Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Luke knocks several times before someone finally opens the door. A bulky guy with a shaved head steps outside and gives Luke a shove.
And I’m out of my car and walking toward them one second later.
“Easy,” Luke says casually. He gives me a warning glance. Be cool. “Bix was just expressing his appreciation for getting dragged out of bed at two p.m. on a Saturday.”
“Seriously,” the guy rasps.
“He needs his beauty sleep,” Luke adds. The big dude lunges for him again, but Luke hops off the porch with a teasing smile.
“You’re still a little punk, Baby Bailey.”
“You know it. Can you tell Joe to call Mom, so I can get on with my fucking day?”
“Sure, dude.” They high five, and I relax.
But even as he disappears into the house, another man fills the doorway. He looks like an older, doughier Luke. “What the fuck do you want?”
“Nothing from you. Just call Mom so she’ll stop blowing up my phone.”
“She’s a controlling bitch.”
Luke throws up his hands. “She worries. You’re obviously fine. Just text the lady. It will take you two seconds.” He turns to leave the little porch.
But his brother moves faster, grabbing Luke by the jacket. “I need four hundred bucks.”
Luke laughs, but I can hear the tightness in it. “Yeah, me too.”
“Did you work last night?” the goon asks.
“Of course. And it’s all going to rent and buying the textbooks I couldn’t afford when the term started. You know how much those things cost? No wait, I guess you wouldn’t.”
Luke’s brother literally throws him off the porch step. And I’m closing the distance between them a second later.
“Oh look here!” The asshole brother finally notices me. “You must be the new boyfriend.”
“Right,” Luke snaps. “Because every guy in my fraternity is my boy toy? I thought I was the only Bailey who watches gay porn. What’s your favorite channel on Hamster, bro?”
Oh, hell. I brace myself.
Sure enough, Joe pounces. But nimble Luke is already sidestepping him. “You little faggot,” Joe snarls, his hands in fists.
“Hey!” I roar. “Fuck off already.”
Joe turns on me, and I do the math on which punch to block. But he seems to think better of it, which means he has at least a small brain in that head. He’s a big guy, but so am I. And guess who’s in better shape?
I’d flatten him in seconds.
“Let’s go,” Luke says in a low voice. “This is stupid. Text Mom,” he says over his shoulder as he walks toward my car.
“Bite me,” is his brother’s response.
We get back in the car. Luke slumps in the seat and closes his eyes. “Sorry,” he mutters. “Can’t believe I took his bait.”
I say nothing. Luke’s brother is clearly a turd with anger issues. I can’t even think of a funny animal comparison to cheer Luke up. There’s no animal kingdom model for self-destructive behavior.
Sometimes animals are a whole lot smarter than humans.
Luke’s phone rings, and he answers it immediately. “Ma, he’s fine. Just his usual asshole self. He crashed at Bix’s place. I saw him just now with my own eyes.”
“Did he say…” I don’t quite catch the rest of his mother’s question.
“He didn’t tell me anything. He asked me for money and threatened me and my friend. Fun times with Joe.”
He shifts the phone and I hear her response. “Lukey, thank you! I’m so relieved.”
“The point, Mom, is that I’m not doing this anymore. If Joe doesn’t come home, you call someone else to hunt him down.”
He moves the phone away from his ear to hang up, but she’s still talking. “Luke, honey, Joe did our second job yesterday, hanging some vertical blinds.”
“Okay?” he says, bringing it to his ear again. “That’s nice? What does that have to do with me?” He listens to more yapping with a pained expression on his face.
I pause at a stop sign, because I’m turned around, and I need him to tell me how to get back to campus.
“He didn’t say anything about the cash from the job.” Luke’s sigh is weary. “And if I had to guess, he drank it all. But you can take that up with Joe.”
The next thing I hear from his phone is loud weeping. “They won’t deliver heating oil until I pay up, honey! The house is so cold!”
“What?”
“I owe the oil company and the money we made yesterday was supposed to pay them off.”
Luke groans. “How much?”
“I owe four fifty.”
“I only have two hundred.”
There’s more mom babble after that. I catch “good boy.” And “I love you.”
He hangs up and then speaks in a flat voice without looking at me. “Can you turn right on Calhoun and then pull over? Last stop, I swear.”
“Sure,” I say, trying to keep my voice neutral. But I don’t feel calm. My dad is an asshole, but he’s trying to give me shit. Luke’s family are assholes who only want to bleed him dry.