Page 90 of The Complete Truth Duet
I finally sprang it open and everything stopped all over again.
The Earth.
My heart.
Time.
My mouth fell open as twin rivers streamed down my face.
Stars. Nic’s stars. All of them. The tiny balls of adhesive I’d rolled between my fingers still clinging to the backs.
All of my pictures and paperwork were beneath them, and as I lifted the edge to search through the contents, I discovered that Penn’s toolbox really was magical.
Stacks of cash.
My cash, complete with little pink strands of insulation still clinging to the corners.
I cupped my hands over my mouth, the tears coming harder, the source even deeper within me. “How…how did he know?” I croaked.
I think Drew answered, but I had no idea what he said because a small, white paper on top of one of my papers caught my eye. It was a white rectangle banking slip dated a week ago, the words cash withdrawal typed in black letters across the top.
The amount at the bottom was one million, one hundred thousand, six hundred, eighty-four dollars…
And ninety-nine cents.
“Oh fuck. Fucking fuck fuck fuck,” Drew muttered, drawing my attention his way.
I leaned over the front seat and followed his gaze down to two massive black duffel bags wedged into the floorboard. They’d been covered by a sleeping bag, but when he unzipped the one closest to him, it revealed a mountain of neatly packed stacks of crisp hundred-dollar bills.
But it was three quarters, two dimes, and four pennies that shredded me.
“What would it take to make you free, Cora?”
Oh God.
“So you’re telling me, if someone comes in here and offers you a life raft, you’re going to refuse it because it won’t fit thirty-plus women?”
Oh. God.
He’d done it. It had cost him his life, but he’d done it.
For me.
“What is happening right now!” I cried.
Drew lifted his hands in surrender and told me a truth. “Honest to God, I have no idea.”
Savannah
One week later…
“Girl, you have no idea how good it is to be out of there.” I fought the wind to get a light.
Kerri continued inspecting her chipping fingernails. “Your dad still a douchebag?”
“Worse.” I gave the cigarette a deep inhale. The act of my lungs expanding made the bruises on my ribs scream.
After spending a few days in the hospital recovering, I’d been home five days. Though “home” might have been a bit of a stretch. I was back where Social Services had deemed I needed to be. The very same place I’d traveled to hell to escape.
Part of me wished they’d have let me die that night. In a lot of ways, it would have been easier.
For everybody.
I couldn’t think about it.
It didn’t matter.
I blew out a cloud of smoke. “Anyway, my mom said, if I can get her two hundred bucks tonight, she can score us some H.”
Her mouth gaped as she swung bulging eyes at me. “Two hundred bucks? Where the hell are we gonna get that kinda cash?”
I leaned forward, adjusting my boobs to reveal more cleavage, and then shimmied my skirt up another inch. “You think I’m standing on this corner for my health?”
“Shit, Vannah,” she whispered, shifting her eyes up and down the street. “This place is crawling with cops.”
“Yeah, but in about fifteen minutes, all the bars are gonna be closing, sending hundreds of drunk, horny men staggering out. Ripe for the pickin’.”
“Oh hell no. I ain’t sucking no dick. I told you Ronnie and I were getting serious.”
I twisted my lips and arched an eyebrow at her. “Ronnie got two bills?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Nope. But he ain’t got no STD either.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Then go.” I made a shooing motion. “But don’t expect me to share.”
Her eyes narrowed on me as if she were looking at a stranger. “Girl, you have lost your damn mind. You spent too long living with Mama Prostitute. She done—”
“Shut your fucking mouth!” I shoved a finger in her face. “You don’t get to say a goddamn word about her. Do you hear me? Nothing. Ever.” I couldn’t even think about Cora or River without becoming physically ill.
I’d woken up at the hospital alone and abandoned. I’d waited for her to show up. Waited for her to sneak me out of there. I didn’t even care about going back to Dante if it meant going back to her.
My parents had arrived instead.
“You know what? I don’t have to take your bullshit. I’m out.”
“See if I give a fuck,” I muttered, watching her blond hair sway as she navigated the cracked sidewalk in a pair of black stilettos. It was no skin off my back if she wanted to go home and ride Ronnie’s pencil dick all night.
Even if I was jealous that she had somewhere to go.
No sooner than she disappeared around the corner, a jet-black Audi R8 pulled up in front of me. The dark tinted window rolled down, and a deep baritone rumbled, “You working tonight?”
