Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 90972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
“I’m listening.”
“You remember Frank? You rearranged some of his teeth the other day?”
He’s a real fucking poet. “Yeah, I remember.”
“He’s still holding back on me. I know he is.” His nostrils flare the way they do when he’s feeling disrespected, which is most of the time. I don’t know how he functions with that huge chip on his shoulder. “So he’s giving me no choice but to take action in other ways. That’s where you come in.”
I thought he said he wasn’t going to keep me. I’m already bored of this and trying my best to hide it. “What do you need me to do?”
“I found out his daughter got a scholarship to Wicked Falls University.” He lowers his brow, and now those magnified eyes are gleaming dangerously. “Which means coming into contact with you. And she will, because you’re going to make her pay if her old man won’t. Understood?”
“What are you thinking?” I ask before a yawn damn near splits my head in two.
He shrugs his shoulders and waves a hand before going back to the adding machine. “You know what to do by now. Just make sure he knows who he’s fucking around with. Make her wish she never got that damn scholarship in the first place. Make her miserable but do it in a way he’ll have to notice.”
“Can I at least know who this girl is? It’s been a long time since I went to his store—and I was only ever familiar with the son. He died, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, he did.” And he sounds bored talking about it even briefly like this. “Here. Here’s who you’re looking for.”
He hands me his phone, where he pulled up a picture of Frank’s daughter, and all I can do is wonder if this is a joke. “You’re kidding,” I mutter, looking down at her. She’s smiling wide in this photo and her baby blue eyes almost jump out at me.
Dragonfly. What are the chances?
“Oh, you know her? Tamson Mills?” Dad asks, and now he’s finally giving me his full attention.
“We have a class together,” I murmur, barely hearing him.
“Perfect. But I know you’ll find ways of getting to her between classes, too.” He has a way of dancing around what he really wants to say, but he gets the point across, anyway. He expects me to hound this girl, to make her as miserable as possible in every way possible.
When I think back on the attitude she gave me when she was the one rude enough to sit in my seat, it doesn’t sound like such a sacrifice. “It’s covered,” I tell him, and the memory of her trying to stand up to me makes me grin to myself. She might be a hundred pounds on a good day and barely reaches my chest, but she thought she could stare me down. This is going to be fun.
It’s not until I’m on my way out to the car that an important thought hits me. No way will I get any help from my friends. Back in the day, they would’ve been all in, ready to make an example of anybody I asked them to. It wouldn’t be the first time one of us has targeted somebody we decided to victimize for one reason or another.
That was then. And once again, I’m reminded how things have changed. The guys are basically pussy-whipped now, especially the twins. They bullied the hell out of Emma before finding out she was actually battling leukemia the whole time. Now, it’s like they’re making it up to her by being nicer than I remember them ever being before.
It’s a good thing I know somebody who is always ready to sink low if it means hurting somebody else. I don’t exactly love the idea of bringing her into this, because she always manages to make a bigger deal out of something that should be simple. I don’t need her thinking this makes us friends, since I’d rather forget her existence, otherwise.
But she has her uses, which means I have to play nice once I’ve parked in the lot at school and start looking for Tiana and her girls. It shouldn’t be hard to find them since they don’t exactly try to hide themselves around here. They would rather show off, full-tilt, which means they’re always the loudest and most obnoxious people in any room. Dad really owes me for this one.
It only takes a couple of minutes of walking around to find the girl I’m looking for sitting on the grass and laughing too loud over something that’s probably not that funny anyway. She always wants all attention on her. I have to pretend it doesn’t make me grind my teeth as I walk over to them and hope none of my friends sees me. They would give me endless amounts of shit for actually seeking Tiana out—that’s bad enough after all the shit she’s pulled. If they knew the reason behind it, they’d never get off my ass.