Page 25 of Grumpy Sunshine

“I didn’t take it from anybody,” she lied.

Aella pulled out her phone and toggled to a news app that covered the greater DFW area.

She stopped on something and then turned the phone around and showed it to her mother.

“You robbed a bank?”she cried.

“I didn’t!”The woman paused.“But I might’ve started dating someone that did.And he died from a gunshot wound, so I thought…why the fuck can’t I keep the money?”

When she put it like that…

“What I’m hearing is that you’re a disgusting piece of trash, and you can’t even stand by your man!”Aella crossed her arms across her chest and glared at her mother, who was writhing on the ground as she tried to reach out and catch a stray hundred-dollar bill.

“This money’s probably tracked in some way,” I said as I saw more money fly out of the trunk.“Why don’t you at least have this in bags?”

“Because the bags were marked.”The woman on the ground rolled her eyes, as if that was something we should know.

Listen, I might not be the best person in the world, but I prided myself in not stealing and not killing anyone that didn’t need killing.

Sure, I was a murderer.And sure, I’d done a lot worse than “stealing,” but I hadsomemorals.

Apparently, my moral compass felt like robbing a bank was bad.

Now, did that mean if a pile of money from a bank robbery fell in my lap, I wouldn’t figure out a way to use that money?

No.

I’d definitely suggest donating all of that money to a good cause.

As if we were on the same wavelength, Aella said, “You know, I can’t morally keep this money.But I can donate it to a good cause.”

“Whoa,” Webber said as he dropped down to pick up a couple of hundos off the ground.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much money in my life,” came Doc’s careful words from behind me.

“That’s my money!”Aella’s mother screamed.

“Mother,” Aella said.

When Aella’s mother still didn’t calm down, she said, “Trini!”

Trini!

That was her name.

I couldn’t for the life of me recall it, but the moment Aella said it like a swear word, I remembered.

I’d always thought the name fit her.

She looked like a vindictive bitch, and I’d done my level best to stay away from her when she was in the building.

I’d had her stop cleaning my room a long time ago because it almost felt like she’d rolled herself in our clean sheets when she was done.

Not that I stayed at the clubhouse all that much.

Hell, I was at the hospital more than I was at home.

And I was at the clubhouse even less.

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