by S. J. Sylvis
I didn’t know what to believe.
I didn’t know much of anything, other than my father had fucked with the wrong people, and his daughter was about to pay for his sins.
“You’re almost eighteen. They want their settlement.” Those words. They kept coming around, full swing, in my head. My mother’s nails-on-a-chalkboard voice scratched the walls of my brain. Why now? Men like the ones who killed my father and who worked for a drug cartel wouldn’t wait until I was of age to kidnap me for vengeance unless it had something to do with my age. It had something to do with me being eighteen. It was significant for some reason, and I was pretty sure there was only one person who I could ask that would know.
I just didn’t know how I was going to get to her without Christian knowing.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want him by my side at all times. I did. I just knew that if he went around her again or saw where I used to live—the living conditions—he’d go nuts. His temper would get the best of him. What was that saying? It was better to ask for forgiveness than it was to ask for permission?
I didn’t need his permission to go see my mom, but I had a feeling the boy who held my heart in his hands so delicately wasn’t going to see it like that.
He wanted to protect me at all costs, and that was exactly why he couldn’t come with me.
My eyes sliced over to Eric’s for a brief second, and when he caught my gaze, he silently tilted his head in question.
Eric.
Yes.
“Absolutely not.”
“Eric, please. I know what I’m asking of you, but it’s either you go with me or I go alone. I can’t bring Piper. I need someone who’s going to look threatening enough so that no one bothers me while I try to fish information out of her.”
He threw his hands up and raked them through his dark hair. Eric’s looks were dark and mysterious, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever seen him smile. He was brooding, much like Christian. He stood tall—at least six feet—and he was built wide. He drew attention to himself, but not the good kind. Eric looked like a bad boy who wasn’t afraid to knock someone on their ass. Which was precisely why I needed him. “Christian will fucking kill me, and he’s my best friend. No fucking way. I can’t betray him like that.”
“Even if it means saving his girlfriend in the end?” I countered.
That had him thinking, so I kept going. “If I bring Christian, he will lose it with the first rude remark my mother makes, because he’s already going to be trying to keep it together when he sees where I used to live. You know this; I know this. His temper will get the best of him. He’ll drag me out of there before I can even ask my mom about the settlement.” I dropped my voice, remembering that we were in the library. “There is something significant about me being eighteen. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense, and if I’m going to be dangled right in front of the cartel by the FBI, I want to know why. I need to know what I'm walking into. I turn eighteen tomorrow! It’s obvious they’re going to keep coming after me.”
Eric sighed and rested his back along one of the bookshelves. “How the hell will we even pull this off? And if Christian kills me, it’s your fucking fault.”
I almost squealed and wrapped my arms around his neck in relief. Eric and I barely knew each other, but there was something about the two of us that worked. He was level-headed, and I liked that about him, and not to mention, we both cared about Christian, so there was that.
“How do you feel about skipping school?”
Eric’s lip curled. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
My hands started to sweat at the thought of ditching school. Or maybe… “Are you close with Headmaster Walton like Christian?”
He shrugged. “Close enough, why? What’s the plan?”
“Follow me.”
“I can’t believe that worked.”
Eric and I jogged to his car after I faked getting sick in our calculus class. Mrs. Simmons allowed Eric, who bravely volunteered, to take me to the office. Headmaster Walton jumped on the opportunity of Eric taking me home since the bus would have taken forever.
“Headmaster Walton likes me because I’m smart, according to Christian. I had a feeling he’d be okay with it, especially since he likes you.”
Eric started up his Range Rover and darted his eyes to the clock. “We have an hour and twenty minutes before we have to be back here for the end of last period. Otherwise, Christian will know.”
“Then let’s go.”
I could hear my heartbeat in my ears the entire drive to the trailer park, even over Eric’s loud, heavy-metal music. He checked his phone a million and one times, and each time, I was fearful that Christian’s name would pop up. He was going to be livid, but hopefully, in the end, he’d understand. I hated doing something without him, and that was a huge change for me. I was independent beyond belief, and now I found myself longing for Christian to be by my side.
“Pull up there.” I nodded my head to an abandoned gravel drive where a few dumpsters sat. I couldn’t even count the amount of times I had to dig through the garbage for something to eat. Far too many to have only lived here a few months before CPS came and got me.
Once Eric and I climbed out of his car, he locked it, and we began walking down the overgrown, weed-infested dirt road lined with broken and ugly trailers.
Eric kept his mouth shut the short walk to my mom’s. We had to have looked strange. We were both in our school uniforms in the middle of the day, the sun directly over our heads, but I highly doubted anyone even knew what time it was. Most of the people in this trailer park were still asleep from the banger they had the night before.
As we rounded the bend where my old home sat, I grabbed onto Eric’s forearm. His sleeves were rolled to his elbows, so my nails dug into his skin. “Try not to say anything while we’re in there. She’s probably going to be nasty to me. I just need you here in case one of her creeps is with her.”
Eric glanced to my hand on his arm and then back up to my face. “I’ve got you. Let’s go.”
With a single nod and hefty breath from my lips, I stepped up onto the broken porch and swung the door open wide.
Here goes nothing.
“What the fuck! Shut the goddamn door and get that light out of here,” my mom yelled from the couch as sunlight streamed through the filthy living room. My nose scrunched up at the smell of urine and old booze, but I kept my shoulders pulled back and my head on straight.
The door slammed behind Eric and me, and we both stood in the small area, staring at my mom on the couch with her hand holding a plastic vodka bottle. “Hayley? Is that you?”
I clenched my teeth. “Yes.”
“What do you want?” She tipped her head back and took a big gulp of the clear liquid, swallowing it without even so much as a blink.
There were dirty-looking bed sheets hanging from the windows in the living room to block out the daylight, and I could see a pile of dirty plates stacked high in the sink. But instead of letting harsh memories of this place come to surface, I got right down to business.
“I want to know what the settlement is.”
I inched inside the trailer a little more, getting closer to her. I watched as her eyes turned into slits. I felt Eric slide up beside me. Thankfully, it seemed my mom was alone, but I knew we needed to hurry before her scummy friends came to pay a visit.
“What do you have to offer?”
Everything had a price when it came to her.
“You know I don’t have money,” I answered, grabbing onto Eric’s arm to let him know I had this under control. “But you can pawn this for some cash.” A soft exhale left my lips as I reached up and grabbed the gold chain hanging around my neck. My heart all but broke at the thought of giving it up. My eyes grew watery, but a locket was materialistic at best. Just because my father had given it to me, and I was giving it away, didn’t mean I’d forget him. It’s just a necklace. That’s it.
My mom waited a beat before I dangled it in fr
ont of her. Then, she angled her head to the side so I’d lay it on the table closest to me. I stepped forward and took in her appearance. Days-old—or maybe even weeks-old—makeup was smeared on her face, and her yellow hair was knotted on the ends and looked as if it hadn’t been brushed in months. She definitely looked worse today than the other day when she had paid me a visit.
“I thought you said you never wanted to see me again.”
I ignored her statement.
“What’s the settlement?”
My mom took another gulp of her vodka before rolling her eyes. “You are.”
I shook my head, anger rolling in quickly. “Why when I’m eighteen? What’s the significance of me turning eighteen?”
My mom stared at me, evil lurking in her eye. It made my stomach hurt the longer we held each other's stare. How did she become this woman? My mother was never a good mother. She wasn’t attentive. She hated giving me attention when I was little. She sent me to my room more times than I cared to remember, but how did she end up like this? CPS took me away soon after she began to wither away into nothing, but as I stared at the woman in front of me, I couldn’t even see a tiny sliver of the woman I used to call mom.
“A trust fund.”
My head jerked. “What?”
She sniffed. “Your father set up a trust fund for you. When you turn eighteen, you get it. He wrote it in his will before he was murdered.” She laughed sarcastically. “You got a trust fund, and I got nothing. The dumb bastard didn’t care what happened to me. Only you.”
My voice was near breaking. “I thought all of his assets were frozen because of the laundering.”
She shrugged, glancing at the necklace I had laid on the table. “Your father had a way around some things. He was smart in some senses.”
“So, they want my trust fund so they can technically be paid back what he lost?”
A small amount of comfort washed over me. I’d gladly give them the money in exchange for my freedom. They could have every penny! I would willingly hand it over. They didn’t have to kidnap me!
I had nothing left to say to my mother, and I had no time to waste. I came for information, and I got it. She could have the locket and pawn it for drug money. Or maybe she wanted to buy a few more of those cheap plastic vodka bottles. I didn’t care. I got what I came for.
“Let’s go.” I grabbed onto Eric’s arm, and we walked over to the door. As soon as I let some sunlight in, my mother chimed from behind. “They’ll keep the money and you…just so you know. Your father fucked us both over.”
My heart dropped slightly, but I refused to believe her words, even though, deep down, I knew they were true.
Eric’s arm dropped from my grasp as he turned around and stalked back through the trailer. “Eric, what are you doing?”
I watched as he ripped my locket off the table, and as he leveled my mom with an enervating stare. “You don’t fucking deserve this. And you know it.”
To my surprise, my mom didn’t say a word as Eric tore past me. I jumped at the sound of the door slamming behind me. “You’re right. Christian would have lost his shit in there.”
I nodded as my shaky legs climbed down the wooden steps after him.
Eric was rushing so fast to get back to his Range Rover, still clutching my locket in his hand. As soon as we climbed inside, he handed it to me and said, “He knows.”
My head snapped over to him as I held the chain of my locket in my hand. “What?”
His Range Rover purred to life. “He knows, and he's pissed.”
Great.
Chapter Forty
Christian
I stood with my back against the side of my Charger, waiting. I was fuming, livid. My arms were crossed over my school tie, and my knuckles itched to punch something to release the anger.
When Headmaster Walton called me down to the office to let me know Eric would likely be running late for practice and for me to inform Coach that it was fine, I was confused. Then, when he told me why Eric was running late, I almost snapped Headmaster Walton’s desk in half.
I was impressed that I kept it together while in his office. My face stayed calm and collected, but on the inside, I was all but frantic.
Where are they? Why did she ask Eric to take her home? She isn’t sick. What the fuck is going on?
My hand shook as I tried calling Eric again. He wouldn’t answer. All I got, thirty minutes ago, was a text that read, She’s fine. We are on our way back.
I think the thing that bothered me the most was that she didn’t tell me what was going on. What the hell was going on?
I snapped my attention up when I heard approaching wheels. Eric’s Range Rover came into sight, and my heart went into triple speed. Half of me was eager to see her so I could wrap my arms around her, but the other half was ready to demand answers.
They stayed in his car for a second too long, both of their eyes on me. I cocked an eyebrow, and that gave Hayley the notion to finally open her door and step out. Her head was hung low, her dark hair hanging in front of her face. As soon as she was in front of me, Eric hanging back by his Range Rover (probably because he knew I’d lay him flat on his ass), she tilted those blue eyes up to me, and I almost forgot I was angry.
She looked tired. Sad. A little detached.
“I’m sorry,” was all she said.
I stood unmoving, my shoes planted to the ground, and stared at her. “Where were you?”
She nibbled on her bottom lip, and I ached to remove it from beneath her teeth. “I went to see my mom.”
My chest grew tight. “You…what? Why the fuck would you ever go see her?”
Hayley sighed as she avoided my eye. She looked out past the school into the wooded area. “I needed some more answers. I wanted to know what the settlement was and what it had to do with me.”
I scoffed, feeling myself grow even angrier. “And you thought to ask your crackhead of a mother? Come on, Hayley. You’re smarter than that.” I pushed off from my car and ran my hands through the short strands of my hair.
“Bro, go easy on her.”
My eyes lasered onto Eric. I was seconds from plummeting my best friend to the black asphalt. “And you! What the hell were you thinking? You didn’t think to fucking tell me that my girlfriend was going to a trashy trailer park to talk to her doped-up mother?” I shook my head, seething. “Instead of telling me, you fucking take her yourself?”
“Christian, calm down!” Hayley shouted as I started to meet Eric halfway. Eric was my best friend, but I wanted to plow him to the ground. I was pissed. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever been so angry.
“Why?” I turned around and glared at her. “Why did you ask Eric? And not me?”
“Well, I think you freaking out like this is a good enough reason as to why I didn’t ask you.”
“So, what? You don’t trust me?”
The planes of her face softened. “Of course I do.”
“Then fucking why?” I didn’t shout at her, but the tone of my voice portrayed just how upset I was. Not only was I bothered that she had Eric take her to the trailer park in Pike Valley, but I was also hurt beyond belief that she didn’t think to even tell me.
“Because she knew you’d fucking flip out if you saw where she had lived. She was afraid you’d lose your temper and her mom wouldn’t be willing to give forth any information.”
I turned away from Eric and faced Hayley again. “That’s bullshit. If it was important, I would have kept my mouth shut. I did the first time she came around, didn’t I? Do you not trust me? Because if you don’t trust me, I don’t even know why we’re standing here right now.”
Hayley rushed over to me and wrapped her arms around my middle. I stood much taller than her, but I didn’t dare look down. Instead, I turned my head and clenched my jaw.
Why doesn’t she trust me?
“I do trust you. I trust you with my entire life. I’ve never had anyone love me the way you do.”
“Then why?”
I heard Hayley swallow, and when I looked down at her, the blues of her eyes looked like glass. “I was ashamed.”
My brow furrowed. “What?”
Her chin quivered for a brief second before she found her footing. “I was embarrassed for you to see where I used to live. What type of life I had before coming here.” Hayley’s hair flew into her face with a gust of wind. “I didn’t want you to see what my own mother chose over me.” Her head dropped a fraction, and my heart felt like it was falling down a rocky slope. “She didn’t love me enough to take care of me, and it hurts. I don’t like showing my weaknesses, not even to you, and the second you saw that trailer and the way my hands shook when I walked inside, you would have known. I couldn’t risk you trying to swoop in to save me this time. I couldn’t risk you yelling at her or trying to drag me out. I needed answers. So, I took Eric with me so I’d have someone to help me if I needed it. That’s why. That’s why I didn’t tell you.”
Jesus Christ. I pinched the bridge of my nose to keep my emotions in check. She was right. The second I would have seen her hurting, I would have done anything to make it stop—whether that was by dragging her out of that trailer, or making her mom feel like the piece of shit that she was. Whatever Hayley felt, I felt too, but ten times deeper.
And not to mention, I knew a little of what she felt. My mother chose something over me, too, and it did hurt. It hurt like hell.
The bell sounded from inside the school, and soon, people would be pouring out the doors to get to their cars to go home. I pulled Hayley from my body by the tops of her arms and peered down at her.
How can I be angry with her?
She licked her lips, keeping her tears at bay as I slowly leaned in to give her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Let’s just talk about this later, alright?” I whispered as I pushed her away.
She nodded once and let out a shaky breath.