“Look, lady, you need to stop telling me how to parent my kid.”
“I just don’t understand why you don’t care that your daughter is facing expulsion.”
“I care. Trust me, I do. But I got a whole mess of shit to deal with right now that’s beyond your comprehension. My kid is smart enough to know when Dad’s distracted and she’s taking advantage of it, and we’re working on that. I won’t trade your silence for my signature, because my kid is not part of club business, but if you can stop fucking nagging me about this counseling shit, I’ll consider it.”
“Stop by the office any time in the upcoming week to sign the form,” I say, feeling a little victorious.
“The money?” he says.
“You’re going to pay me to keep silent?”
“It’s better than the alternative,” he says. I nod my head, but don’t ask for clarification. I’m trying really hard to think of this like a business transaction, and I can’t do that if I let myself dwell on what he’s saying. This situation is bad enough without going down that road.
“Okay,” I say.
“Okay?” he asks. “That’s it? You don’t have any questions?” His eyes narrow, and he stares at me skeptically. It’s like he’s expecting some kind of fight or something.
“Yeah,” I say and nod. “I don’t even want to know what the alternative is, so yeah, my mouth is shut.” I’d rather not have this conversation with him, much less to discuss the details.
“No talking to your pig uncle, no talking to your roommate, no talking to anybody. Someone asks where you were yesterday, you tell them you took a drive out of town. Someone wants to know why you didn’t show at work, you tell them you were sick. I don’t give a fuck what you say, but you do not—under any circumstances—tell them you were at The 101 Club. You feel me?”
“Yes,” I say and grit my teeth to fight back the look of irritation that I’m sure has crossed my face. Yesterday. That’s just freaking awesome. I’ve only been working at the high school for a few months now, and no matter how cool Margot is, I don’t think she’ll be down for me skipping out without phoning in. Even if I do get to keep my job, I’m still going to have to deal with Mindy. She’s got to be freaking out right now. Oh, God. Oh no, I’ll bet Mindy’s contacted Dad and Uncle Harry. If she’s really freaking out then she’s probably called grandma, and the last thing I need is for grandma to be driving around town at ten miles an hour, with her car window down, shouting my name like I’m a lost poodle. This really freaking sucks.
“You got something to say?” he barks out.
“I have a boss who has to be wondering where I am. I have family who must be scared because they can’t find me. So pardon me, but I’m a little upset right now.” The venom in my words is fiercer than I expect it to be. Money or no money, I have no idea how I’m going to recoup from this crap.
“You think you’re the only one who’s been inconvenienced here? The twenty-five grand I have to spend to keep your mouth closed pisses me off. Normally when I give a bitch money it’s for her to open her mouth, not close it.”
“I’m in this situation because of your bullshit, so don’t push this off on me. Also, I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with getting your dick sucked, but maybe if you spent more time being a decent human being and less time calling women bitches, you’d have better luck.” On the outside, I’m trying really hard to keep a straight face, but on the inside I’m totally screaming for help. Nobody in my life has ever pissed me off this badly before, and it would be just my luck that I can’t seem to get rid of him.
“Bitch, please. I get my dick sucked plenty.”
Somewhere in the distance, I swear I can hear sirens going off. I can hear screaming, and I can sense danger. But none of that is actually happening. It takes me a moment to realize that I’m barely holding in a scream. My face heats, my pulse races, and my entire body locks up so tense I think I might explode.
“Did you just call me a bitch again?” I shout as loud as I can. My voice is screechy and on the edge of breaking into a full-on wail. If I thought I could take him, I think I’d slap him right here and now. Thin as the grasp on reality might be, I can still see clearly enough to stop myself from trying to hobble from the bed and show him exactly how much I detest his use of that word.