Page 57 of Castle's Cards

“You gonna call or fold?” the man sitting next to me asks with annoyance.

“Uh, yeah, fold.” I muck my cards and pick up my chips, rising from the table. “What do you mean send you away?”

“You!” my brother's voice says from behind me. When I turn around he’s pointing at Izzy with a frown. Izzy’s eyes dart in every direction as she approaches. “I thought I told you to stay out of here.”

“Whoa, calm down, Court. It’s Addy’s sister.”

“I don’t care who she is! She can’t be in here. She’s a minor. Do you know how much I could be fined if she were caught here?”

“I just need to talk to Carter. I’ll leave in a second.”

“No, you’ll leave right now.”

I shake my head in annoyance.

“Come on, Izzy.” I take her elbow softly and lead her out the doors. Once we’re outside I turn to her. “Now start over.”

“You have to talk some sense into her. She’s too proud to ask for your help, and since she can’t figure out what else to do, she wants to send me to live with our mom. I can’t live with Mom. She doesn’t understand me, and she wouldn’t pay to stable Dragon.”

I sigh and look away before running a hand through my hair.

“Izzy, I wish there was something I could do. But I already offered my help. She declined it.”

“Please, just try again! My sister’s already let me down. Don’t you do it, too.” Izzy batts her eyes at me, tears welling up in them. I sigh and unlock my car.

“Fine. I’ll try again. Does she know you’re here?”

The teen at least has the good sense to look embarrassed.

“No. She doesn’t even know I left.”

“Come on, then. I’ll give you a ride home.”

“Here we are,” I say without an ounce of cheer. Their apartment building looks ominous to me at this moment, but that’s probably only because I know the potential bad conversation that awaits me.

When I look around the parking lot it’s obvious that there are already fewer cars here than there were two days ago. Izzy gets out and notices me looking.

“People are already moving out. I guess they had more in savings than we do – or maybe just more options.” She turns to me and smiles.

“How much do you have in savings? I ask. It’s a nosy question, but that’s not even the reason I’m asking it. What I’m trying to do is buy myself some time to come up with what I’m going to say.

“Why are you asking me? I’m not the one with the bank account in the family.” Izzy looks away. “But I doubt it’s much. There’s not much left over after bills and groceries and Dragon’s boarding.”

Guilt rushes through me.

“If I’d known buying Dragon would have come with an extra expense I would have put more thought into it.”

“Oh, no.” Izzy shakes her head. “The boarding fee has replaced the club fee. And it’s actually a little cheaper, so you’ve saved us about $20 a month. Which doesn’t seem like much, but in a year you’ll have saved us $240. Which is two electric bills.”

I blink and look at her.

“Did you just do that math in your head?”

“I’m pretty good at math.” Izzy shrugs before grinning at me mischievously. “So, I’ll climb in my window while you knock on the front door. Perfect distraction.”

I let out a short laugh and then shake my head.

“No way. If I’m here dropping you off, it will be better than if I just randomly show up trying to figure out a reason to talk to her. I need to be in her good graces as much as possible. Besides, if I can get her onboard with my plan, then she’ll be so excited she’ll forget all about grounding you.”

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