Chapter 10
Ten
Jade
The back door closed behind me before I made my way to the laundry room to throw in a load.
Wolf Brookes wasn’t some ambassador for good—he was a thief and drug dealer, for God’s sake.
But for me, he had always been the white knight.
I’d just seen a glimmer of the guy I’d once loved so much.
The one who cared enough not to sit back and stay silent when he thought something was wrong.
And that auction was wrong. I’d done a lot of healing over the years—thanks to Wolf—but not enough to be able to face that situation, and he knew it.
His standing up for me had restored a little bit of my faith in humanity.
I grabbed a dirty hamper and hauled it onto the lid of the machine.
I’d just tossed in the last pair of socks when my phone vibrated in my pocket. My mom’s name flashed across the screen, and my stomach knotted in anticipation the same way it always did. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, honey.” She sounded…bright. Almost cheerful.
The tension in my chest eased a little. “Is everything okay?” I reached for the detergent with my free hand.
“Yes. Your father had his appointment today. The doctor prescribed some new pills for him. She said they should make him better.” Make him better…from a condition they couldn’t even diagnose. “He might even be able to go back to work.” She sounded hopeful, for the first time in forever.
I bit my tongue, not wanting to squash it. Still, I had to ask… “How much do the pills cost, Mom?”
There was a beat of silence, and I knew I’d taken a crap on her glimmer of joy. “Not that much.”
“How much?” I dumped the detergent into the washing machine and closed the lid.
“Two hundred a month.” It was far less than I’d expected from the rip-off drug companies, but still, an extra two hundred dollars a month…
And they’d have to come up with it immediately to fill the script.
I let out a breath, fighting the urge to cry.
I had hoped the money from Rogue’s drugs would buy me more time, but it seemed there was never enough time, enough money, enough hours in the damn day.
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “Well, I’m glad he’s doing better, Mom.”
“Please, don’t worry, honey. I have enough in the grocery jar.” The jar she put her diner tips in, literally, to feed them. Not that she ate much these days, thanks to Marleen and her cabbage soup. “And besides, he’ll be able to go back to work soon.”
Based on how my dad had looked when I’d seen him a few weeks back, I couldn’t believe that. I felt like a hamster spinning a wheel that went nowhere—not even toward getting my dad healthy—and my already high emotions couldn’t handle the constant frustration.
“Okay.” I tried to cover the crack in my voice by twisting the dial on the machine. “I have to go, but I’m happy you’re happy. Mom.”
“Jade—”
I hung up before she could finish, and felt awful for it, but I just couldn’t hold it together.
My palms braced against the washer top, and I dropped my head forward, feeling the weight of my responsibilities crush me.
I wanted to hope that those magic, two-hundred-dollar pills really would help him, but I was all out of hope and positivity for the day.
The creak of floorboards behind me sounded over the washer. “Jesus, Rogue is such a dick.” Cassie appeared beside me. “Trying to sell me like some kind of cheap whore. I mean—” Her hand landed on my shoulder—“Hey, are you okay?”
I turned to face her, hoping I looked better than I felt. “I’m fine.”
Her brows crumpled as she studied my face. “What happened? Was Wolf an asshole? I thought?—”
“No. He’s… It’s fine. My Mom called.”
“Oh shit. Your dad?”
“The doctors put him on new drugs.”
“That’s…” A frown pulled at her features. “Good, right? If they work?”
God, I was such an asshole. “Yeah, it is. I just need to find another two hundred a month to pay for it.” Which I wouldn’t mind if I thought those pills would actually cure him.
Cassie knew my situation inside and out. From Lonely Fans to picking up extra shifts to pick-pocketing… She and Monroe had been through it all with me.
“I’ll be fine.” I brushed lint off the dryer. “I just need to find some cash.” Like it just grew on trees.
“So, let’s go to The Platinum Club tonight.”
The last thing I wanted to do was go to that bar, but the thought of sitting in Wolf’s room, stressing myself out, not doing anything, was unappealing.
“Rogue isn’t chaining you to his bed until he auctions you off?” I asked.
“He’ll probably try. Which is exactly why we should go. Right now!” She gripped my shoulders and steered me away from the washer. “Two birds, one stone. We have two hours until curfew. Now, let’s turn you into a honey-trap.”
A honey-trap meant a too short dress that showed way more cleavage than I was comfortable with, but in a place like The Platinum Club, it provided a degree of anonymity amongst the hookers who frequented the place.
The clientele was middle-aged men, most of whom didn’t look beyond the legs and tits they thought I was selling.
I tucked a stranger’s wallet into my purse, then cut through the thin haze of smoke, able to feel the eyes crawling over my exposed skin.
The low buzz of conversation mixed with the twang of country music as I shouldered through the cloying scent of beer, body odor, and Old Spice to take a seat at the bar. I could see Cassie waiting in the corner of the room, her red dress hard to miss.
I’d barely adjusted myself on the rickety stool before an older man in a denim jacket and cowboy hat sat beside me.
He flashed me a toothy grin. “What’s a purdy thing like you doing all by her lonesome?” His gaze dragged over me.
I reminded myself why I was doing this. My mom. My dad… I forced a smile that I hoped hid my disgust. “Just waiting on a friend…”
“Welp, I tell you what…” He leaned to the side and pulled out his wallet. “Why don’t you let ole’ Harold here buy you a drink while you wait?” God, he was actually talking about himself in the third person.
“Oh, I’m good.” I didn’t trust anyone to give me a drink and sure as hell not in a place like this. “Thank you, though.”
His hand landed on my knee, and I tensed. As much as that touch made my skin crawl, I forced myself to remain seated.
“Oh, come on now. A lady always enjoys a drink. How ‘bout one of them fancy sex on the beach drinks you women love?”
He flagged down the bartender, and I caught a flash of red from the corner of my eye. Thank God. I didn’t want to talk to this guy any longer than necessary.
Cassie slid onto the empty stool on the other side of him, and his neck practically broke. “Oh, well, hello there.” She swept a finger over the brim of his hat. “ Cowboy .” Man, she knew how to lay it on thick…
While he was busy gawking at her, I carefully slipped two fingers in the pocket of his worn denim jacket, snagged his wallet, and dropped it into my bag.
“Really?” I said, gripping his wrist and tossing his hand off my leg. “I’m right here!” I huffed, then hopped off the stool and stormed away.
It never failed to amaze me when a guy seriously thought two separate girls, half his age, actually wanted him. I needed some of that overconfidence. Or perhaps he just thought we were hookers fishing for a John.
Right before I reached the corridor that led to the restrooms, someone grabbed my arm.
Adrenaline flooded my system, preparing me to fight or flee an angry, wallet-less man, but when I turned around, it wasn’t Harold touching me without my permission. It was Brent.
“Jade, I?—”
“Don’t fucking touch me.” The audacity.
His hand dropped. Of all the times for him to show up… What was he even doing here?
“Now turn around, fuck off, and leave me alone.”
As if his five ignored calls that day alone weren’t hint enough…
“I made a mistake.”
A loud, disbelieving laugh exploded from my chest. A mistake was what you did on an algebra test. Eating another girl’s pussy was not a mistake.
“Fuck you, Brent!”
I turned and strode away from him, my attention pausing on a booth across the bar.
More specifically, the large figure sitting in said booth hunched over a beer.
Of course, because the universe liked to play sick jokes on me.
As if he sensed me there, Wolf’s gaze snapped to mine before drifting over my skimpy dress.
My face grew hot. I didn’t have a good reason for being here, dressed like this.
At least, none that I cared to share. I wasn’t giving him more material to blackmail me with.
Hopefully, he hadn’t seen Brent, because in this dress, I knew how that looked.
Not that I should have cared what Wolf thought. Yet…I did.
Wolf’s attention shifted when a scantily clad blonde sat down across from him.
Boobs that could have doubled as buoyancy aides spilled out of her low-cut dress.
Compared to her, I was dressed like a nun.
She flashed him a smile and reached across the table, tracing the tattoos of his forearm. A nasty shot of jealousy hit my veins.
I wanted to tear my gaze away, if only to convince myself that I didn’t care what the hell Wolf did, or with whom, but I couldn’t.
People pressed in around me, and I stood there like a rock in the flow of a river, watching.
Wolf slid a rubber penguin across the table, then subtly took the offered cash.
Suddenly, the penguins made sense. They weren’t dog toys. He was using them to deal drugs.
“Jade!” Brent again. How could someone be so committed and uncommitted at the same time?
I turned away from the drug deal, shouldering through the crowd with Brent’s nagging voice at my heels.
“Jade, I love you!”
That comment ignited a fuse, and I lost it. I paused mid-stride, spun on my heel, and punched him right in the nose.
“What the…” He clutched his face, his eyes wide with shock.