It"s all coming together in my head now. "You crooked f.u.c.ker. What, you help them launder money? You idiot, they played you for the dumb chump you are. How much did you bet?"
He shakes his head, and his lips are trembling. His eyes are unfocused now. He"s whispering to himself, but I can"t make it out.
There"s a bruise forming on his neck from where I held him. That"s going to be tough to explain to Ca.s.sie.
"How much did you bet?" I shout, slapping him across the face. He comes back to the present.
"Um, one-point-three," he says.
"Thousand?" I ask, scoffing. "Jesus, it ain"t the end of the world, man."
Kyle shakes his head and waves frantic hands at me. "No, not thousand. Million!"
My jaw drops. The sound of cars pa.s.sing by drowns out into nothingness. It"s just me and Kyle alone in this world, and I"m at a loss for words.
"You bet one million on that f.u.c.king kid?" I hiss. "Are you f.u.c.king insane?"
"They said Kaminski would lose the fight. The odds were so bad, I"d make out huge, and split some of it with them. There was a whole group of us! It was organized! It would be larger than the cut they"d take off everyone betting on Kaminski. It was a win-win! Why did they back out?"
I sigh, pinch the bridge of my nose.
"There"s more," Kyle says. He gestures at my pocket. "Do you have those awful things?"
I pull out my pack of cigarettes.
"Yeah, f.u.c.k, give me one."
I don"t move, and he looks into my eyes before immediately looking away.
"Okay, please can I have one?" he asks.
I open my palm and he grabs the pack out of it, fumbles for a cigarette and shoves it in his mouth. I clink my zippo open, spark it for him.
"What else is there, Kyle? Did you just lose money, or is there more?"
"This bet would have given me enough money to pay back a debt. A debt I incurred in Las Vegas last week."
I can"t help it. I just shake my head and laugh to myself.
This f.u.c.king guy!
"I was there and the senior partners were all putting down big money, and I had to follow suit. I had to! But I got unlucky, just a dry spell. I borrowed money."
"From who?"
"A money lender."
"You borrowed money from a loan shark?" I ask in disbelief. This rabbit hole just keeps getting deeper.
"Only two-hundred grand!"
"Only."
"But I lost it all again. And now, with interest..." Kyle"s voice fades. He gulps, and then says, "So I took out another loan. I thought I could cover them both with a surefire win. Pay back the first loan with interest, and the second one with the winnings, and still come out on top by a little bit."
I narrow my eyes at him. "Wow, you really are as dumb as you look."
"Do you know what they"re going to do to me when I get back?"
I push him angrily against the wall, hold him by his neck. This bomb of rage has just exploded out of me at what he just said.
"You f.u.c.k!" I shout, and I thump him once in the gut. He tries to keel over, winded, but I force him to stand up straight.
"You"re worried about what they"re going to do to you?" I spit into his face. "What about Ca.s.sie? What about my mother!"
"I never involved them. They don"t even know."
"You think these guys care about s.h.i.+t like that? They"ll hurt them, too, you stupid f.u.c.king p.r.i.c.k. Your debt will pa.s.s on to them! You"ve got to tell them about this. You"ve got to fix this."
"How?" he mewls pathetically. His whole body is violently shaking now. His eyes are all wet. I can"t believe this stupid piece of s.h.i.+t is about to start crying.
"How?" he manages to choke out. It"s followed by a sob, but to his credit, he contains the self-indulgent waterworks. "I"ve got nothing left."
I slam his back against the wall. "Tell your daughter and my mother." I speak the words slowly, s.p.a.ce out each syllable. "They have a right to know if they"re in danger."
"And then what?"
"You fix it. You call in every favor you can. But you pay back those loans before we get back to the States, do you hear me?"
"I-I can"t! I can"t get enough!"
I grind my teeth together. It takes every ounce of self-control not to beat the s.h.i.+t out of this f.u.c.ker. It might make me feel better, but it"s not a solution.
"Figure it out," I say, jabbing a finger right into his face. "You better f.u.c.king think of something."
I"m about to leave when he grabs onto my arm. I shoot him a stare that scares the living daylights out of him, and he lets go immediately.
"Help me," he says, voice quiet. "Help me think of something. For... for your mother!"
I ball my fist. He would use that? He would say that?
I stalk off, leave him in the alley. If I listen to words dribble out of his mouth any longer, I might have to send him to hospital.
"Where are you going?" he cries.
I don"t reply.
The Spotted Hen is where I"m going. As it turns out, I"ve now got unfinished business there because of Ca.s.sie"s idiot father.
Chapter Twenty Three.
There"s a hard knock at my hotel room door. I look through the peep hole and see Chance.
s.h.i.+t.
I unlock it and invite him in, and when I open my mouth to speak, he holds me by the shoulders, guides me back into the room, and then shuts the door.
"We need to talk."
"I know," I say. "Let me go first." For a moment he looks confused, but then he acquiesces. "I shouldn"t have hit you today. I"m sorry. And I shouldn"t have done it in public like that."
Chance shakes his head, opens his mouth.
"No, let me finish. You can"t be a d.i.c.k to my Dad, though. He"s my father. Even though I don"t much like him right now, you specifically can"t do that, because you need to respect me. I know you understand that."
"I know," Chance says. His expression softens. "I"m sorry, I didn"t mean to hurt you."
"It"s fine," I chirp. "Look, I figure, if we"re stuck together, we may as well find a way to enjoy it."
This dirty smirk pulls his lips apart, and I roll my eyes.
"No, that"s not what I mean. I mean, we should do touristy stuff together. Come on, look, I"ve planned our whole day for tomorrow."
"Ca.s.s-"
"Just listen, okay!" I lead him by the hand to the desk, and show him on the computer. I"ve got an itinerary typed out. "Tomorrow is museum day. I"m going to hit three big museums." I suck in a breath of air, suddenly feel a little nervous. "Would you like to come with me?"
Chance grins, and wraps me up from behind. He smells my hair, and gives me a kiss. "I would love to."
"Great, look, okay," I say, holding onto his hands. I"ve decided not to fight it, not to fight him. There"s no point, and I like it when he holds me, when he wants me, when he takes me.
Because in two weeks he"s going to go back home, and I"ve decided I"m going to stay here in the UK. I"m going to apply for early student lodging, and I"m going to work over summer in the library of the university, and maybe do some waitressing at night.
I"ve decided that I"m not going back home. I don"t want to. The next three years of my life are here now, and I am still unhappy with Dad.
So I may as well make the most of it with Chance.
"We"ll go to the National Gallery first," I tell him. "That"s one of the best art museums in the world, we"ll see a lot of cool stuff. And you"ll be able to see a lot of paintings of stuff boys like, you know, like s.h.i.+p wrecks." I grin at him, flash my eyebrows. "There will also be plenty of nudes."
"Tell me more," Chance says.
"Watch it," I say, pointing a finger at him. "Anyway, after that we"ll go to the British Museum. They"ve got an exhibition on mummies which is always cool, and a ton of other stuff including a series of award winning photographs of wildlife."
"Sounds good, Ca.s.s."
"Then, if we"re feeling up to it or if we still have time, we"ll hit the Natural History Museum. They"ll have a bunch of cool stuff there. I know it sounds like I"m just checking these off a list, but any time you go to London, you have to do all the museums. I mean, they"re world-cla.s.s."
"Ca.s.s, listen," Chance says. His voice is a little less patient now.
"Then," I say, holding up a finger. "We could go and eat at a pub. You know, try some authentic pub grub."
"Ca.s.s, wait," he says. This time his voice is urgent. He pulls me from the computer and turns me around.
"You don"t want to do that?" I ask.
"Listen to me!"
I frown. "Okay, okay. Jesus, what"s up with you?"
His expression is that of concern, and now it"s starting to make me worry. I"m the kind of person that dies a thousand deaths before it actually happens. My mind is racing through all the worst possibilities.
"Did your dad talk to you tonight?"
I blink. "Not really? I mean, he came back, said h.e.l.lo, and then went to his room to get ready for bed."
"He didn"t tell you anything about what happened tonight?"
"No," I say, mouth falling open. "Why? What happened?" My heart is hammering now. "What happened to Dad?"
Chance grits his teeth together. "Your f.u.c.king father should have told you."
"Tell me!"
He hesitates, but then looks at me and relents. He opens his mouth to speak when there is a knock at the door.
"Ca.s.sie?"
It"s Dad"s voice. I go to the door and open it. He"s showered and cleaned up. His eyes go from me to Chance.
"Oh."
"What do you need to tell me, Dad?" I demand. "Did you two get into a fight or something?"
Dad licks his lips. "Actually, yes." He pulls down the collar of his sweater, and I see a bruise on his neck.
"Chance!" I cry, turning around at him, appalled. "You hit my dad?"
Chance doesn"t reply, he"s just glaring at Dad angrily. What the h.e.l.l went on between these two? I can"t believe I have to babysit my stepbrother and my father at the same time.
"It"s not like that, Ca.s.sie," Dad says. Behind him, in the doorway, Chance"s mother appears.