Chapter 19 #2
“You act like you have a choice.”
“I do, and the answer is no.”
He grabbed my shoulder to spin me back, and I smacked his arm away, going on automatic defense. “Keep your hands off me.”
A small spark of surprise shot through his features, and to be honest, it made my stomach hurt. It was obvious he really did see me as some pathetic weakling who would roll over and do what I was told.
I didn’t survive my parents, living on the street, and my own body just to roll over and play sketchy DoorDash for the neighborhood chemist.
“Listen, kid,” he growled, fisting his hand in my shirt and yanking me forward. The sudden jerk made my teeth slam into my tongue, but I showed no pain. I was good at that. “I own you now. You do what I say, when I say it.”
“And if I don’t?” I challenged, locking eyes with him.
His lips thinned, challenge sparking in his stare. “If you don’t, I’ll take you apart piece by piece and make you wish you’d never been born. And when I finally get tired of listening to you whimper, I’ll keep your skull as a cautionary tale to all those who come after you.”
“It’s just this job?”
He smirked like the threat had done its job. “Sure. Until the next one.”
“You gave me a couple pills. That’s hardly equivalent to a life of servitude.”
His face went blank, and I realized he didn’t understand what I’d said. He should really read more.
“I owe you one favor, not a lot of them,” I said plainly.
“You owe as many as I say you owe,” he barked. “But after this first job, you’ll get a cut for every run you make.” He sneered at my shoebox apartment. “It’s obvious you could use the money.”
“How much?” I asked as if I was considering.
“Ten percent and not a penny more,” he answered. “And you keep your mouth shut. I hear even a whisper about anything, and I’ll cut out your tongue.”
I’d had a lot of opportunity to do some sketchy stuff in the last few years. Living on the streets was the land of opportunity if you wanted to sell your body, your morals, or your soul.
I would admit that sometimes it got really tempting. I was no angel, but deep down, I knew whatever I sold would be something I’d never get back.
Also, ten percent was crazy work, especially in this economy. He could have at least made the offer more attractive. That’s just bad business.
“How much were the pills you gave me? I’ll just pay you for them, and we can call it even.
” I had a small stash of emergency funds.
Technically, the last few hundred-dollar bills from Hiro.
I’d hoarded them like some sickly Victorian child seeing an orange for the first time.
Even when I really could have used the cash, I kept it locked away because having something that he once touched and had given to me meant more than anything I could buy.
“One thousand.”
He dropped the number like a grenade and blew up my brain because one thousand dollars? Was he serious? No way had those little feel-good pills I’d popped cost that much.
I tried not to show the shock on my face, but listen, my face just did things without asking me first. “It was two pills.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Inflation.”
A lightbulb went off over my head, nearly blinding me with its obviousness.
This wasn’t about the money. Even if I scrounged up a thousand, he would say I owed him more.
This was about control and dominance and having me under his thumb.
He’d built up a strong reputation in the last few years.
Everyone knew not to cross him. He needed a dealer—a lapdog—and thought I was an easy target.
Me asking for those pills only made me easier.
Stupid.
Just because I was stupid didn’t mean I had to keep the trend going. I will not be stupider! Or a lapdog!
He reached into his pocket and pulled out something black. “Here’s your burner. Don’t use it. Answer it when it rings. You don’t, I will smash that laptop and everything else in this shithole.”
He tossed the phone on my desk, and I stared at it like it was a snake with three heads.
It was a good time to nod and watch him walk out of here. I could figure out what to do later. Maybe flush the phone, tell him it never rang because it was faulty.
The tiny apartment turned claustrophobic, the temperature hot, the walls narrowing with every passing second. Stuff spilled out of the open cabinet doors, my laptop was open, and my manuals were scattered around.
Where was my headset?
It wasn’t where it always was and caused a burst of panic to ricochet off my ribs. That thing had been expensive, and I needed it to do my job. He had no right to come into my house, into my life, and mess everything up!
I was already tangled up in knots with the appearance of Hiro, and I so did not need this.
Turning my back on Tommy, I hurried to my desk to glance through the papers and manuals. I even looked under my laptop.
“Lose something?”
God, he was so smug. Clearly, he enjoyed watching me scurry around in a panic. The annoyance already bubbling in me turned molten, and anger flared.
“What did you do?” I hollered. “Where is my headset?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I picked up the gray stapler on the corner of the card table and launched it at his head.