Carla’s blue eyes gleamed.
“Well then, I guess you have a choice then, don’t you?” she simpered. “Either you go to the gym every single day, or you miss out on school in the fall. It’s a tough choice, I know,” she said with faux sympathy, “but it’s not that hard, trust me. You can make it to the gym. Lots of people do,” she said carelessly.
That did it. I’d had enough. Bouncing off the couch, my eyes snapped.
“You can’t do this,” I said tightly. “Rhonda left me that money. It’s mine.”
My stepmom shook her head with fake sympathy.
“We can,” she said silkily. “And we already have. Your dad is the custodian of your trust fund until you turn twenty-one, and we’ve already put a lock on it until these conditions are met. So what do you say honey? The gym? Or poverty?”
That was a harsh way of putting it. What were they thinking? Were they trying to steal my inheritance?
It was possible, seeing that these last three years, my dad has changed. It used to be just me and William after my mom died, and life was okay. Not great because we were mourning the passing of my mom, but okay.
But three years ago, Carla came along. She started as a secretary at my dad’s company and got herself transferred to the executive suite somehow. And then my dad started coming home later and later, until some nights, I didn’t see him at all.
Predictably, the excuses started as well. There was a board meeting. Some clients that he had to see. And before I knew it, this woman had wormed her way into his life, and mine by extension.
So now, I had an impossible choice: go to the gym every day or lose my opportunity to get out of this house. Because I wanted to go to college desperately, but without my mom’s money, there was simply no way. Sure, my dad does well at his job, but not that well. Plus, Carla has turned William into a big spender. They take lavish vacations to far-flung locales now, and she’s also convinced him to a buy a boat as well as two top of the line Mercedes, one for him and one for her.
So without my mom’s money, I knew I was screwed. I’d be stuck at home with my dad and stepmom breathing over my shoulder and making nasty comments, instead of starting life as an adult on my own. It wasn’t fair! How could this be happening?
But it was, and taking a deep breath, I forced myself to leave the living room as graciously as possible, my back ramrod straight and head held high. Unfortunately, my curves swayed as always, making my stepmom titter.
“Every day!” she called after me in a singsong voice. “Remember that, Lily!”
And I grimaced, although she couldn’t see. Because life wasn’t fair, but I’d find a way to survive … even if this killed me.
CHAPTER TWO
Lily
I took a deep breath, looking at the concrete block in front of me. PETEY’S PLACE, the sign in front read in black block letters on a faded yellow background. There was nothing fancy about this place. It was a square, squat grey building with a couple beater cars in the parking lot. Nothing like what the other gyms looked like.
Because I did a lot of research. There were all sorts of fancy gyms on the list, from The Box to Pilates Perfect. Each gym seemed to have more bells and whistles than the next with glass-walled studios, hundreds of machines, and a modelesque clientele. I swear, the girls who worked out looked like budding actresses with their willowy limbs and whittled waists. They didn’t even sweat, for crying out loud.
But I didn’t care about that. What I cared about was how each gym tracked membership because maybe there was a way around this ridiculous demand that I work out every day. Unfortunately, most places had fancy key fobs that you swiped when you went in, plus cameras mounted everywhere. There was no way I could fake those out.
But Petey’s Place seemed different. It was grimy on the outside for one. The cars parked out front looked like they were ready for demolition, and not just re-sale. Hmmm. Promising. Maybe they did attendance the old-fashioned way, by hand. Or maybe they didn’t even check membership at all. Maybe they all knew each other so well that it was a visual inspection, a Yeah, you belong here, and not computers and key cards.
So taking a deep breath, I marched forwards with my yoga mat slung over my shoulder. I’d squeezed myself into some gym clothes which were revealing as hell. Spandex tights squeezed my legs and I had a sports bra on that made my breasts hurt. Literally hurt, it was so tight. But my zip jacket hid my girls, making me look reasonably decent instead of Jessica Rabbit come to life.