“Are you sure?” Mom sounds hesitant. “They just gave everything to you? For free?” She sounds like someone who can’t believe they just won the lottery. Her hands stroke the buttery soft leather of the couch and she practically purrs.
“Yes. Everything is old. They would have thrown it all away anyway.” Yeah, it was free. Except I now easily owe them a couple of thousand dollars for the broken garage door because of my own stupidity.
“What is this?” I pick up a slip of paper that has fallen from the kitchen counter.
Mom sputters, “It must be, I mean, I think—”
I sigh. “It’s an eviction notice, isn’t it?”
I hate watching my mom wring her hands and her soft features twist with embarrassment and worry. “I’ll talk to the landlord. This isn’t what we agreed on last time. I’m sure we can work something out.” We have been behind on rent for a while now, but I have been paying them as much as I can every month. The coffee shop doesn’t pay much and doctor appointments are expensive.
I shake my head. “It’s okay. I’ll just find another job. The coffee shop is only part-time.”
Tears come to her lovely eyes and her lips tremble as she says, “You can’t just work all the time. What about school, Amelia? What about your life? You can’t live like this forever.”
Sick of having this argument again, I leave her alone. I close the bathroom door behind me and then I slam my hands on the bathroom counter, which is littered with Mom’s pill bottles. I try to find the humor in my situation, but there is none. There is never enough money or time for school. Of course, I don’t want to live like this forever, but I don’t want to live on the streets either. With Mom’s condition, she needs a warm and comfortable home and stability. I stare at the red-rimmed eyes in the mirror and scream silently. What am I supposed to do? Eventually, I splash cold water on my face before going to bed. Mom is already in bed with her back toward me. Her wheelchair sits empty by her side of the bed. Stealing into the double bed that I share with her, I try to make as little noise as possible. Mom stirs on the other side.
Before she opens her mouth, I rush to speak first. “Don’t worry, Mom.” I place a comforting hand on her thin shoulder. “I’ll take care of it.”
Chapter 2
Fletcher
Bits of debris fly into my face. For a moment, all three of us are choking on the painted wood chips and dust in the air. The girl with the side ponytail sits in the passenger seat and fans her hands in front of her nose.
The driver who has caused so much trouble is sitting in her monster of a vehicle, completely dazed at what she has just done. Her green eyes stare ahead while her hands are still clutching the steering wheel.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I ignore it. I have enough headaches without a truck driving through my garage door.
“I, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I must have forgotten to put the car in reverse. I’ve never done this before,” she murmurs. “I’ll pay you to get it fixed,” she adds quickly.
Her friend glares as she speaks. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she has no money to pay for the repairs.
My phone buzzes again, irritating me even further.
“Just leave.” They both open their mouths to speak, but I wave them away impatiently.
I check my phone and see a text message.
I’m in the bedroom.
I glance quickly and put the phone back into my pocket. I don’t want to deal with this now. I can feel a massive headache coming on, and it’s not just caused by the gaping hole in my garage door.
I scavenge around in the bathroom and find what I need behind the medicine cabinet. A bottle of expired aspirin sitting right next to Dad’s old heart pills. I take two without water and scan around me. The surrounding shambles seem to mirror the rest of my life, and I rub my face with my hands and try to clear my head.
It is strange to come back to this house after all these years. I left when I was just a kid. I didn’t come back when my first company struck it rich because I was too busy enjoying the accolades of my success. When my father fell ill, I sent money and arranged for doctors and nurses, but I was too busy trying to sell my second company. After he passed, I didn’t come back because I was trying to get my third and current company off the ground and dealing with the mess that Rachel left me.
Now, it is too late. The place has been boarded up for years and I have no family left and no reason to keep this house. Before getting rid of the place for good, I decide that the least I can do is go through everything that my father left me.
“Hello, Fletcher.” A sultry voice greets me as I enter the master bedroom. A woman with platinum blond hair in a dark red silk robe lounges leisurely on the bed. She bites the bright red tip of her manicured thumb and grins at me like a mischievous child sucking on a lollipop. Her robe is falling open and one of her shoulders is exposed. I can tell that she is completely naked underneath.
“How did you get in here?” My whole body tenses.
“Oh, I have my ways.” She winks at me with a heavy-lidded eye. She pushes herself off the bed and
