Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 37426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
His phone rang with a familiar and unwelcome number. He wanted to ignore it, but experience told him that wouldn’t work for long. “Hey.”
“I’m here to collect. Where are you?”
He stepped out back and leaned against the wall. “About that, I can’t make a payment right now?”
“Where are you?”
If he answered that question, he’d end up with more bruises, and if any were on his face, Seamus would notice.
“Never mind. I know the answer. You’re at your little pizza job, right? That’s where you always are at night. I’ll see you soon.”
Hoping to avoid a confrontation, he rushed inside, grabbed his next delivery, and hurried out. He thought he was home free when he left the customer’s house, but he wasn’t that lucky. The first shove from behind caught him completely off-guard and he fell to the ground.
“Your payment is due.”
“I lost my place and I have to find a new one,” he explained breathlessly as he tried to rise to his feet. “I’ll need money for a deposit and rent. I’ll pay you as soon as I can.”
The boot to his back had him on the ground again in seconds. “I don’t care about your personal issues. You need to pay me.”
He tried to think through how much it was likely to cost for him to get a new place to live and if he’d have anything left in his account to give to his grandfather’s lender.
“Did you hear me?” The question was accompanied by another kick.
He was being more violent than usual. Then again, DJ didn’t usually refuse to give him money; he just never had as much as he demanded.
“I … I can give you a hundred.”
“That’s not enough.” He kicked him again, full force.
DJ curled in on himself and coughed. “It’s all I have.”
“Do it.”
Hands shaking, he took his phone out of his pocket and Cash Apped the money.
“I expect more in a week,” he growled once his phone dinged. “No later.”
DJ stayed on the ground for several minutes, catching his breath, and then he got up and went back to work. Thankfully, the night wasn’t overly busy, but he was still dead on his feet a couple of hours later. When he looked at the address for his next delivery, he got a surge of energy. He hadn’t seen his friend Todd Smitty since he had moved into the sheriff’s house about a month earlier. The two of them were taking care of Todd’s baby niece while his active-duty military sister was on deployment.
“Hey!” he said happily when Todd opened the door.
“Deej!” Todd whisper shouted. “Come in. Come in.” The last words were also whispered.
His sister used the same volume on some of their calls. “I assume the baby’s asleep?” he said as he stepped inside.
“Finally.” Todd sounded relieved. “How’ve you been?”
He followed Todd into the sheriff’s kitchen and set the pizza on the counter. “It’s been a day,” he admitted, keeping his voice low so he wouldn’t wake the baby.
“What happened?”
“I have to move out of my apartment.” And he was sore all over. On the plus side, his face was spared so none of his injuries were visible.
“Are they finally tearing the place down?” Todd asked.
“How did you know that? I just heard.”
“Because you live in a shithole. Honestly, I’m surprised it hasn’t fallen down around you already.”
“Who’s your friend?” a deep voice boomed.
Startled by the loud sound in the otherwise nearly silent house, he snapped his gaze toward the doorway where the sheriff was glowering at them.
“Um,” Todd whispered, seeming confused at the sheriff’s demeanor. That made two of them. “Rich, this is DJ.” He held his hand toward DJ. “Deej, Rich.” He moved his hand in the sheriff’s direction.
“You didn’t mention you had a date lined up for tonight. Would’ve been nice to know.” The sheriff was furious, his fists clenched, as he towered over them. “Will you at least be back by the time Molly wakes up in the morning? Or is a booty call more important than your niece?”
“Dude!” DJ said, offended at the accusation. He was married, not that anyone in Hope knew that, but regardless, he hadn’t been behaving inappropriately with his friend. “What the hell?” He could understand Sheriff Davis wanting to make sure the baby was well-cared for, but that wasn’t an excuse for him to make disparaging assumptions and lose his temper.
Still facing the sheriff, Todd said, “Shh.”
Sheriff Davis ignored Todd and looked at DJ menacingly, his muscles bunching. On the plus side, the big man’s rage was focused entirely on him, so Todd was safe and he didn’t look scared. But DJ couldn’t handle more hits that night, especially from someone that huge, so he needed to get out of there before things went from bad to worse.
“Whatever. I don’t need this. I’m out of here.” He carefully made his way around the distressingly unhinged sheriff and over to the front door.