But could she part with that money, that security, for the sake of her brother? She didn’t know.

  He shrugged. “Well, not really. I kind of figured you could ask your boyfriend. I thought he might have that available. He gave me the money before without even flinching.”

  Abby’s eyes widened before she could temper her reaction, but she quickly brought her expression back to normal. “You seriously want me to ask my boyfriend for money for you.”

  He just nodded, holding his breath while he waited for her answer.

  “If I get this money for you,”—though she already knew she would, she knew this was the best way to get rid of him—“you’ll get a job and get your own place. Or you’ll leave town. I don’t care which one you choose, but you have to do one or the other.”

  “Abby—”

  She cut him off when she heard the tone in his voice that meant he was about to try to negotiate. “No, Aaron. That’s the deal. I get you the money, and you get out of Mom’s house. Either find a job and rent your own place if you want to stay here. Or go back to Arizona. Or try Texas. Or anywhere else in the whole world. I don’t give a shit. And if you ever get in this situation again, I will not help you.”

  “But who’ll look after Mom if I’m not there?”

  “Oh my god.” Laughter bubbled out of her at the absurdity of his question. “You can’t be serious.” She couldn’t hold it back. It kept coming until she was doubled over, gasping for air, holding herself up with her hand on a desk and tears in her eyes. Soon the laughter fell away, her gasps more like sobs, the tears still coming. Why did Aaron have to come back? Everything had been going fine. And now he was here ruining everything. First Christmas, now her birthday. What else would he wreck? Was he already stealing from Mom? Is that why he didn’t want to move out?

  She collapsed into the attached seat of the desk, calming down, wiping the tears off her face. At least she’d worn waterproof mascara today. Her brother looked at her warily, appearing unsure what to make of her outburst. Shaking her head at him, she met his eyes once more. “We’ve been fine without you around for years. I’ll look out for her like I’ve been doing all along. And you don’t have to worry about a thing. Just like you haven’t for a long time. We were fine without you. So just go.”

  He stared at her, examining her face, and licked his lips once more. “So that means you’ll help me?”

  She nodded once, stood, and left. God help her, she would give him the money, even though it would clean out her bank account, and she’d have to figure out a way to tell Lance she’d let him pay for pretty much everything for the rest of the semester. Without telling him about Aaron. She didn’t want to fight with him if he tried to stop her. And she didn’t want him to offer to pay Aaron’s debts. It was bad enough that Lance had already given him money. She wouldn’t let him do it again.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Lance sat on the couch, flipping through the channels, feeling restless. He glanced at the time on his phone. Abby should’ve been home by now. What was keeping her? Maybe she had to talk to her professor about something. She didn’t know that he’d left work early today to get home before her as a surprise to kick off her birthday weekend. He wanted to give her birthday present to her now. He’d gotten it last week—a pair of gold earrings made of a cascade of fine chains of different lengths with a delicate leaf attached to each one. They were beautiful, and he wanted to see them on her. She seemed to be getting more okay with his more ostentatious presents, so he was excited to see her reaction. Her present sat in a pretty gift bag on the coffee table.

  But no Abby.

  The sound of the key scraping in the lock had him on his feet and the TV off. He probably looked crazy just standing there staring at the door. She confirmed that when she walked in and saw him.

  She froze, eyeing him to try to figure out what was up. After closing the door, she set down her keys and bag before taking off her coat. “What’s going on? Is everything okay? Why are you home?”

  He smiled at her, trying to ease her obvious concern. “Everything’s fine.” He stepped toward her, taking her coat from her and tossing it over the back of the couch. They’d be leaving for dinner soon. He had the whole night planned. Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her, and some of the stiffness went out of her, but she didn’t melt into him like she usually did.

  Pulling back, he looked down at her, noting the slight puffiness in her face like she’d been crying. “What’s wrong?”

  She disentangled herself from him, moving farther into the apartment. “That’s what I asked you.”

  Stuffing his hands in his pockets so he didn’t reach for her again, he let her move away from him. Sometimes she wanted him to hold her when she was upset. Other times she wanted space. This seemed to be the latter. “I told you, everything’s fine. I took off early because I wanted to get a jump on your birthday weekend. We have dinner reservations tonight, I thought we could catch a movie if you want, or we can come home and hang out. Did something happen today?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing important.”

  This time he wasn’t going to let her have that space. Not when she wasn’t being honest with him. He stepped closer to her, sliding his hands up and down her arms that she held crossed over her chest, then pulling her in. She let him, laying her head on his chest, but keeping her arms crossed, not returning
the hug. At least she wasn’t pulling away. He’d take it for now. “What happened, Abby? I can tell something’s upset you.”

  She sighed deeply against him, and he felt moisture seeping through the fabric of his shirt. He squeezed her tighter against him, rubbing her back. “Abby? Please tell me what’s wrong.”

  “Aaron came by today.”

  He stiffened at her words. Her voice was muffled from her face pressing into his chest, but he heard her. Forcing himself to relax, he kept rubbing her back. “Came by where?”

  “Work. He was waiting in the foreign language office when I got done teaching my last lab.”

  Lance pulled back and looked down at her, but she kept her face turned away from him. “What did he want?”

  “Money. What else?”

  He let her bury her face in his chest again, since that’s all she seemed to want to do, concern eating at him. “From you?”

  She shrugged.

  “Or he wanted you to ask me?”

  No response. Huh. That seemed telling.

  “What does he want money for?”

  She didn’t say anything for a long time. But he waited. At last his patience was rewarded. “He said Mom needs some tests. I don’t know all the details. He wasn’t very clear about what the problem was.”

  Twin spikes of sympathy and worry shot through him. Her mom’s health was getting worse? That was the last thing Abby needed. Pulling back again, he tried to get her to look at him. She still wouldn’t meet his eyes. That seemed … odd. But she was upset, so he let it go. “How much does she need? Did you talk to your mom?”

  She shook her head, pulling out of his arms and heading for the kitchen. “No. Um, she wouldn’t answer when I tried calling.”

  Crossing his arms and propping a shoulder in the kitchen doorway, he watched her fill a glass of water and drink half of it. He supposed that crying would make you dehydrated. “How much did he say she needs?”