Amelia
Ihoped that Shooter got exactly what he deserved. Three months of at least of recovery and six to twelve weeks with a boot. The stubborn ass belly-ached the whole time they fitted him with a boot, which he’s lucky it wasn’t a full cast or that his injuries were more extensive. I tried so hard not to laugh at every single moment of it.
Pain in my fucking ass.
He was lucky that I never told Hound Dog about his little ER visit.
But I certainly messaged Melody about “guess who ended up in my ER” and shecompletelyguessed with no help from me. Okay, I gave a little hint. Okay, fine, a huge hint. Okay, I completely told her. What she did with that information was up to her.
I blamed the long hours and numerous amounts of coffee making me want to spill the beans. I mean technically, I never promised not to tell anyone.
Everything hurt, from my feet to my back even to my arms from lifting drunk college students off the floor. Regardless, Iwas going to be resting and hoping that Chris would be out of the house for a couple of days, like he usually disappears closer to my pay days. Thinking that he could have a “weekend with the boys”.
Each paycheck just meant one step closer to paying off the damn debt that had been the biggest ball chained to my soul. I knew what most people would say, that I need to just let him fall on his own or that he made his bed and he needs to lie in it. But what the fucker truly did to me wasn’t the bruising from his anger or abuse but the fact that he put my name down on his books, that I was also in the mix of all his debt.
So, to clear my name, I had to clear his.
Fifty thousand dollars was a lot to pay and even though I make decent money from my job, Chris couldn’t hold a job long enough to establish roots. Which led to the hole that was dug for me, I was the only one taking care of it. No matter how much begging and pleading I did for him to cut me loose from this so-called marriage, he made me a promise.
If I took care of the debt, I’d be free.
I shouldn’t have trusted him. He broke the one promise in the very beginning, to love and cherish me, to protect me, to care for me. But at the end of the day, I was the only one that would take care of me.
He said that he would finally sign the dotted line of the divorce papers that I had drawn up, and I would be free from him. Free of the loveless marriage that was nothing but a mark on my heart. Seven total years of being in the fucking marriage that drained my soul or what was left of it.
I fell out of love very quickly, in my mind the moment he hit me, made me the woman that was afraid to piss him off, he was no husband of mine. He was nobody to me. Think of it this way, he was a roommate I couldn’t evict. He was the wardensentencing me to a life of taking care of his mess. I just wanted him gone.
Each day that I completed my shift was another day closer. And after dealing with Shooter and the rest of the shift, I was glad to be coming home. When I didn’t see Chris’s car in the driveway, I was really thankful. I could catch up on sleep, maybe cook a decent meal that wasn’t take-out from the staff lounge or leftovers from co-worker’s family dinners. My pixie cut was getting a little longer, and I half-debated on letting it grow out, but the painful memories of why I cut it so short came flooding back.
The only thing that could have made it worse was exactly what happened. I was welcomed by two very familiar men leaning on a car parked on the curb by the house. All color drained from my body, worried that I was behind. I may be a spaz sometimes, but I kept careful notes of the balances and recordings of them agreeing that I gave them the money.
Tony and Gage. Two cousins that didn’t fit in Memphis. One looked like he didn’t belong in the south and the other looked like he had been picked up from the Mason-Dixon line. Seeing them made my stomach churn.
As the brakes of my truck squeaked to stop, I plastered on my fakest, calming smile to entertain their reasoning for ruining what I hope would have been a long sleep.
“Tony. Gage. What a pleasure to see your handsome faces.” I said, meeting them to extend my hand to shake theirs, ready to start recording a voice memo of the transaction.
“Oh Mrs. McDonnell, you flatter us,” Tony exclaimed, his northern accent ringing out.
I gritted my teeth at the cursed name. I was never a “McDonnell”. No matter how many times they wished to ignore that. It was just a solid reminder that they owned my ass, and I was their little money toy.
“Please, I told you to call me Mia. We’ve known each other forfartoo long.” I batted my eyelashes, hoping the flirting would work. Only if they ignored the dark circles under my eyes.
“It has been too long, hasn’t it?” Tony continued.
I nodded. “Yep. And almost done. Soon your little visits will be no more and my heart rate and blood pressure can finally go down.” I knew I had a little over seven grand still to owe, but it was pinching my pennies tighter, and then freedom here I come. I felt like an old woman looking for coupons or deals and not afraid to take day old expired food.
Gage, the brute of a man he was, turned to look at his cousin. His eyes shot down, like he was a little too nervous to say anything. Nothing good could come from that look. That moment was when my heart sunk deep in my chest.
Tony tried to hide his guilt. “Not exactly, little one.”
A laugh escaped me. “What do you mean? I have it here on my phone and notebook, not much longer. I haven’t missed a payment and tried to give a little extra for good measures. Tony, what the hell do you mean “not exactly”?”
Tony gave a nod to Gage who in turn extended his hand with an envelope.
A flashback came across my mind, because that’s how they broke the news of how much Chris owed them in the beginning. Opening that envelope sealed my fate from the beginning. Tears started to well up in my eyes, threatening to expose the frustration that was brewing.
“Mia, I’m sorry little one, but we’re just taking orders from our boss.” Tony tried to soothe me, acting like they weren’t the bad guys.
