“No, no, no,” I moaned to myself. I wasn’t ready for them. It seemed like just yesterday they were harassing me at work for their payment. Was the timeline being pushed forward? I was already on the brink of homelessness. I couldn’t take much more.
I marched into my bedroom and grabbed the small envelope of cash I’d squirreled away from all the doubles I worked. This would hurt, but who needed to eat? Not this bitch. That’s who.
Cautiously, I opened my front door with my customer service smile plastered on my face. Josh stood right outside. His cut looked heavy, and he seemed angry. The vein in his neck throbbed.
“Oh, hi Josh. What brings you by?” I asked dumbly. As if I didn’t know.
“Don’t do this now, Sloane. You know damn well why I’m here. Give it to me.”
I kept up my pleasant vibes even though my stomach wanted me to run back to the toilet. I giggled nervously before pulling the envelope out of my back pocket.
“It’s not all he—”
Josh ripped the money out of my hands before I could finish speaking. He flipped through it counting every bill, staining them with his oil-streaked hands.
“It’s short,” he growled.
I nodded. “I’m sorry. I worked as many shifts as I could…”
Josh slapped me so hard that I almost flew backward, then gripped me by my hair and pulled me close to his face. I could smell his stale nicotine laced breath. I tried not to breathe through my nose. I was two seconds away from chucking up the lining of my stomach in his face.
“You had a day off where you were called in last week and didn’t go. Therefore, you’re short. Give me the rest of the money, or it’s about to get ugly.”
Fucking stalker, I knew they were watching me. I could feel their eyes on the back of my neck everywhere I went. And Megan was a fucking snitch. Always.
Josh dropped me to the floor, wiping his hands off on his stained jeans like I had a disease on my flesh. He pushed me aside and stomped into my home like he had every right to be here.
I watched helplessly as he started tearing apart everything in sight. Like the police in a raid, he pulled apart pillows and shoved furniture aside in his rage. I stayed trembling in the front doorway, tears filled my eyes as I watched all that I owned be torn to shreds.
“I don’t have anymore,” I cried. “That’s all there is.”
“Can’t be, ‘cuz if it is, prez won’t be happy. Then I’ll have to cut up that beautiful face.”
I shuddered. “I understand, but I can’t get a loan, and I have no more cash. Those are all tips. My checks went to bills. You all raised the amount again.”
“I didn’t ask for your fucking excuses. All prez cares about is results. If you can’t deliver, I’ll give him your head on a platter. Don’t be late or short again.”
With that threat, Josh stormed out, leaving my home in shambles. I watched through the door he hadn’t bothered to close as he returned to his motorcycle.
Once the engine turned over, he began revving the motor. Loud. He knew I hated the noise, but he wanted to make sure he was seen. It was a threat to my neighbors was that they’d better not fuck around, that the MC was everywhere. Besides it being a mode of intimidation, it ensured I was ostracized. No one wanted to fuck with the Devils.
Thank goodness he left without trying to kill me. That was the thing about Josh. He was usually the nicer one, the one that still had a heart. But it was times like these that I knew he could be a ruthless bastard just like the rest of them.
I’d skated through this latest visit with my life intact. I should be thankful for that. Almost like there was an angel on my shoulder looking out for me. If there was, it would be my grandmama. She was the only one who cared about me. My father had been too wrapped up in the MC. It didn’t mean his death hadn’t hit me hard, it just meant I couldn’t withstand the loss after losing so much. Now, I had no one.
I closed the door gently and leaned against it with unsteady legs. Another door slammed. The sound was so close and so loud, I could’ve sworn it came from my house. But that would be ridiculous. I was just getting paranoid.
I stumbled to the bathroom with tears coming down my face. I couldn’t deal with this much longer. My life was falling apart. One dead-end job wasn’t enough to pay the bills, and now I’d been short multiple times. I knew my time was ending. If they didn’t kill me, they would string me up and fuck me to death. Then they would probably leave my bloody corpse in the town square as a lesson to not fuck with the Devils.
These swirling thoughts had me dry heaving into the toilet again.
I gave myself an hour, maybe two, to mope about. I nibbled on crackers and begged my stomach to settle. I didn’t even cook. Between the flu and the visit, my tummy was a mess.
I laid in bed, closed my eyes, and tried to meditate. It was something a therapist long ago taught me. Drifting off, I allowed sleep to claim me.
“Sloane! Sloane, come quick,” Derrick hollered as he raced through the schoolyard looking for me.
I sat up in the sand box. “Why are you yelling for me, dummy?” I didn’t want to deal with whatever mess he was bringing my way.