Chapter 2 #2
She’d witnessed it once when she’d arrived early for a tutoring session.
The man’s voice echoed through the cavernous house, shouting Shane’s name and calling his own son all sorts of horrible things.
But instead of leaving, April had marched on into the house, following Mr. Foti’s bellows until she found them in the library.
Shane got his height from his father, but not the man’s bulk, built through countless hours of boxing.
Shane had been backed against a wall, arms up in defense.
As soon as Mr. Foti realized she was there, his demeanor changed.
Laughing, he tried to pass off beating his son as just horsing around.
April was sickened when Shane agreed with the obviously false story, but she went along with it for his sake.
Only later did Shane admit to being beaten all his life.
He swore April to secrecy—one of a thousand secrets they kept from the world.
Maybe now that I’ve left, he’ll feel safer meeting me here. He’ll have a place to go.
After she got her bags, April pulled out her phone.
Coverage was spotty on the bus, but she thought she’d have full coverage now that she was in a city.
April had thought about calling Shane for the last two hundred miles.
No, the last five hundred if she was being honest with herself.
If she wanted people to give her a second chance, then she needed to be ready to give other people second chances, too.
April listened to the phone ring. Would Shane even answer? Would she really tell him where she was, ask him to take a risk and join her?
Shane picked up. Before he even had a chance to say hello, April started in.
“I know you’re afraid of what your dad will do, but Shane, you’re stronger than him. You have your own dreams, and I believe in you. You can still leave and come with me. I’m in Vegas. You could fly here—”
“Shane will be doing no such thing.”
April froze, the blood in her heart turning to ice water.
“Mr. Foti.”
“Don’t ‘Mr. Foti’ me, April. My son will not be joining you in Vegas. I’m glad to know he’s afraid of me.”
April winced. Now she’d just betrayed Shane’s biggest secret. He wasn’t afraid of his father—Shane was terrified of the monster.
“He shouldn’t be afraid of you,” April said in her coldest voice. “Bullies like you are weak little cowards.”
“Listen here, you little bitch,” Daniel Foti snapped back. “I could ruin your family tomorrow if I wanted to. How’s that for weak?”
April shivered. Mr. Foti ran the bank where her parents had taken out a loan for the start-up costs and the building housing their coffee shop, Riversong. “What do you mean?”
Mr. Foti gave her a laugh full of spite. “That loan your idiot father took out? He didn’t read the terms closely enough. I can call it in at any time for any reason. I doubt your parents have the cash to cover it. I’m not the weak one, he is.”
Mr. Foti went on. “Shane came to his senses and realized what a whore you are. That you only wanted him for his money and that he’d be throwing away his life if he ran away with you. He’s been accepted into my alma mater back east and he’s going in the fall.”
The ice water in April’s veins froze solid. College had been her dream and she’d worked so hard for it. All Shane had to do was be born in the right family. And the kicker was, he didn’t even want to go.
“He was accepted thanks to me,” April seethed. “I’m the one who made sure he didn’t flunk any of his math classes.”
“You flatter yourself, you arrogant little girl. Go ahead and gamble away that money I gave you to leave town, and then we’ll see how proud you are when you’re living in the gutter. Maybe it won’t bother you though. You came from trash and you will always be trash.”
April had stopped listening. “What do you mean you gave me money to leave town?”
“The money Shane said he gave you.” Then Mr. Foti laughed.
“Don’t tell me you thought it was from him.
The sentiment in the letter was his though—he wants you gone as much as I and his mother do.
But that money was from me. Remember that.
And remember too, if you ever try to contact him or set foot in Colorado again, I will destroy you and your worthless family.
I’ll bury them so deep in debt they’ll have to take out another loan to buy a stick of gum. ”
The line went dead.
April shut her eyes and pressed her lips together.
Life was so unfair. She didn’t know if she should believe what Mr. Foti said about Shane or not.
It hurt to think he didn’t love her, but people like her didn’t have the luxury to mope over a broken heart.
She needed food and a place to stay. She wheeled her luggage away from the station and toward the street.
The bright lights of The Strip glowed in the distance.
A beam of white light shot straight up into the sky and April wondered if that was Luxor. Well, she was about to find out.
Even in the middle of the night, the street was fairly busy. April raised her hand and waved the minute she saw a yellow cab. She’d never taken a taxi in her life, but she wasn’t stupid. She’d watched enough TV shows to know how to hail one.
The cab slowed down and parked alongside the curb. April was relieved to see that the driver was a woman. The trunk popped open and April quickly put her suitcases into it, then slid into the back seat. There was a photo of the driver with her name under it. Bunni.
“Hi there!” April said in the most chipper voice she could muster. “Thank you so much for picking me up. Could you take me to...oh, what was the name of the casino? Gosh, I’m so tired, I can’t even remember. It’s not one of the big ones. It’s smaller, still family-owned? Do you know it maybe?”
The cabbie looked at April’s reflection in her rearview mirror. “You old enough to set foot in a casino?”
April gave Bunni a small laugh. “I get asked that all the time. I’m twenty-two.
” She opened her purse and took out a driver’s license.
It was a real one, not a fake, but it had belonged to a twenty-two-year-old woman who looked a lot like April, and even shared her first name though not her last—April Meyer.
Shane had bought it for her. God knew how he’d found it—or possibly talked some woman into faking one—but that’s what having money could do for you.
It could create an entirely new life just waiting for you to slip into it.
“Here.” She tried to hand Bunni her license but the woman waved her off.
“Don’t ever hand a stranger your ID in this city. You don’t know me from Eve. I could grab it, kick you outta the cab, sell it, you’d be screwed.”
“Oh.” April quickly pulled her hand back and shoved the license into her purse. “Right.” She laughed nervously. “I told you I was exhausted.”
The cabbie continued looking at her in the rearview. “You ever been here before?”
“Sure, lots of times.”
“No you haven’t.” The cabbie sighed. “What do I do with you?”
April pushed down the urge to tell Bunni to take her to the nearest cheap but decent motel where she could stay the night, then come back tomorrow and buy a ticket straight home.
“You can take me to a smaller casino with hotel rooms.”
“How old are you really, girl?”
April sat up straighter and squared her shoulders. “I’m not a girl. I’m a legal adult.”
“So eighteen.” Bunni sighed again. “If you were younger, I’d take you straight to the cops. They could figure out what to do with you. But I can’t because, like you said, you’re an adult.” She said the word sarcastically. Then she squinted. “You’re alone. You got some pimp waiting here for you?”
“Oh God no!” April squirmed at the thought.
“He call himself your boyfriend instead? Tell you he’s going to take care of you?”
“No!” She immediately thought of the last guy who said he’d take care of her. Shane. And look how that turned out. No, I don’t have...anyone.”
“Anyone? Or anyone here?”
April looked down at her hands. Her parents had to be worried sick by now. The note she’d left said California. They didn’t even know where she really was.
“Look, kid. Take my advice. Go home, wherever home is. I can tell you’ve got a good family and they’re worried about you.”
April looked up quickly. “How?”
Bunni laughed. “Living here, you learn to read faces real quick. What’s your name?”
“A-April.”
“Go home, April. Look, lemme take you someplace decent. Spend the night. I’ll give you my number, you call me tomorrow, I’ll bring you back here, you head back home. You got enough money for that?”
“I do.” She nodded and sucked in her lower lip. It was the responsible thing to do.
It was also giving up before she’d even started.
There’s nothing but more shame, more humiliation back home.
April wondered if Shane had told everyone what a fool she was. How she believed the school’s golden boy would throw his life away and run off with the town trash.
“I have enough money…to stay here,” April told Bunni. “Now please, take me to a casino with a hotel.”
Bunni shook her head. “It’s your life, kid.
I tried.” She lit a cigarette and cracked her window open, then pulled away from the curb.
Bunni didn’t say a word as the cab crawled through the Vegas streets.
April watched out the window as the lights grew brighter.
Her stomach tightened in anticipation and fear.
Where would Bunni take her? Did she have enough money?
Casinos rose on both sides of the Strip, impossibly big. People lined the sidewalks, everyone laughing and drinking while showgirls in feathers weaved through, stopping only for photographs. April’s belly loosened. She could do this.
Bunni kept driving—past all the casinos.
“Where are we going?” April asked in alarm. She turned to look out the rear window at the receding lights as her fear kicked back into high gear.