Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115590 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115590 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
“We’ve already been over this.”
The girl had shown up to have the same conversation we’d had earlier in the hallway. Unless she was getting on her knees and pulling out my dick, I wasn’t giving her shit.
“I’m not sucking your dick. You don’t want money.” Monroe folded her arms over her chest on a sharp exhale. “So, what do you want?” Relentless and desperate enough to offer herself up like a fishnet-clad sacrificial lamb, which meant endless possibilities for me. “I’ll swap it,” she said. “For a more valuable one.”
I didn’t need her help to steal cars. Between my boys and me, we had that covered. And a hot girl like Monroe could do a lot more for me than lift vehicles.
“I don’t want a more valuable one. But…” I took a puff from my cigarette, staring at her long enough that I caught her swallow. “I would take three months of your unfailing service.”
“Service?” Her eyes narrowed. “Again, I’m not screwing you.”
“I’m not talking about sex. Think of it as a personal assistant.”
The bump of speakers filled the silence, the hum of conversation. Monroe’s nostrils flared. I could almost see her weighing her options, and I couldn’t help but wonder why the hell she wanted that piece of shit car so bad. I dropped my cigarette into a beer can, then shrugged. “Don’t want it bad enough? No problem.”
On a groan, Monroe dropped her arms from her chest. “I need the car now,” she said. “I can’t wait—”
“You can have it tonight.”
That snapped her mouth shut. A slight furrow appeared in her brow. Making a deal with me—especially one this vague—Monroe had no way to know what kind of shit she may end up involved in. “If I agree to this… it needs to stay quiet.”
“So it’s a deal then?”
“Fine.” The hint of a smile pulled at her lips. “Where’s the car?”
If I had to guess, she thought she’d get the car and bail on this deal, and I couldn’t blame her. Nothing held her to it—except me.
I rose from the couch, towering over her as I forced her back a few feet. “And don’t be stupid. You know what I’m capable of.” I twisted a tendril of her red hair around my finger and tugged it. “Don’t you, Roe?”
Her jaw ticced, hate radiating from her like stink off shit before I turned away. I was already through the front door when her angry footfalls chased me down the steps. “Where’s the car, Zepp?”
“Oh. That car? I sold it,” I threw over my shoulder.
“What! I’m not doing shit for you without it.”
“Shut up with your whining already. I’m taking you to get it.” I had sold the thing the day we stole it. But even if that car sat parked in my backyard, I would have sold it before I “gave” it to Monroe. No way in hell I would take a cut off my earnings.
Thirty minutes later, she had the car. And I had her—for three months.
4
Monroe
Monday morning, I stood outside the doors of the high school, watching students hurry through the congested halls while anger still pulsed through my veins. Zepp had dropped me at the gate of Karl’s Carmart on Friday night with a pair of bolt cutters. I made a deal with him for a car I had to steal. Again! To make matters worse, I had to hotwire it, which meant Bubba knocked a hundred bucks off. And of course, Jerry made me pay for that out of my pocket. Like I didn’t make him enough money. Now I was indebted to Zeppelin Hunt, of all people. He was into stealing, dealing, and illegal shit that I didn’t need to be more involved in than I was already.
I wove between kids with backpacks and hurried through the combination on my locker, thinking that maybe I could fly under the radar and not draw Zepp’s attention.
Jade popped up beside me, fiddling with her lock before yanking it open and cramming her backpack inside. “Good news. Mom ungrounded me.”
“How did you get out of that?”
She glared at me with a frown. “I went to church.”
“So Jesus has forgiven you for smoking weed in your bedroom?”
“Probably not. But Mom thinks He has so…”
I laughed. “Well, I’m working tonight, or I’d come and hang out with you.”
She slammed her locker door, then leaned against it. “How that place is still open is beyond me. They should have been busted by now.”
“Because Dayton cops don’t give a shit about a few seventeen-year-olds getting their tits out.”
“True.”
I hated my job. I really did, but it was good money, and it was nearly impossible to find work in Dayton. I had three choices: stripping, drugs, or prostitution. And stripping was the lesser of those evils.
We moved away from the lockers and started through the corridor. Jade was rambling about some girl in her calculus class when she stopped mid-sentence. “Oh shit, Monroe.” She nudged me with her elbow, her gaze aimed at the end of the hall where Zepp was walking straight toward me. “He’s so scary and hot, and God, I would so fuck him.”