Page 67 of Risking it All

Fuck that. “What if you did stop?”

His troubled eyes met mine. “Then how I am going to pay for anything? Even though medical says they can’t deny you care, they do. You don’t pay, they treat you different. They’ll put a Band-Aid on the sliced open artery, but they won’t stop the blood from coming out. They’ll do enough to keep you alive, but nothing to save you. You and I know this world is only about money.”

I couldn’t argue with him there, but… “Your mom wants you safe and alive. Don’t make her last days spent worrying about you. You’ll regret that.”

“All I am is regrets,” he said. “That’s why I push you so hard. I don’t want you to be me. I don’t want you to regret a thing.” A pause, and then he said, “I’m sorry about Macie. More than you know.” It shook me how grief-stricken he sounded. “What can I do to make it up to her? To you?”

The way he looked at me, as if he needed this absolution, made me want to give it to him in spades. “Help me find who carjacked her.”

“How?” he spat with anger. “Do I look like a detective to you?”

“Fifty thousand dollars, Marsh. You help me, we get that reward. Then me, you, Camila, Lyra, your mom—we get out of this neighborhood. We move as far as we need to be free of Eric. We find a place, live together, and start from scratch.”

He stared at the dry creek bed. “You’re out of your mind.”

“Just thinking outside the box. We get away from Eric and start all over again.”

“You going to leave Macie high and dry for me?”

Pain in my chest as I hadn’t thought about that, but what good could I be to Macie or anyone so long as Eric had me pinned? “That’s my worry. Not yours.”

After a few moments of silence, he said, “What do you want me to do?”

“I have a yearbook. I’m around enough to know who’s associated with which gangs, but you and I know that doesn’t mean a carjacking. People from the streets look at me and, by default, see Eric. But that association doesn’t mean shit because I won’t work for him. You’re inside now. You know better than I do who in the other gangs are actually lifting cars and which are byproducts like me. Narrow the list for me and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game, Relic.”

“No more dangerous than Dad not paying his debt and me in Eric’s crosshairs.”

“What makes you think the person you’re hunting is in a high school yearbook?”

I hesitated, feeling a twisting inside me at breaking Macie’s trust, but this was Marsh, my best friend, my brother. If I couldn’t trust him, I could trust no one. “Because whoever did it called her by name. They know her, Marsh.”

His head tilted, surprised. “Macie’s talking?”

Barely. “You asked how to make it up to me and her. This is it. Will you help me?”

Marsh nodded before saying, “Give me the yearbook.”

Chapter thirty-two

Macie

Ipulled up to the curb of the vacant area of my neighborhood and simultaneously experienced a rush of panic and the elation of seeing Relic waiting for me. Relic had my yearbook in hand. I breathed out slowly as I turned off the car and eased out the door.

Relic cocked an eyebrow. “That’s the first time in a while I’ve seen you that white coming out the car.”

Shocked, I blinked, and then my gaze darted about as I tried to think of the last time I felt total anxiety driving. Standing taller, I brightened. Wow. I could drive the few blocks now without freaking out.

“You okay?” Relic asked.

“Yep. I’m not freaking out at all at seeing that yearbook.”

I leaned back against the front of my car and scratched at the hives forming on my arm.

“Everything okay at home?” he asked.

I frowned, hating how Seth and I were now avoiding each other. He was worried and mad, and I was plain exhausted from being on everyone’s mind. “Nothing I can’t handle.” I glanced at the yearbook and then away. “It’s not fair for Seth to carry this lie, so I’m going to tell my parents about us.” Mom sort of knew, but Dad didn’t, and my father would be the needle that could pop my happy balloon.

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