Page 113 of Wingwoman
“He’s an old friend from high school.”
There. It wasn’t even a lie.
“Rob said he was a bookie. Are you in trouble?”
Dammit, Rob.
I shot her a look. “He runs a few sports bets and poker games. That sort of thing.”
“You gamble?” She stared at me, incredulous like she couldn’t believe it.
“No,” I said, gritting my teeth. “I don’t gamble. I never fucking gamble.”
Just the thought made my stomach sour.
Turning my attention back to the road, I released her hand and put both of mine on the wheel.
“Okay,” she said. “You might not… but someone does.”
The truck was silent for several moments. “Your dad,” she whispered. I didn’t know how she figured it out, but it didn’t surprise me that she did. She was smart. And I’d made it clear from day one that I hated my dad.
“And because you’re Josh Gabriel, they’ve come to you to settle his debts, haven’t they?”
I could feel the rage radiating off of her like the heat from the sun and nearly just as burning. Rage on my behalf. On my mom’s.
“Something like that,” I said, intentionally vague.
“How much?”
“Hm?” I pretended not to hear her.
“How. Much. Do. You. Owe?”
She really wasn’t letting this go. Reluctantly, I answered her. “Half a million.”
She gasped.
“Don’t worry,” I said, softer this time. “I have the money. I’m going to pay it off.”
“And then what?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“What happens after you pay it off and your dad keeps gambling? What happens if next time, it’s a million or two million?”
A question I’d asked myself many times. “When my mom finally left my dad, it wasn’t because of his cheating. It was because he cashed out her life savings and gambled it all away. Every penny she had saved from her store, every hard-earned dime that was meant to go to her dream of starting the horse rescue… he blew it all. We ate beans and rice for weeks after that because Mom couldn’t even afford bread and peanut butter.”
“Josh,” she said softly, her eyes filled with compassion. Her hand came to rest on my forearm, gentle and comforting. “I had no idea. I am so sorry.”
Her expression was so honest and earnest, I wanted to kiss her. Make her forget this world existed.
“What happens if you don’t pay it off?” she asked. “It’s not your debt. What could they do?”
“A lot. These are bad men, Hope. It doesn’t matter that it’s not my debt. They’ll get paid one way or another and they know exactly which sponge to squeeze. They know my weak spots to come after if I don’t pay up.”
“No…” she whispered. “The horses?”
“It’s not going to happen. I’ll pay the damn debt. I’ll pay it ten million times if I need to.”
