Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
“I need to figure this out, find a way to get them paid. They’ve already given me an extension, but they want a marker. I just need a few days to sort this out. I was hoping you could help me.”
“How? How could I help you?” I didn’t have any money. Well, $248 in my savings account from my job at the ice cream parlor, but that was it.
“You need to be my marker,” he said, resigned.
“Your what?”
“Yeah. I know it’s not ideal, but I have a plan to clear it up and then there won’t be anything else. This is the last loose end from my old life, Tia. I’m really sorry to drag you into this, but I have no choice.”
“Dad…” I began.
I noticed a black SUV pull in beside us. The passenger window rolled down and a guy in the passenger seat wearing dark sunglasses eyed us.
“Tia, it’s just for a few days. I have a plan, I…” He glanced over his shoulder and then his shoulders slumped.
“Dad, you can’t expect me to…who are these people? What on earth have you gotten yourself into?”
Dad’s face took on a look of desperation. “Sweet pea, I’m sorry. I’ve been such a fuck up.”
He hadn’t called me that since I was little, since before Mom died.
“You need to go with these guys. Trust me. I’ll make this better. It’ll be better.”
“It’s my high school fucking graduation!” I shrieked, looking to the SUV. Was this them?
Dad blanched. I’ve never sworn at him, never raised my voice at him. I’ve always treated him like he’s fragile. The front passenger and rear passenger doors of the black SUV opened and burly men dressed in expensive suits looked out at us.
“Problem, O’Connor?” One in the back seat asked in a gravelly voice.
“Naw, no. Not at all. Not at all. We just need one minute.” Dad was like a stuttering fool. “Tia, please,” his eyes pleaded with me.
“Dad.” I folded my arms. I could not believe he came to my grad to set me up to be his “marker”. This was the only reason he came!
Burly guy from the front passenger seat lifted his shades off. “We need to go, O’Connor.”
I took a step back as the two of them got out, leaving their doors opened, revealing a big Black dude in the back and a younger, pissed-off but hot blond guy in a suit in the driver’s seat.
Dad leaned forward and took my hands in his. His face had a look of desperation that made my scalp prickle. “They’ll kill me,” he whispered.
What the…?
What would make him use me as a marker? Did he think they wouldn’t kill me? Did he think they wouldn’t hurt me? How much money did he owe these guys and how would he even pay them off?
He’d let me down countless times. In the early days of foster care, he’d promise that his life was almost together enough to gain custody again. He’d promise to take me places, buy me things – I never needed or wanted things, but he always tossed promises around and he never ever kept them. Why would I believe him now? Why would he put me at risk and even make this an option?
“Just hang tight. They’ll keep you comfortably in a luxury hotel suite or something like that. You’ll be fine. Look at it like a little getaway.”
I tilted my head at my father, dumbfounded. This couldn’t be real. Back at Rose and Cal’s, they were waiting for me. There was a big, beautiful cake congratulating me, Mia, and Bethany for graduating.
Ruby, her brother Connor, the other girls, and everyone’s friends and some relatives were all there. There was a table filled with everyone’s favorite foods. There were graduation gifts. Tonight, there was a dance and all my friends would be there.
He was ruining this; ruining a pivotal day that I’d worked so hard for. I was a nearly straight A student. I was on the motherfucking honor roll! I’d beaten the odds despite my screwed-up childhood with a loser father and a mom lost to suicide. I didn’t deserve this. A combination of pain and rage rose in me.
“Athena, sweet pea; trust me.” His eyes implored me.
“How much do you owe? Do you even have a way to pay them back?”
He nodded. “It’s not out of my reach, and I have a plan.”
“It must be pretty bad for them to want human collateral, Dad. What’ll they do to me if you don’t pay?”
He put his hands on my shoulders and said, “I just need you to trust me.”
I held my breath. Burly man number one and burly man number two seemed like they were staring me down from behind their Men-In-Black sunglasses.
I was about to open my mouth to say No, no way was I agreeing to this, but then the blond driver got out of the vehicle and rounded it.