Page 58 of Chase
“She fucking transferred me to another tutor. Who the fuck does she think she is to just fucking cut me like that.” His voice is hoarse and loud as hell. I was right, there is pure venom running through his veins, and her name is Edison. That tiny girl is buried deep inside my brother and she just cut him from the inside out.
“What do you mean? I thought you said that there was no other availability or something?” I don’t remember exactly what he said, but I remember something about him not being able to get off her roster.
“You hate tutoring anyway. I told you I got you, bro,” Monroe offers and holds out his fist for A to bump. He doesn’t. He’s too busy staring at her message on his splintered screen.
“You know this isn’t about tutoring right? It’s about the tutor,” Jake adds, shaking his head at him.
“Yeah, Dad, I know. I was trying to help, fuck you very much,” he scoffs back, and towel whips Jake right over his left pec.
“Motherfucker, that stings! I should make your ass walk home.” He flips Monroe off and turns to head to the showers. I’m anxious to get the hell outta here and he’s our ride. I restart my folding. I want to get this second crane done.
“Those tits sensitive?” Monroe yells out while laughing like a hyena.
A rolls his shoulders back and rearranges his hat on his head, flipping it backward and running his hands over his thighs.
“Fuck it and fuck her. What are we doing tonight?” He asks and I already know what’s about to happen. He’s gonna drown himself in girls and when he comes up for air he’ll text his guy about an opening. He’ll go get tattooed and then act as if nothing happened even though he’s bleeding out all over the fucking place.
This gets Monroe yelling out to the rest of our team, “How we celebrating tonight boys?”
“With your hot-as-fuck sister,” Max says with a fucking devil grin.Fucker.I nearly ruin the half-finished crane when my fingers curl around the paper edges.
We give Max matching glares and the fucker just wiggles his dumb eyebrows at us.
I finish my crane and write my second goal time on the wing along with the date. I grab them both and tuck them safely in my pocket.
Monroe starts running around the locker room towel-whipping everyone trying to figure out plans for later. It doesn’tmatter what any of them are doing, I’ve got plans of my own.With her.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
MAMA RANG RIGHTwhen I walked back into my apartment and I instantly regretted picking up the call the second I heard her voice. I could tell by her tone that I needed to brace for impact. I knew in my belly that it was gonna be rough.
I didn’t bother flipping the lights on while she dug into me. I’ve never been scared of the dark, not when the monster I lived with liked to strike in broad daylight.Plus, when the lights are off, I don’t have to look at myself while she picks me apart.
I squeeze my left hand into a tight fist and feel the pinch of pain I need to ground myself for the remainder of this one-sided conversation.
She usually limits her time with me and I know we must be coming up to the end. She likes to get herself all worked up and into a tizzy over something I’ve done so Daddy doesn’t get mad when he finds her day drinking and going through pills like tic tacs.
She’ll call me right after she’s popped open a bottle or swallowed something, and our calls will last just long enough for her buzz to kick in.My own mother has to self-medicate to talk to me.
“Honestly, Sloane, I don’t know why I bother wastin’ my energy when ya just end up disappointin’ your father and I anyway.” The strike of her words has me squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for the next punch. “Thank the good Lord above, he gave me Davis.” I swear on a stack of bibles, I can feel how much she dislikes me when she says things like this.
She promptly says she has to go and now it’s my turn to thank the Lord that our phone calls don’t usually last any longer than fifteen minutes.
The relief that she’s gone is instant and I sag back into the sofa in our quiet living room. My phone buzzing is like a chainsaw cutting through the silence.
WILL:
What time you coming through, beautiful?
I start and stop typing out a message at least ten times but don’t end up sending anything. There isn’t one part of me that wants to go to this party with that man, and I need to get out of it. I’m sorry to up and cancel on him but I really am in no place to be going out let alone with him..
WILL:
I see you typing which means you're either trying to let me down or you're about to let me know how excited you are to see me.
Let’s go with option two.
I’m so stupid for agreeing to this.I should’ve thought about it with a clear head instead of thinking with a hurt heart. I see those three dots dancing and can tell he’s running outta patience. And I know I’m right when my phone rings.
