“Max, you cannot tell anyone what you overheard.” Kent had made it clear what he told her was in private.
Max snorted. “You don’t just blab out information, Abby. You keep it, you hoard it, and then you use it when it will get you the most gain.”
What was he even talking about? Who was this man sitting on her couch, scratching his hairy armpit?
“You can’t use that information against Kent,” she said firmly.
He stood and stretched. Then he stared at her in a way that made her feel decidedly uncomfortable. “Didn’t peg you for being into stuff like that. Always thought you’d be a missionary-only-under-the-covers-with-the-lights-off type of chick.”
“I’m not a chick. I’m your sister.”
He shrugged as though that meant nothing. And probably to him, it didn’t. So why did she let it mean anything to her? Why did she keep bailing him out of shit? Letting him use her?
Maybe because she was scared what would happen if she said no. That he’d turn on her.
“Why did you even come here, Max? Isn’t this the first place those people will search for you?”
“Where else would I go? Besides, this is place is so obvious they won’t look for me here. Like hiding in plain sight.”
She wasn’t sure it was such a good idea.
“You know he’s loaded, right?” Max appeared thoughtful. What was he planning?
“Who?”
He gave her an impatient look. “Jensen.”
“I don’t know anything about his finances.”
“You know, this is a good thing. Lure him in, get close to him. We might be able to use him to get hold of some of that cash.”
She stared at him in horror. “I-I can’t do that.”
Max glared at her. “Abby, I’m not fucking around here. These assholes, they won’t hesitate to hurt me. That jerk will be back. I need to leave and to do that I need cash. It’s n
ot like he’ll suffer. He’s got fuckloads of cash.”
She noticed he didn’t say a thing about her. About her safety.
“That doesn’t mean...I can’t do that.”
Max took a threatening step towards her. To her shame, she moved back. This was not the boy she used to know. He’d grown harder. Meaner.
Almost...evil.
She couldn’t believe he thought she would do that to Kent. That she could do that to anyone.
“Just do it, Abby. Pretend to go along with his sick games. Get him all hot for you and then we’ll work out a way for you to get your hands on his cash. Hell, we can always blackmail the sick bastard.”
This couldn’t be happening. She would never do that, especially not to Kent. The best thing she could do was get rid of Max. “Listen, I have a little cash I could give you.”
“I’m on the run, Abby. I need a lot of fucking cash. At least until I can cash in on what I have.”
What did that mean?
“These people that are after you, they’re going to notice you’re here eventually.”
“Not if you keep your fucking mouth shut,” he told her threateningly.