Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
He smiled. “I wanted to see you.”
“Well, here I am.” I smiled back.
He sipped on his drink for a second before catching me off guard. “I wanted to talk to you about a permanent position with me.”
“Permanent?” I repeated, leaning back in my seat.
“Yeah,” he said. With a determined expression, he talked it up. “You’re a good kid, and I want to help you.”
“Help me?”
“You know, your old man and me go way back.”
“Is that before or after he fucked you over?”
He chuckled. “You know your father well.”
“I know enough.”
“Oh.” A look of realization spread across his face. “I see. So his debts still come knocking on your door?”
“Not recently.” Unable to resist, I asked, “Have you seen him around?”
“Why? Are you looking for him?”
“Not right now.”
He simply nodded, understanding what I was putting down. “Your old man is an interesting character, no doubt. You’re nothing like him. You’re not like your mother either. You sure you’re not adopted?”
I scoffed. “If only that were the case, it’d make things a lot easier on me.”
“Touché.” He sipped more of his drink. “What if I told you your mom was clean? Huh? Would that matter to you?”
I jerked back, once again caught off guard. “You mean you’ve seen her? She’s back?”
“I’ve heard things.”
I leaned forward, setting my elbows on my knees. “Like what?”
“Ah,” he baited. “I have your attention now? I’d like to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
“Famous last words.”
He snickered. “I knew I liked you for good reason. You’re quiet, you do as you’re told, and sell twice as much as the college kids I pay for dealing in half the amount of time to do it.”
“You think I can add that to my résumé?” I joked.
“How about you work for me full-time instead, and then you don’t need a résumé.”
“Listen.” I tensed up, about to stand. “I appreciate your offer, truly, I do, but I’m good with the arrangement we have. I don’t need—”
“I’ll double your cut.”
“Double?” I sat back down. “And what does that involve from me?”
“It means you work for me every weekend and sometimes a few hours during the week. Usually nights.”
“I can’t.”
“You can,” he persisted. “Especially since you won’t have to work your other shit end jobs. I can’t imagine you like earning pennies when you can be making hundreds, if not thousands of dollars working for me.”
“Yeah, but…”
“It’s no different from what you’re doing for me now. It’s just more hours and more money. How can you pass that up?”
“And what if I get caught?” I argued. “I mean, it’s one thing to do this once in a while, but doing it all the time? I can’t ris—”
“Being thrown out on your ass? Is that what you can’t risk? Those bills are going to keep adding up. They come every month. You want to end up with the state again?”
“I know, but—”
“That night at the gas station, what did you tell me? Huh? You told me you’d do anything to stay out of foster care and keep you and your brother together, and what did I do?”
“You gave me a job.”
He smiled. “You see? If you trusted me then, you can trust me now. I have your best interests at heart, kid. You remind me a lot of myself when I was your age. It's men like us against the world. We gotta stick together, you know?”
“What’s the catch?”
“The only catch is that we make a shit ton of money.”
“I don’t—”
My stomach dropped when he interjected with…
“What about the girl?”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
JULIUS
“Relax,” Marco reassured with a slight grin. “She’s not my problem, but she is yours. I’m offering you a solution that benefits us both. Women are expensive. You want to lose yours because you can’t provide for her?”
I shook my head. “She’s not like that.”
“They’re all like that.” He wavered for a moment. “Does she know what you’re doing? All the risks you're taking? How much are you playing fucking hero in her fairy tale?”
“Like I said, she’s not like that.”
“No shit. The girl’s jaded, but what do you expect when you’re raised on the streets? And trust me, it takes one to know one.” He cocked his head to the side. “We all have that in common, and look how well I turned out. You want to live like me? Because I can make that happen for you.”
I thought about what he was saying.
“You love her?” he asked. “It doesn’t matter what they say. They want to be spoiled rotten and feel adored, and that takes a lot of money. If you don’t make it happen, she’ll find another sucker who will. It’s just the circle of life, kid.”
“It’s not like that between us.”
“And what do you think it’s like?”
My head was spinning. He knew how to drive a point home.
Isla isn’t like that, right?