Page 49 of A Vicious Rumor

I dropped the spoon I was holding and looked at him. I tried to recover. "I don't know what you mean. I haven't been working."

"Please let's just drop the charade, Rock. I have sources. They tell me things. I know you've put away quite a bit of money by doing things better left unsaid."

"Yeah," I said.

"Do they know you're here now?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"Do they think you're still living with your mother?"

I nodded.

"You do realize that they own you now, yes?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I know," I said, trying not to think of what happened this morning with Lily, trying to remind myself that this is exactly why I had to do what I did to her. I just wished I hadn’t gotten so wrapped up in her last night that I could have realized it before we slept together. The whole thing wasn’t fair to her. But, last night I’d just been thinking with my dick.

"So, do you have any idea how you're actually going to get that money into your family's business?"

My eyes widened. He'd asked the question I'd been struggling to find an answer for. Before all this started I was just focused on getting cash. Now that I had it, I didn't know what to do with it.

"No," I admitted to him.

"Not to worry," he said. "We'll work on that while you're here and before school starts."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What's the catch?"

He smiled in a way that made me uncomfortable. "Let's say, you'll owe me a favor."

15

LILY

I looked at the clock on the wall. Five minutes left of my shift. Work had been pretty painful. In fact, everything had been pretty painful today. I hadn't cried when I got home last night. My mom didn't ask what happened, but I don't think she had to. I think she already knew.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kate asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah," I said. "I'm fine. I'm sure the feeling will wear off eventually. I'm just going to stick to my routine, anyway," I said. What I really wanted to do was go home and sit in bed, but I also knew that would be giving him power over me, and I didn't want to do that.

"I think that's a smart idea," Kate said.

I nodded, watched the minute hand move to 12 and gave my friend a hug. "I'll see you later," I said, pulling off my apron.

"Okay," Kate said, waving goodbye to me as I made my way out the back exit. I climbed into the car I shared with my mom. It worked out because on weekends she was off for work, so I was able to use the car to get to work and to drive myself to the Senior Center.

I took a moment to sit in silence in the car. The events of the last 24 hours kept running through my head despite my attempt to stop it. I shook my head in hopes of shaking it all loose and started up the engine.

It wasn't a far drive to the Senior Center, so I really didn't have much time to wallow. I made my way inside, smiled as best as I could at the woman at the check-in desk, and made my way over to Ronny. Before I could even sit down, he let out a long whistle.

"What's wrong, sweets?" he asked me.

I put my elbows on the table and my head in my hands. "Everything," I said.

"The boy, isn't it?" Ronny asked, more as a statement than a question.

I scrunched my face and nodded.

"I had a feeling about him," Ronny said.

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