Page 15 of Broken Hero
“Thank you,” I whisper. I'm trying to keep my emotions in check. It's lovely having someone care. He’s right – I’m exhausted and want to cry. I have to go and give a stranger five hundred pounds that I’ll never see again. This is getting too much to handle.
I run up to my flat to grab my credit card, and I'm back in the car within five minutes. I give Declan the address, and we set off again.
“Thank you,” I say quietly. “This is so embarrassing.”
“Don’t worry about it. Does he do this often?”
I nod. “Lately, yeah.” I don't want to tell him all about my personal life, but he’s driving me around in the middle of the night, so I suppose he deserves an explanation. “We lost my mum nearly two years ago now. She got sick and died all within a month, so it was sudden, and she was young.” God, it still hurts me to tell someone.
Will it hurt forever like this?
“I'm sorry, what was she sick with?”
“Bowel cancer. It was aggressive - she didn't stand a chance by the time she'd been diagnosed. So it’s my dad and me now, and it’s been tough for my dad to deal with. He always liked to have a bet, but since she died it's like his only way of coping. I don't know what to do. Like now, he said he’s stuck here with these guys, and they won't let him go until someone brings him the money. He's going to get hurt.”
“I'm sure it’s been tough for you too. The last thing you need to deal with is this when you're dealing with losing your mum. He’s going to get you hurt.”
He’s right. It’s like my grief doesn’t matter, like I’m the grown-up. Still, I have to carry on. What choice do I have? “I'm sure everything will be fine. I’ll go to the cashpoint, get the money out, drop it off, and they'll release him. I'm sure that he’ll never go back there again, after this.”
“I'm sorry he’s having a hard time, but what he’s doing is bang out of order. Do you think that you’ll walk in there with the money and that will be that? You've looked in the mirror, right? You’re fucking gorgeous - you think those guys will let you leave after you walk in with the money? He’s putting you in danger. It’s fucking out of order, Sophie. They could do anything to you.”
If I weren’t so scared and on edge now, I would totally do a little inner dance about the fact that he said I was gorgeous.
“He wouldn't have thought about that.”
Declan sighs. “I’ll go in with the money - you can stay in the car.”
“Oh no, no way you're doing that.”
“Yeah? Well, no way you are. Come on, you really think I'm going to let you go in.”
I sit back in my seat. My dad is in so much fucking trouble for this. We pull over at a cash machine to get the money - once I get back in the car, he sets off again. We soon pull up at the address, I don't want to admit it to Declan, but I'm terrified.
“Give me the money.” I hand it over to him. He looks at me. “This is money you don't have, am I right?”
I give a small nod. I can't handle much more of today.
“Right, stay here. Promise?”
I nod again.
“Say it. You promise that you'll stay here.”
“I promise, Declan, I’ll stay here.”
He seems happy with my promise and gives me a short nod.
I watch him go into the address where illegal gambling is taking place - how has my dad heard of this place? Things are way more out of control than I thought.
Five minutes pass, and I start getting antsy. What if I have gotten Declan in trouble? What if they hurt him? He was giving someone a ride home and ended up getting dragged into this. I promised him I’d stay in the car, but I can't sit here and do nothing. I'm so torn. It was important to him that I promised - I can't break it.
I’ll give it a couple more minutes.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I'd been holding when I see the door open and Declan walk out, followed by my dad. Dad looks so small and fragile next to him. Dad must wonder who the hell Declan is because he's never met him before. Declan looks like a fierce creature - the gambling guys would be idiots to mess with him - walking towards the car, frown on his handsome face, those muscles. I need to stop thinking like that right now. Still...I have eyes...and a pulse.
I climb out of the car and watch them approach.
“I'm sorry, Love,” Dad says quietly.
