Take a Chance

by Ash Johnson

  “It’s not taking advantage of me to move into my house. When you move in, you can take advantage of me any way you want as payment, if you would like.” I wiggle my brows and lick my bottom lip to show her I’m joking.

  She smiles but shakes her head quickly and holds her hands in front of her. “I can’t. I’ll just check us into a motel for the next few days until I can get this figured out. ”

  “Like hell you will. It’s not safe for you two to be in a motel, and from what you told your sister in there, it doesn’t sound like you guys are safe from this Dominick guy as it is. It will be much safer for you both to be with me, and I can help out with Alex if you need it. She won’t be having any more parties, that’s for sure.”

  This gets a small smile from her. After a few minutes of silence, she takes a deep breath and wraps her arms around my waist. “Thank you so much. We won’t stay long I promise,” she says as she squeezes me tightly before turning and moving down the next flight of stairs.

  “You’ll stay forever if I have a say in it,” I whisper.

  Chapter 17

  Harlow

  I convince myself to break away from Blake, and he goes back to help Alex while I head toward the giant recycling bin around the corner from our complex. There are always plenty of moving boxes from those that have had the misfortune of moving into this dump, and I couldn’t be more thankful that they would leave them.

  On my path to the bin I think about how sweet it was of Blake to offer his home, but I can’t help but wonder if he would have if he hadn’t been with us tonight. Is he doing this because there is really something going on between us, or does he want to help out the down-and-out girl with the worst luck in the world?

  Then I wonder if I should move in with him. I don’t have any different options apart from staying in a motel—and Blake is right. Any motel I can afford will be in a very dangerous part of town, and I don’t want to leave Alex alone at night while I’m working there. I’ll just try to save up and get us into another apartment soon. I don’t want to take advantage of Blake more than I already have.

  I grab about ten boxes and struggle my way back up the rickety stairs to our apartment, wondering if I should call in to Guy’s and take a day off so I can move everything. It will put a kink in the money I’ve been trying to make for the next two weeks’ payment, but I would be better off missing out on the tips from the diner than from the strip club. I have to work there tonight, or I won’t stand a chance at having all the money I need.

  As soon as I get to the landing of our apartment, I stop at the barely open door and struggle with the giant slabs of cardboard in my hands. Then Blake’s mumbled voice makes me pause.

  “Listen, I’m not sure what your relationship with your sister is, and it isn’t my business to know, but if you think this party stuff is going to fly at my house little girl, you are out of your mind.”

  “Oh, really? I think you’ll be so busy fucking my sister that you won’t give two shits what I do, just like her,” Alex tells him. My body jerks back slightly. She thinks I don’t care what she does? She doesn’t know why I’ve given her the birds and the bees talk about twenty times? Why does she think I’m working my fingers to the freaking bone day in and day out? If I didn’t, we would both be dead before the end of the month or taking care of three of her children by now.

  “Nope, I’m not even going to get into it with you right now about how much your sister cares for you, because she’ll be back any second. All I can tell you is that she talks about you constantly and after what I saw tonight, she is worried about you. Rightfully so, too. The shit I witnessed tonight makes my head spin. You are a little girl. You shouldn’t be doing any of those things.”

  A bit of the tension melts from my shoulders with the knowledge that someone else thinks I’m not being too harsh on her for being a teenager. I’m glad that Blake has my back when it comes to Alex.

  “Pft, whatever. Don’t you remember being a teenager once? Or was that too long, ago old man?” she taunts him.

  “Old man? Are you freaking kidding me? I’m only thirty-two, little girl, and when I was fourteen I wasn’t getting into half of the stuff that you are doing, and I was a spoiled, rich little brat. If you think that getting you and your sister kicked out of your apartment makes you a normal teenage girl, then you might want to think again.”

  Wanting to end the conversation before it becomes a knockout brawl in a kitchen we’re supposed to be packing up, I struggle through the door. Blake immediately comes over to take the boxes from my hands and assemble them on the floor.

  “Do you want me to take you over to the house so you can sleep while I pack this stuff up, babe?” he asks me.

  My heart swells from the sweetness of this man. He sat in the parking lot of the strip club waiting for me to get off, more than likely not getting any sleep himself, and now he wants to take me to his house so I can sleep while moves our stuff. I’ve never met anyone like him before.

  “No. I’ll help get everything packed and moved over. After all, it is my stuff we’re moving.” I smile.

  “Ugh, whatever,” Alex’s snotty tone buzzes behind me, and I freeze. I’ve had more than enough from her. I know that I’m not home very often, and she’s had to fend for herself to make meals and clean up, but those are responsibilities that a teenager should be able to handle. If I didn’t work so hard, she would have ended up in the foster care system, or we would both be dead. I thought leaving her alone at night was better than any of the other options.

  “Alex, I’m beyond pissed off at you, and I suggest that you keep your damn mouth shut from now until we move out of this apartment. We are packing an entire place in less than twenty-four hours because of you and your inability to give a crap about anyone but yourself. Now we need to pack up fast so that I can get an hour or two of sleep before work. I told you Dominick has been coming to town, and we both remember just how well things went last time I didn’t pay him on time.”

  Alex’s eyes widen slightly at the reminder of my two days spent in the hospital with a broken arm and concussion, and she shuts up and gets to work.

  Blake is quickly by my side, boxes abandoned. “Who is Dominick?”

  I shake my head, still not sure I’m ready to tell him what I have to deal with for the next few years. “It’s no big deal. Don’t worry about it, Blake. Give me one of those boxes and I can go throw my room into it.”

  “You can fit your entire room into one box?”

  I smile, glad that he didn’t ask more about Dominick.

  “Yeah, I can. I sold a lot of my stuff so we could move here from Detroit, and I work three different jobs, so I don’t have much for a wardrobe, outside of animal hair-covered scrubs and stinky diner garb.” I shrug and start back toward my room, but Blake catches me by the waist before I make it too far.

  “Did I tell you I’m getting excited by the idea of you living under my roof?” he whispers in my ear.

  “No. But thank you so much for offering us a place to stay. You have no idea how much it means to me.” He kisses my lips softly before pulling back and rubbing his nose against mine.

  “I do know how much it means, because it means that much to me, too.”

  Chapter 18

  Blake

  After Harlow calls in sick to the diner, it takes us seven hours and three trips from her place to mine to move her and Alex in. Alex bitched most of the morning about being tired until Harlow laid into her about having been up for over twenty-four hours and working two jobs in that time. That shut the bratty teenager up pretty quick.

  As soon as we put the last box in the upstairs guest room that Harlow has taken over—which is okay because it’s down the hall from my room but still not my room—she collapses on the queen-size bed face down. She doesn’t take time to glance around the room at all. She makes no comment on the navy colored accent wall or the bright yellow comforter that my sister bought last year because the room needed some color.


  I fall down next to Harlow’s limp body and move onto my side so I can wrap an arm around her slender waist.

  “I’m exhausted,” she mumbles.

  “Why don’t you try and get some sleep? I’ll wake you when it’s time to get ready for work.” I hate the idea of her working at a strip club, even if she is just the bartender and not an actual stripper. The thought of her being in a room with a bunch of slobbering assholes trying to grab at her all night makes my stomach roil, but I can’t ask her to quit. For some reason that she never wants to discuss, she needs to work these jobs or some douche named Dominick will come after her. We need to talk about that soon, too, but not today.

  When I start to roll off the bed, Harlow grabs my arm. “Please don’t go. Why don’t you lay down with me and we’ll take a nap together.”

  Best. Idea. Ever. “Sure, but we need to lie on the bed the right way. I won’t be comfortable with my legs hanging over the side.” I’m glad it’s Sunday, and I don’t have to go into the gym. I hired a guy named Eddie to manage the gym, and he works the weekends and gets Mondays and Tuesdays off. Plus, none of my PT patients want to exercise on a Sunday. I always tell them to pick one day of rest time, and Sunday is the most popular.

  We kick off our shoes and get situated in bed, her back to my front and my arm wrapped around her waist. Before I know it, we’re out.

  ***

  Something startles me awake. The room has little light in it, so I’m guessing its early evening. I’m still lying in Harlow’s bed with my arm around her waist. Then her body shakes softly as if she’s crying and holding in the sounds so she doesn’t wake me. I tighten my hold on her stomach, pulling her body closer, and bring my mouth to her ear. Her hair is still up in that thick bun, out of the way.

  “What’s wrong, baby? Why are you crying?”

  She sniffles a few times and then lifts her arm to wipe at what I’m assuming are the tears on her face. “I’m sorry I woke you up. Go back to sleep, Blake.”

  “Quit it. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

  “I don’t know. Nothing. Everything. I’m just so stressed out. Struggling every day with work and money. Then we get kicked out of our apartment, and you have to move us into your house out of pity, and I have no clue what I should do with Alex. She’s so freaking out of control, but I can’t quit working to try and get her out of whatever funk she’s in.”

  “Hold up. Let’s back this up and talk about each of these problems, starting with you moving in here because I feel guilty. I didn’t ask you to move in here because I was sorry for you, Harlow.”

  “Really?” She sounds like she doesn’t believe me.

  “Yes, really. I was hoping that at some point we could be in a relationship in which you would move in with me. It happened a little bit quicker than I thought it would, but I want you here with me, baby. I like the thought of you coming here at the end of each day and us having dinner together and sharing stories of our days with each other. I want you here.”

  She nods in acknowledgement but says nothing in return. “Now, the problem with Alex is that she’s a bitchy teenage girl who doesn’t have anyone to tell her no most of the day. I’m not taking a shot at you, but she needs someone to lay down the rules, which will happen now that there is another set of eyes here. I can help out as much as possible if you want me to. If you want me to mind my own damn business, I can do that, too, but I’m here to help if you need it.”

  I stay quiet and let her mull over what I’ve said. After a few seconds, she spins so we’re face to face. Her blue eyes are rimmed with red and puffy. She must have been crying for a while before she woke me up, and I feel guilty that I didn’t wake up sooner so I could help stop her tears.

  “I would love your help, Blake. I am so lost on what to do with her. I’m only twenty three. I shouldn’t have to worry about raising a teenager right now. I should be finishing up veterinary school and going out drinking with my friends. It feels like my plate has been overflowing with problems for years now, and there’s no end in sight for when that is going to lighten up.”

  I lean forward and kiss her forehead, her eyelids, and her nose before pulling back and staring into her gorgeous eyes. “I’m here now, and I will help to take as many things off your plate as I can. I’ll help out with Alex and money if you need it.” Her head starts to shake.

  “I can’t take money from you Blake. You’ve already lent me your car and let us into your home when we had nowhere else to go. I couldn’t ask you to do anything more.”

  “You aren’t asking; I’m offering. Harlow, I like you, and I want to be there for you in any way you need me. My work hours aren’t crazy, and all of my PT clients come to the gym, so if you ever need me to bring you food at work or take Alex to school, I’m more than happy to do that.”

  “Thank you, Blake,” she says and leans forward to place a small kiss against my lips. Before she can pull away, I tighten my arms around her waist and deepen the kiss. She sighs into my mouth, and I take that as my opportunity to taste her and suddenly can’t hold back. Our kisses shift from sweet and exploratory to deep and frenzied. Her tongue moves in sync with mine, and her hands clutch onto my shirt, locking me to her. I push my knee between her legs and lift, trying to create some friction against her pussy. She complies by grinding down against my thigh.

  I would love to keep working her and see how far we can take this, but she doesn’t have long before she needs to get ready for work, and our first time will not be rushed. I plan on taking my sweet time with her sexy body. We still need to talk about this money situation as well. I need to know who this Dominick guy is and if he is a threat to her or her sister.

  I ease up on the kiss before pulling back, pleased as hell when she has a punch-drunk smile on her face. I lick my lips one last time, savoring her taste of coffee and sugar before it’s gone, and smile when she does the same.

  “Okay, babe, as much as I’d love to stay in this bed and do more than just kiss you, we need to finish our conversation before you get ready for work.”

  She lets a small groan pass through her lips before she nods and lays her head back down on the pillow.

  “So who is it that you owe this money to and why? Is it this Dominick?”

  She surprises me by releasing a deep breath and telling me what I want to hear. “No. Dominick is just one of the cronies who collects the money from me in person every once in a while. I normally deposit the money into an account every week, but sometimes I have the great misfortune of having Dominick come visit me so he can, I don’t know, keep me in check, I guess.”

  “So who are you paying then?” I ask, confused as to where this is going. Harlow has avoided this topic since the day I met her, despite the fact that I bring it up almost weekly.

  She sighs and then focuses on the collar of my t-shirt. “The guy that I’m paying is a big name loan shark back in Detroit. He goes by the name Mr. E.”

  As soon as she says it, I can feel the laughter bubbling in my chest. Mystery? I furrow my brow and pinch my lips together in an effort to stay straight faced, but it must not work, because Harlow starts to laugh at me.

  “I know. It sounds so stupid, right? His name is Mickey Erikson, but I guess he thought Mr. E sounded more threatening or something. I’ve heard that he used to be a part of the Irish Mob in New York but moved to Detroit a while back to branch out. ”

  “So why do you owe Mr. E. money then?”

  “I don’t owe him a cent. The debt belongs to my father.” Harlow clams up and starts fiddling with the hem of my tee. If she thinks that’s all the information she’s going to give me then she’s dead wrong.

  “Keep talking, babe. Why does your dad owe him money?”

  She bites inside of her lip like she doesn’t want to keep going but then peers up into my eyes and must see the intensity on my face because she starts talking again. “My dad wanted me to go to the best colleges until I graduated veterinary school. He told me that he had the tuition money s
aved up from my mom’s life insurance, and I believed him—because why would my dad lie to me about something like that?

  “Turns out that he spent all of the money not too long after she died. My dad’s so-called ‘job’ was to place bets at the local horse track and hope that he could bring home money at the end of the week. It came to a point where he was a regular with Mr. E., borrowing money for bets, and he was good at paying it off relatively fast. Well, he went to Mr. E. to get a big loan to pay for my college tuition, thinking that he could make enough here and there to pay the loan off eventually.”

  Her bottom lip quivers, and her eyes get shiny, but she never sheds a tear. “He didn’t pay the loan off, did he?” I ask softly, hoping it doesn’t start a new round of tears.

  She shakes her head. “No. It got to be too much with the high interest. Then he was having bad luck at the track and got in too deep. So instead of getting a normal job and trying to pay it off that way, my dad thought he could get out of paying it all together.”

  “What happened, babe?” I ask, regretting ever asking that question.

  She sucks in a deep breath. “He tried to rob a bank to make up for the money that he owed. He bought a gun and went to the biggest bank in our town, thinking that he could get away with enough to pay off the loan shark and have some left over to move all of us somewhere new. He marched into the bank with a stupid black ski mask over his face and shot at the ceiling demanding money. Well, one of the tellers pushed the silent alarm and the police showed. There was a hostage situation that lasted almost an hour, but my dad wasn’t about to give up without getting that money. What he didn’t expect was that the bank guard that had been hiding behind the teller station was armed and waiting for my dad to create the perfect opportunity to be taken down. The guard finally got a shot that hit my dad in the elbow, but not before his hand twitched and the gun went off, hitting a woman in the back and paralyzing her from the waist down.