Page 41 of Risking it All

She left. I punched the hell out his glovebox then tore out of his car.

“I’m not done,” Marsh called out behind me.

I rounded on him as if I were willing to knock him in the jaw. “Walk from me, Marshall.”

“You’re my best friend. My brother. I don’t walk from you, and you don’t walk from me. I’m laying out hard truths, and you’re mad because you know I’m right.”

“Laying out hard truths?” I challenged. “How about you shouldn’t be working for Eric?”

“I know that shit, but I’m desperate. I’m trying to save my mom’s life, but you can get out of this place. Stay the course. Stay focused. Don’t be your dad and screw it up by falling in love with some girl who will leave you. Once she sees where you comefrom, that’s going to freak her out and then she won’t see you for who you really are. She’ll make assumptions and leave.”

I swung away from Marsh and rammed my fingers through my hair. How did I crash from heaven to hell so damn fast?

“You’re setting yourself up for a hell of a fall. You’re only a bad boy fling for her. Is she going to care for you when she sees where you live? When she finds out how you spend your nights in Dumpsters? That your dad is a drug dealing ex con? The point is, she’s going to leave you because a girl like her isn’t capable of understanding us or our world. You know this. I know this. Don’t fall like your dad and screw up the rest of your life.”

I winced as each of his words slashed me in the gut.

“Relic,” Marsh kept coming at me. “Are you going to stop seeing her?”

Could I? Did I want to? No. But how could I say that to Marsh? He was right. I was wrong, but she was the only peace I had in the shit storm that was my life. I could lie to him, but Marsh knew me better than anyone, and he and I didn’t lie to each other. Everyone else, maybe, but not to each other. There was one grain of truth that he could hold onto, one facet of our relationship he would approve of, but I hadn’t been sure how to play it out yet without upsetting Macie. “No.”

“Fuck me,” Marsh started, but I cut him off.

“I’m hoping Macie will let me in. I’m hoping she’ll tell me what happened to her, and then I can claim the fifty-thousand-dollar reward.”

Marsh’s phone rang. His mom. He immediately accepted the call then said to me, “We’re not done talking about this yet.”

But I was done with the conversation. Hopefully, forever.

Chapter eighteen

Macie

“Idon’t want my seatbelt on.” Lev, thankfully, did not have on a shark suit, but was instead in the proper uniform. His shoulder length, curly black hair was pulled back at the base of his neck, showing the rows of silver hoop earrings that started at his earlobes and then traveled up the rim of his ears. Today, he wore black mascara and silver eyeshadow, and he had his hands in the air as if about to plummet down the hill of a rollercoaster. “I want to feel free!”

At the front of the training classroom, Lev sat in a roller-coaster car and Melanie stood beside him looking as if she wanted to cry. Her panicked eyes met mine. “Is this going to happen?”

They were performing a mock situation where Melanie played the part of the employee checking ride restraints while Lev role-played the difficult visitor. I stood in the back, watching the dramatic scene unfold. “Yes, you will have difficult guests. Now,think back to our training videos. What should you do in this situation?”

Melanie gathered her confidence. “For the safety of you and our other guests, we require that all restraints be worn during a ride.”

Lev leaned from side to side, his arms still in the air as if the car was in motion. “But I want to feel one with the universe. How dare you try to confine me!”

Okay, to be fair, in my three years of working here, no one had said those words to me, but I had guests who’d screamed at me for less.

Melanie’s neck flushed red. “What do I do now?”

Honestly? The lead ride operator would have already stepped in because with Melanie being fifteen, the only job she’d be able to do was to literally check to make sure all the restraints were securely buckled. Also, truth be told, the mechanics and electronics of the ride wouldn’t allow the train to leave the station without all restraints clicked in. But Melanie needed to take her job seriously, so I didn’t tell her that. Safety was our main priority. “Tell the guest that the ride cannot leave the station until all guests are secured by our safety measures that are in place for their safety and for the safety of our other guests.”

Yes, that was a lot of safeties in one sentence, but that was the whole point we needed to drive home to guests—we were there for their safety.

“For your safety and for the safety of our other guests, the ride can’t leave the station until you’re strapped in,” Melanie said to Lev.

Lev whipped his head around as if seeing the crowds of people waiting on him. He pressed his hands to his chest. “Am I causing the delay?”

Melanie’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Yes?”

Lev turned to the nonexistent car behind him. “I’m so sorry, but you have to understand, I want to feel free.”

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