Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“She mentioned the money,” I lie and lean in. “We’ve got to talk.”
She clears her throat. The door closes, the chain pulls back, and it opens up a second later. “I’ve got beer and cigarettes. Don’t mind the mess.”
The room smells like musty socks. I shut the door behind me and yank open the drapes to get some light. She’s right, the mess is ugly: fast food wrappers, drug paraphernalia, pill bottles, a crack pipe, needles and heroin gear, magazines strewn all over the floor, clothes thrown in piles. Jackie trudges over it all to the minifridge, takes out a beer, cracks it open, and chugs half. It’s barely eleven in the morning.
“That’s better,” she grunts and sits down on the edge of the bed. She’s thin, nearly emaciated, with dark leathery skin and old, faded tattoos. She looks more like a woman used to biker bars than the daughter of an aristocratic rich man, but Jackie Stockton has had a very hard life.
I take a seat on a chair that looks relatively clean and try to ignore the cocaine on the mirror in front of me.
“Have you talked to Kat lately?” I ask her.
She shakes her head. “I called a couple times but she hasn’t been much help. Her grandfather hates me.”
“I heard.”
“Did you come with the money? I don’t need all that much, just a couple thousand and then—”
“No, I don’t have any money.”
Her expression narrows. “I thought you said—”
“I lied.”
She slowly stands up. “I think you should go then.”
I don’t move. I lean back and cross my legs and tilt my head, studying her. This is the woman that has caused Kat so much trouble, and there’s a dark part of me that wants to push her down onto the bed, cover her with a pillow, and snuff her out. Kat’s life would be so much simpler without her mother in this world acting as the tether that keeps her chained to that awful family.
But I’m not in the business of doing things that cause Kat pain anymore.
“Did you know that your daughter is going to marry Matthew Keyne in a few weeks?”
Her mother hesitates. “I heard something about him before.”
“She despises Matthew Keyne. He’s an old money asshole who thinks he’s the greatest thing on the planet, and he’s going to make her life miserable.”
She wavers and slowly sinks back down. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because she’s going to do it for you?”
Jackie rears back. “For me? The hell?”
“She cut a deal with your father. Kat marries Matthew, your father continues to keep you alive. But until then, you get nothing, which is why Kat hasn’t come through with any money yet.”
“How the hell do you know all this?”
“Because I know Kat and I know exactly what your father would demand of her. He’s exactly like my grandpop, and if I were in her position, my grandpop would use everything he can against me. Also, I asked her cousin.”
Jackie cackles softly and tugs at her hair. “So what if she marries a rich guy? Life could be worse.”
“She should marry me.”
Jackie’s eyebrows raise and she goes still. “I thought you broke her heart.”
“I did.” I don’t look away even if the shame is almost overwhelming. “I fucked up. Things between us started out one way, but they turned into something else. They turned into something real. She left when she learned how it started, but she hasn’t figured out where I am yet. I want to show her that.”
Her mother sits still, studying me. I’ve met people like Jackie Stockton before, men and women that have lived hard, that have given in to their addictions and found ways to continue on without letting those addictions consume them completely. They’re survivors, hardened and tough and resilient, but essentially zombies, slaves to their desires. It’s a disease, an ugly disease, and Jackie Stockton turned it into something low-level and chronic, something that’ll eat at her for a long time and destroy everything around her.
Unless she finds a way to stop.
And she damn well knows it too.
“If you want me to put in a good word for you, I charge by the millisecond.”
I shake my head. “No, Jackie. I’m here to take you home.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Here’s what I’m thinking. I’ll pay off all your debts, every single dime you owe to whatever dangerous scumbag you got tangled up with, and you’ll come back with me to that very nice rehab clinic you left a few weeks back.”
“Why in the world would I do that?” She tilts her head, scowling at me.
“Because right now, you’re at a crossroads.” I sit forward, elbows on my knees, staring into her eyes. “You’ve been doing this a long time, haven’t you? You’re tired. I can see it.”
“You don’t know a thing about me, boy. Don’t get cute.”