Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Most importantly, if I ever have a kid, I’ll make sure his belly is always full of good nutritious food. My kid won’t have to go to his best friend’s house to get a decent meal. Not while I’m breathing.
We’re meeting on the edge of the Barrett property. River’s parents’ ranch is adjacent to Old Man Larson’s on the southern side, and a big oak stands right at the property line. Everything we need is waiting for us there. I’m up early to make the walk. I’m not riding my bike. Brett told us not to bring anything we didn’t need, including our bikes. We can’t chance anything leaving a trace that we were there.
A minute later, I reach Jake’s house and wait outside for him.
He’s running late.
Damn.
I look up and down the dark street. When I see the headlights of a car turning onto the road, I duck into a shadow to avoid being seen. It’s probably not a cop, but anyone might wonder what a fifteen-year-old kid is doing out at this hour.
I’m tempted to knock on the door, but I can’t risk waking up Jake’s mom. Finally I steal around the side of the house and peek into his bedroom window.
He’s there, he’s awake…and he’s not alone.
I lightly tap on the window. “Jake!” I whisper.
He walks to the window and opens it. Inside his room, Marnie, his girlfriend, sits on his bed.
Jesus fuck. What the hell is she doing here? Jake knows what’s at stake this morning.
“Hey, Seb,” he says.
“Uh…Jake…what the hell’s going on?”
“She had a big fight with her mom and stepdad,” he says. “She came here last night.”
“You’re going to have to get rid of her.” I lower my voice. “You haven’t…”
“No, of course not. I haven’t told her anything,” he whispers. “I can’t believe you’d even think that.”
“Could you please get your ass out here, so we can talk without her possibly hearing us?”
“Fine.” He closes the window, sits down on the bed next to Marnie and says something to her, and then leaves his bedroom. A moment later he creeps along the side of the house. “Seb, come into the back.”
I follow him into his backyard, where we take shelter away from his back porch light. “We’re running late,” I say. “Brett’s got this thing timed to the millisecond.”
“I know.” He pulls out a pack of smokes. “Want one?”
“Hell, no, I don’t want one. And you shouldn’t either.”
“It’s just nerves.” He lights up and takes a long drag. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell Marnie to leave.”
“I don’t see why the whole plan has to suffer just because you’re pussy-whipped,” I say. “Fuck, Jake.”
He takes another drag, his jaw going rigid. “There are things you don’t know.”
“There are things I don’t have time to know. We’ve got to move.”
“I told Riv. I…”
“Christ, Jake. What?”
“Marnie. She’s pregnant.”
Jaw drop. I was actually kidding about Jake being pussy-whipped. I didn’t think they were doing the deed. I wasn’t sure Jake had it in him. He’s always waxing about scruples and such—being our moral compass. Then again, he’s a hormonal teenaged boy like I am. Of course he’s fucking his girlfriend.
“That’s what the fight was about,” Jake continues. “Her mom found out and her stepdad called her a whore and told her she had to have an abortion. But Marnie doesn’t want an abortion.”
“What do you want, Jake?”
“I want…” He riffles his fingers through his light-blond hair. “I don’t know what the hell I want, Seb. Who does? I know I never thought I’d be a father at sixteen, but I’ll never tell Marnie what to do.”
“Damn…” I eye Jake’s cigarette. I’m tempted, but I hold onto my willpower. Smoking could ruin my voice, and I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t sing.
He takes another drag and blows the smoke out his nose. “I thought she’d go back home, but she hasn’t, and I can’t make her, Seb. She’s fucking pregnant.”
I nod, racking my brain. We’re already ten minutes late. “Tell her I need you. That my mom fell in a drunken stupor or something. She won’t have any problem believing that.”
He nods, taking one last drag and then stamping out the cigarette on the cement deck. “Okay. She’ll probably buy that.” He walks back into his house.
And I stand there wondering how the hell we all got into this in the first place.
Present Day…
“You going to be okay, Riv?” I ask.
“I just need to call my mom. Make sure everything’s—”
Someone knocks on the door to River’s suite. He opens the door, and Brett walks in.
“Hey,” Brett says. “Been looking for you two. Evangeline wants to talk to us, and then I need to talk to all three of you.”
“Easy, Brett,” Seb says. “Riv just got some news.”
“About the break-in?” Brett nods. “Alex just filled me in. Evangeline can wait. Let’s go call Monica, Riv. I know you want to make sure she’s okay, and I’d like to hear her voice too.”