Page 22 of Until Ace

“Then be a good sister and help your brother out,” Mom demands like all this is normal.

“Mom, again, I told you I don’t have that kind of cash.” I push the boundaries of my patience as far as they can go.

My last hope that she will see reason and either offer to help or take on Jim altogether is dashed when she lifts her eyebrow and looks at me pointedly.

“You know what you can do.” Her comment leaves no room for guessing. Same as my brother, she wants me to offer my body to pay for Jim’s debts.

“Angela,” my dad says low. The warning is clear to me, but it goes over her head.

“What, Tim?” she taunts him, and I fully expect him to back down as he has done so many times before.

To my complete surprise, he seethes. “Are you really suggesting that our daughter go out there and offer her body to make Jim’s fuckups go away?”

“So what if I am?” Mom tilts her head up and looks down her nose at both of us. After a few silent seconds, she focuses on me, her lip curls, and she sneers. “It’s not like you’re not used to it or haven’t done it before.”

I stand up so fast the chair falls on its back with a bang. My head feels light, and I can hear the sound of my blood rushing.

“I have never, ever, offered my body to pay for anything! I have never purposely used my looks to gain a thing. All I’ve ever accomplished, I did it by working for it, not looking for an easy way out.”

“And you accomplished what, exactly?” she asks as if I didn’t say a word. “You didn’t finish college, you work at that awful car place, and you live in a shitty apartment. You aren’t married, haven’t given me grandchildren yet, and you certainly don’t have a career I can be proud of. God, sometimes I can’t believe you’re my daughter. Out of all my children, only your sister managed to do at least something right. You? You’re a complete disappointment.”

That’s it.

That’s the moment I’ve been waiting for, for a long time.

I know the time to cut all ties and leave them to roll over in their own shit has come.

And I wish I could just turn around and leave without looking back, but I have to try just one more time. If I don’t, I’m the one who’s in danger, not Jim.

“I ask you again. Will you help Jim?” I ask her deliberately if she’ll help Jim and not me. If I ask for help, the answer would be a resounding no. Besides, I know I can’t help him, so they’re his only hope.

I only wish that fact didn’t weigh on me so heavily, compelling me to do something about it.

There’s a flicker of insecurity in my mom’s eyes as I ask the question. It’s dawning on her that something is happening. Something that will change the course of our relationship. But she’s too stubborn to listen to her gut feeling, and her face hardens.

“He asked you for help, didn’t he? And he’s your brother. You can’t just leave him behind without at least trying to help. You never leave your family behind, Mandy.”

You never leave your family behind. It’s something that’s carved into me. It beats within me with every pump of my heart. Coming from her mouth, it’s nothing more than an empty phrase. Each member of my family would gladly leave me behind, while they demand me to lug them all wherever I go.

I give a half-smile and mutter, “Watch me.”

Then, with nothing left to say, I turn and walk out.

I half expect her to start screaming for me to come back. It wouldn’t be the first time.

In the past, I did make that mistake, thinking she had seen the error of her ways, but after I came back, I only showed her she had me in her grips, and she started going on as she left off.

Now, there’s nothing but silence trailing after me.

I’m just about to reach the pavement and get inside the safety of my car, when a soft, “Mandy,” stops me.

It’s my dad.

Great, she made him come after me, knowing I have a hard time denying him anything. I never say no to any member of my family, but they all know I have a soft spot for him.

I look at him, and shock tears through me, seeing how old he looks in this moment.

He used to be so handsome. Kind brown eyes on an angular face. He gave me his lashes and hair. But now... all I can see is age and tiredness written within every line that mars his once-striking face.