Take a Chance

by Ash Johnson

  “What’s the matter?” I ask, but my voice is so hoarse from coughing I barely recognize it as my own. His brows furrow deeper, and he moves his hand from my shoulder up to my forehead.

  “Jesus, Harlow, your forehead is on fire, and you’re soaked through with sweat. You need to get to a doctor, babe.”

  I shake my head and try to sit up. After two unsuccessful tries, Blake grabs me by the biceps and slowly pulls me into a sitting position. That’s when I notice that my entire body hurts, not just my throat. I just have to power through this and take more vitamins until this illness blows over.

  “I can’t go to a doctor, Blake. Even with my health insurance with the vet, I can’t afford a trip to the doctor, and I can’t miss out on work this week, either. I still have forty dollars to make before I can cover this week’s payment, and I’m trying to make a little bit more money to get Alex something nice for her birthday. I can’t do any of that if I’m lying in bed because the doctor told me I can’t go to work.”

  I haven’t told him that I’ve been adding an extra hundred dollars onto my weekly payments since we moved in here. Without rent and utility payments, I might be able to pay off this debt a bit quicker than I thought.

  Blake’s jaw tightens like he has to physically bite his tongue to keep from saying something. I figure it’s not worth the argument and use his body as a handle to pull myself up. Once I’m standing next to him, I give his waist a gentle squeeze.

  “I have to go take a shower, because I still smell like the diner. You are more than welcome to sit in there with me,” I offer and begin stripping off the now sweaty clothes I wore to the diner that I was too tired to take off when I got home. Blake just nods and follows me, helping me strip off my shirt when my arms become too tired.

  His master bathroom is much cooler than the extra one I’ve been using. There are “his” and “hers” vanities and a jetted tub that doesn’t appear to have been touched once since he moved in. The tan floor tiling extends up to a wall that closes in a shower big enough for at least four people.

  Once I get around the tiled wall where Blake can’t see me and turn on the water, I all but collapse onto my ass. The shower head is huge and makes it feel as if you’re standing outside in the rain which is great because I don’t have the strength to stand up and wash myself right now. Maybe the water will give me a little bit of strength back and I won’t have any problem working at the strip club tonight.

  “So what did you have in mind for Alex’s birthday then?” Blake asks from his position on the other side of the shower wall.

  “Uh, I’m not sure. She was asking for a cell phone or one of those tablet thingies. I’ll have to see how much it would cost to add to the phone bill for one of those. I’m just hoping it doesn’t cost too much. My plan right now is the bare minimum, and sometimes I can barely keep that up,” I rasp, thinking about how much it would cost to get Alex an old phone like mine. I know it would embarrass her in front of her friends to have a phone that she couldn’t tweet from all day long, but my phone has lasted me a lot longer than any of the new phones have, and I couldn’t be more grateful since I can’t afford a new smart phone every year.

  I have to pause in my thoughts to cough some more. I ignore the loud groan on the other side of the wall and keep talking. “I may just resort to a gift card so she can go to the mall and buy something she wants herself. I would hate to screw it up and have her pissed off at me.”

  “If you leave her gift up to her, she’ll come back home with half of her clothes from the nearest lingerie shop and nothing she can wear in public.” We both begin to chuckle, until I break out in another coughing fit.

  “Jesus, babe, you need to see a doctor. That cough doesn’t sound good at all.”

  I’m shaking my head even though he can’t see me. “I can’t, Blake. I can’t afford to take the time off. I’ll just work through this. I’ve done it before, and I can do it again, but I’m not going to stay home from work for a week and put mine and Alex’s life in danger all because I have a little cold.”

  “I can spot you the money if you—”

  “No. Thank you for your offer, but no. You’ve already done more than enough for us by letting us live here and letting me use your car. I wouldn’t feel right about taking money from you so I could stay home and sleep. Plus, Dr. Tim told me that I couldn’t take any time off from work, even if I’m sick, because we have no one else to fill in for me during the night shift.”

  The talk I had with Dr. Tim about using some vacation time that I’ve never touched makes me grit my teeth. He told me that I have no right to use that time off, because he “needs me” to be there with him. He can’t work one or two nights by himself at our very slow animal hospital. I called the owner and daytime doctor of the office to see if there is anything she can do to help me out, and she told me that she would speak to Dr. Tim. I don’t want to take the time off, but if I can use some vacation time and get better, I may have to.

  I’m done with the shower, even though I didn’t do anything, but let the spray hit me for a few minutes. It takes me a second to stand up with help from the tiled wall, but I’m grateful it’s there so Blake doesn’t see me struggle. I shut the water off and skulk out. He is standing with a large fluffy towel held open, waiting for me to step into it. I give him a small smile and move right into his arms, laying my head against his chest while he wraps me up and holds me tight.

  “How about you get dressed in something comfortable, and I’ll make you some soup before you have to go to work then,” he suggests. I nod against his shoulder but stay still, too tired and weak to move at the moment. Blake must understand because he bends and cups his arm under my knees to sweep me off my feet.

  He ambles us over to the king-sized bed in the middle of the room and sits me down on the edge while he kneels between my legs in front of me. “Baby, I know I can’t talk you out of going to work but I wish you would think about this. I can help you out with Alex’s birthday, and you can focus on this week’s payment if you need it, but you working too hard while you’re sick isn’t safe. I just want you to get feeling better. I can’t stand to see you like this. You can barely move, you’re sweating through your clothes and the bed sheets, and you can’t even stand long enough to be in the shower.”

  I’m not sure how he knew I was sitting in the shower, but I’m guessing I was too zoned out to hear him glance around the wall. I open my mouth to argue, but Blake shakes his head, telling me that this isn’t something he wants to argue about any longer. He bends up and plants a soft kiss on my forehead before standing fully and taking a step back. “I’ll go get started on that soup while you get dressed.” And with that, he leaves the room without looking back.

  I’m sure this isn’t what he was expecting when he moved me and my sister into his home. I’ve been so sick that I’ve come home and fallen asleep immediately. Blake and I haven’t had sex in days; and even though we haven’t been together long enough to have a long sexual history I miss the physical connection that we have when we’re intimate. I offered to sleep in the guest room again so that he wouldn’t get sick as well, but he shrugged it off and told me to stay where I was because he didn’t like the idea of sleeping alone now that he knew what it was like to sleep with me.

  “Great. Now I have to stand to get dressed,” I mumble to myself and muster up every ounce of energy I have to stand up.

  It takes me about ten minutes to put on a plain v-neck shirt that a closer inspection would reveal it belongs to Blake and not me—and a pair of dark gray sweat pants that are now sagging on me with the weight I’ve lost due to my throat being so sore I can’t swallow much. I make my way downstairs, one hand on the railing and one on the waist of my pants so they don’t fall down to my ankles and trip me.

  Once I make it to the kitchen, I sit on an island stool, and miraculously, a bowl of chicken noodle soup appears in front of me. I peer up to find Blake’s concerned eyes trained on my face, but he doesn’t
say anything, just takes a seat next to me to eat his much bigger bowl of soup with me.

  We eat our soup in silence, with Blake watching me wince as I swallow the broth, when I realize that we’ve been sitting here for over an hour. I need to go, but right before I leave for the strip club, Alex bounds up from the basement and doesn’t waste any time to lay into me.

  “Woah, Harlow, you look like shit.”

  I scowl at her but don’t have the energy to start a verbal brawl with her after having one with Blake not too long ago. I nod and grab my purse before moving to the garage to get in the recently painted BMW.

  Blake figured out that someone had pushed the lock button on the garage door so it wouldn’t open when I used the remote. I’m not sure who had pushed it, but I keep reassuring him that it was me, him, or Alex, and it was just an accident, but it doesn’t seem like he believes me.

  I don’t see him standing next to the car door at first, so I’m startled when it opens again. He leans in and places a long and sweet kiss to my forehead once more before putting a bag of cough drops into my lap. “Have a good night at work, babe, and take it easy on yourself, okay?” I nod once more and head off, trying not to cry over the fact that I’m sicker than a dog and don’t want to work.

  ***

  Four hours into this godforsaken shift and the one person I am hoping would just drop off the face of this earth sits down at the bar, eyes trained on me.

  I move to him calmly, trying not to show any anxiety about the fact that if he wants to beat me to death tonight for saying the wrong thing or not being able to pay him enough I don’t have any energy in me to fight back.

  “Good evening, Dominick. Can I get you something to drink?” I croak, my throat burning with every syllable. He scrunches his brows and gives me a head-to-toe appraisal that still seems disinterested.

  “Bourbon, three fingers, no ice. You know this, Harlow. I shouldn’t have to keep telling you my fuckin’ drink order.”

  I nod and spin around slowly in order to keep myself from passing out. Once I have his drink poured, I pop a cough drop in my mouth and make my way back to the muscle in the corner sent to me from an asshole loan shark who thinks intimidating me every few weeks is a good way to keep the money flowing.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asks once the drink is on the bar top in front of him.

  I shake my head, trying to let him know there is nothing wrong. “Bullshit. You look like hell, and I stopped by your place after I got off the plane so I wouldn’t have to sit in this fuckin’ hell hole, but someone else is living there now. Where the fuck are you staying now?”

  I swallow a few times in hopes the cough drops will numb my throat enough to keep the pain away. “We got kicked out of our apartment a few weeks ago. I had to move us in with a friend of mine until I can get us another place.” I don’t want him to know about Blake, because it’s one more person that Dominick can threaten to get me to comply with his stupid demands. He already threatens to hurt Alex if I don’t pay extra or a few days early, and I can’t handle any more pressure.

  I try to swallow the nerves bundling in my throat over the thought of Dominick finding out about Blake anyway when my entire body burns with the pain. That damn cough drop didn’t do a thing for me. My throat is still hurting like a bitch, and it brings tears to my eyes, but I hold onto them, hoping I don’t appear weaker in front of this sadistic killer.

  Dominick leans forward, his eyes trained on me as he moves and tilts his head slightly before speaking.

  “Here’s the kicker: I followed the bus that you take to work, and for some reason, you weren’t on it. Where the fuck does this friend live, Harlow?”

  Shit. I know what he’s getting at. He thinks if my “friend” is rich and that I can get more money to pay him off. I don’t dare tell him that I’m borrowing Blake’s BMW to get to work, because Dominick will start looking in to how much money Blake has, and I can’t take advantage of him like that. I will do anything I can to keep Blake out of this situation for his safety and his bank accounts.

  “My friend lives on the other side of town, and that bus doesn’t run through there, so they drive me to and from work until I can get a set of wheels.” I pray to God that Dominick bought that. If he didn’t he may just feel compelled to put a bullet in my head right now.

  Luckily, he nods and takes a drink of his Bourbon. After helping a few other customers he motions me back to him.

  “I’m here for this week’s payment,” he tells me, slapping his upturned palm onto the bar.

  I let out a silent “thank you”, glad that I at least made enough to cover it and that he didn’t demand more from me. I haven’t made as much as I would have hoped tonight. I pull my stash of cash out from my purple bra, as I’ve learned very quickly to always have the week’s payment on hand at all times, and place it into his hand. Before I can move my hand away he grabs onto it, his grip hurting my sore and tired muscles.

  “Nice doing business with you. See you soon, doll.” He lets go of my hand and moves away, leaving the club without glancing back.

  An hour later the manager tells me to head home and feel better. I change back into Blake’s v-neck and my way too big sweats and start having day dreams about Blake’s comfortable bed as I leave the club.

  Once I’m situated in the driver’s seat of the BMW, I start the car and scan the parking lot to make sure I’m clear to pull out of my spot. That’s when I notice Dominick sitting in his rental car parked in the spot directly across from me, madder than a skewered bull.

  I know my eyes widen as he shakes his head at me and then lifts his hand, fingers shaped like a gun. Once his fingers are aimed in my direction he slings them up high, like the jolt of a gun after it’s been fired.

  I’m scared shitless.

  I pull out of my spot quickly, cutting off another car in the process, and haul ass out of the parking lot. I keep studying my rear view mirror the entire drive home, hoping like hell that Dominick hasn’t followed me. He can’t know where I live and who with. I won’t put another person in danger.

  Chapter 28

  Blake

  I’m worried about Harlow. She’s been sick as hell but won’t take the time off to get better. She got off early from the club last night so that she could get some extra sleep but she seemed scared to death when she came home. It took about ten minutes of lying in bed with her to get her to calm down enough for sleep and then her cough kept waking us both up throughout the night. I practically begged her not to go to the diner today but she told me not to worry about it and went anyway.

  I thought it would be a good idea to mow the lawn after I picked Alex up from school today, so I left her at the kitchen table to do her homework while I head out back to get to work.

  As I come into the basement through the back door after mowing the lawn, voices are mumbling on the floor above me. I start to get excited that maybe Harlow is home but then think better of it after our conversation this morning. I know she won’t be home this time of the day.

  As I move up the stairs, I can hear Alex talking.

  “You’re pretty tall.”

  “Yeah,” a male voice, says.

  “You’re pretty hot, too.”

  “Thanks.”

  “How big is your dick?”

  “What the hell?” Jay mutters, and then he shouts my name.

  I make it to the kitchen to see Alex standing half a foot away from Jay, her eyes glued to his groin area, which is covered by his hands. Apparently, the meaningful talk Alex and I had in this kitchen not too long ago has flown right out the damn window.

  Jay’s eyes are wide and on me. “Who the fuck is this little munchkin, and why does she have such a dirty mouth?” he asks.

  “This is Alex, Harlow’s little sister; and I’m not exactly sure why she has such a filthy mouth, but if I ever hear her talking like that again, she can be damn sure there will be consequences.”

  She shifts toward me, one brow lif
ted and a challenging smirk on her face.

  “What are you going to do, Blake? Kick us out?” she sneers and puts her hands on her hips.

  I shake my head. “No, but you can be damn sure that I will take privileges away from you if you ever talk to my friends like that again.”

  “Oh yeah? What kind of privileges do I have that you can take away?” She chuckles like I’ve just issued some idle threat.

  I cross my arms over my chest and lift a brow. “First, you can have your pool privileges taken away. Next, friends won’t be allowed over anymore.”

  She giggles when she thinks that’s all. Yeah right.

  I clear my throat before going on. “And last, I need some kindling for my fire pit out back, and your trashy little clothes and makeup are the perfect thing to start a fire every night. I will get rid of every article of slutty clothing you have brought into my house and tell Harlow to only buy you shirts that are three sizes too big for you and baggy pants from now on.”

  Her face has gone from smug to concerned in an instant. “You wouldn’t dare,” she growls.

  “Try me.”

  Jay clears his throat from behind her, and I look at him above her head. “I just came over to pick up Axel’s blanket that got left here when you babysat for us, so I’ll be on my way now. Call me sometime this week, and we’ll grab a beer.”

  I nod. “Tell Ada I said hey, and give my niece and nephew a kiss for me, yeah?” Jay nods while slinging a blue fuzzy blanket over his shoulder and makes his way out of the house and away from the lasers that are shooting out of Alex’s eyes.

  Things have become too quiet, so I break the silence. “What’s the matter Alex?” I almost laugh at the way her eyes narrow into tiny slits.

  “Why do you have to be such a dick, Blake? I was just talking to your friend and then you come in and berate me in front of him.”

  “Oh yeah, it was innocent conversation too. What the hell do you think you’re doing asking him questions like that? You’re a fourteen year old girl. You should still be playing with Barbies and watching princess movies.”