Page 23 of A Fine Line

Crew pulled down his hood “Look, we need to talk.”

I watched, entirely lost as he lowered himself onto the floor, crossing his legs in front of him. When he picked up on my confusion, he gestured a hand that I was meant to apparently follow suit. So I sat down on the vinyl floors next to him, ignoring the cabinets that were inches from our faces.

He sighed like he was in pain. “If we were to do this, I meant what I said. I don’t do cheating, of any kind.”

“Okay…?”

What was that supposed to even mean?

“So I think if we did go this route, we should sign up as a team and split the rewards.”

Split the… my face instantly turned hot. Splitting the rewards beats the entire purpose of why I signed up in the first place. I was living day to day, paying late fees on almost all of my bills in any attempt to catch up. I needed all of the five thousand, I couldn’t just split it. Splitting it meant no going home, no Willow Creek Farms, no escaping. Splitting meant being stuck again. And I’ll never choose to be stuck again.

“No.”

“What do you mean no?”

“NO.” I shouted, hearing my echo bounce in our small space. “As in heck no. As in absolutely not. I am not splitting anything with you.”

I briskly stood from the floor, and turned to leave. Maybe I wasn’t going to win this thing on my own, not with the entrees I’ve attempted to make. But I would rather give it my all that split the-

“You can keep the money.”

I paused in my tracks, my hand resting on the door handle to jump out. Glancing back, I checked his eyes for sincerity.

Crew sat in the floor, leaning back with his hands raised. “Every dime. I don’t need it.”

If he didn’t need it, at least some of it, then why did he sign up for the first place? Other than to just get a rise out of me. And if that were the case, us working together meant nothing anyway.

“Why would you ever do that?”

He looked over my shoulder, not meeting my eyes. “Because I didn’t sign up for the money. I need the title and the spot, that’s all. Everything else is yours.”

I stared at him. “You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you need the title?” My fingers gripped the handle still, half way sure on if I needed to bolt out of here or actually pause and think of any viable options. Who would do this for a simple title? My eyes squinted at him. “You know it’s not going to get you laid, or if it does then that’s actually pretty path-”

“I don’t need help getting laid, trust me.” My cheeks are so hot right now. “I just have something to prove to my family. It’s a long story. But like I said, that’s the only way I can do this. So it’s fair and there’s no…foul play involved.”

I paused, staring at him for any hint of lying. “You swear you don’t need the money?”

“Not a cent.” he stared right back at me, searching me eyes as well. “Why do you need it?”

“You can’t just ask people that.”

“You aren’t people so yes I can.”

There was no way I was explaining my messed up situation to Crew Wells of all people.

“I need to get a handle on some finances. That’s all.”

That was simple enough without going into details of being abandoned and left with an overwhelming amount of debt in your name that you never accounted for.

I could see his disbelief in the way he squinted back at me, but still he let it slide away with a shrug.

“So…what now?” I asked.

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