Chapter 8 Maddison #2
“Way to stroke your ego,” I tease, nudging him with my shoulder. “But you are a great coach. Ruthless, but great.”
“How are your legs?” he wonders, pausing as someone comes to take our order.
He asks me what I want, and I make my order small, but with how much he ends up ordering, I feel like he’s gotten extra food, as if he caught on that I was keeping mine to a minimum because he’s paying.
Once he pays, we’re given a number and take a seat at an empty table.
I release a sigh as I plop down in the seat. “To answer your question from before, they were totally awful, but Finn helped me stretch them out.”
“When you guys had lunch today?”
“Yeah.”
He bobs his head up and down, and I get the impression he might be uncomfortable with Finn and me spending time together. I’m unsure why.
He fiddles with a napkin holder that’s on the table. “Did you do hill climbs at your high school?”
“Sort of. But never as intensely as we did today. I’m sure it’ll be for my benefit in the long run, because I know you know what you’re doing.”
“So, for tryouts—at least last year—they make you run both a mile, and then a 5k, and that one has a pretty intense hill, which is why I work hill climbs pretty intensely into the routine. When you get onto the team, it won’t be as bad. They just make tryouts intense to weed out people.”
“That makes sense.” I recline back in the chair, and it lets out a noise that makes me wonder if it’s about to break. “I’m a little nervous. I get that way sometimes. I even threw up once.”
His brows rise in surprise. “Really?”
I nod. “It’s not that uncommon.”
“I know, but you don’t seem like the nervous type.”
“I don’t frequently get nervous, but when I do, I hide it well.”
He scans me over. “You might be the toughest person I know.”
I rest my arms on the table. “You barely know me.”
“I know, but from what I’ve seen so far, you’re tough.
” He contemplates something. “I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while but was worried you might get upset, so if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine, but I feel like I should ask.
” He sinks his teeth into his bottom lip.
“That thing with Drew … what exactly is that about?”
I sigh heavily. “I had a feeling you were going to ask about that.”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he quickly says. “I know we’ve only known each other for a few weeks.”
He’s right. We have only known each other for a few weeks, and yet I feel like I can trust him more than anyone else that I’ve met.
“My father’s a drug dealer,” I confess softly, hoping no one else can overhear this conversation.
“He got arrested a while ago, and to lessen his sentence, he told the police who his supplier was. And Drew works for the guy, so everything my father has done falls on me, thanks to daddy dearest telling them I’ll work off his debt in exchange for him getting left alone.
So, yeah … there’s a bounty on me for that.
” I’m staring at the table, worried about what expression he’ll be wearing.
When I glance up, I can tell he’s shocked, but he does look freaked out, so that’s a plus.
“Jesus Christ, Maddy,” he finally speaks as he slumps back in the chair. “Your father is an asshole.”
“I guess we have that in common.”
“We really do. But this … He’s putting your life at risk.” His gaze sears into mine. “What happens if Drew catches you?”
“They’ll force me to deal drugs for them.” I shrug like it’s no big deal. It is, but the normalcy of it is unsettling.
“How would they force you to do that?” he asks, his naivete about northside showing through.
“You’ve heard of human trafficking, right?” It’s more of a rhetorical question, but he nods, anyway. “Well, when people are trafficked, they get drugged up so they’re mostly out of it and can be controlled. Drew would likely do that to me because he won’t trust me. And for a good reason.”
Talking about this reminds me of all the shit waiting for me on the other side of Royal City.
“What would it take to get him to leave you alone?” River suddenly asks, wetting his lips with his tongue.
“Nothing. My dad owes him big time so, until I’ve worked enough for Drew to deem his debt dissolved, he’ll basically own me.” I have to take a breath before I enter panic mode. “He does already.”
“Yeah, but …” He hesitates. “He could be bought off.”
It suddenly clicks what he’s implying.
I promptly shake my head. “No way.”
“Just hear me out,” he starts but is interrupted as the waitress walks up to our table and sets down our food.
Once she leaves, I hastily tell River, “I’m not going to let you pay off my father’s debt.”
He picks up the taco and eyes it warily as a glob of meat falls out of it. “Why not? Money doesn’t mean anything to my family. We have a ton of it, to the point where it’s completely wasted on pointless shit. So, why not let me use it to take this bounty off of you.”
“Because I don’t want handouts.” I squirm at the discomfort of this conversation.
“It makes me feel uncomfortable, like I’d be in debt to you, which is better than being in debt to Drew, but still makes me feel like crap.
” I pick up one of my tacos and take a huge bite to distract myself from the buzzing anxiety in my veins.
“I don’t want to upset you, so I’ll let this drop for now. But please just think about it, okay? It really wouldn’t be a big deal, and I want to help you.”
I chew my taco while studying his sincere expression. It’s his sincerity that makes me nod, though I know there’s hardly any chance I’ll take him up on the offer.
That seems to satisfy him, and he smiles in return. “Good.” He starts to reach for a taco.
“Before we close up this subject, I need to ask you something.” I was going to wait until later, but since we’re on the subject. “Did you pay for my bail?”
He doesn’t even have to answer—his expression says it all.
“River.” I drop my taco and lower my head into my hands. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I felt so bad for you,” he answers honestly.
“You were stuck in jail, and you just looked … Your eyes …” He summons a deep breath.
“There was just something about the sadness in your eyes that I felt I could relate to. Like your helplessness … I feel that sometimes, and it's just … I wanted to help you. Please don’t make a big deal about it, because it wasn’t. ”
Any anger I felt reduces. I think, at the core of River, he’s just a guy who likes to help people.
“I’m going to pay you back,” I swear as I lift my head and look at him. “I don’t care if it takes me a decade.”
“You don’t have to,” he states.
“I know I don’t for your sake. But, for mine, I do.” I pick up a taco.
He wavers, eyeing me closely. “All right.” Then his eyes drop to the taco. “So, is this really good? Because mine’s leaking.”
I giggle as I reach for a napkin. “Just try it. I promise it’s good. In fact, the leakier it is, the better.”
He arches his brow dubiously, and then I watch as he stuffs part of it into his mouth. He chews it for a moment.
“Well, how is it?” I ask as I clean the grease off my fingers.
“Good,” he says around a mouthful. “Like, really good.”
I collect another taco. “See? Not everything has to be expensive to be good.”
He carries my gaze. “Trust me; I know.”
I have a feeling he’s not talking about the food, and my stomach swoops a bit.
I internally grimace, knowing I’m getting further and further into a mess but not seeming to care enough to stop myself.
Story of my damn life.