Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
“Creative ways, huh?” I mutter, twisting the fabric of my pants between my thumb and index finger.
“That’s right,” Jerry chuckles. “And I won’t hesitate to use them when I get out in a few days.”
That gets my attention. “Wait, a few days? What do you mean? They reduce your sentence or something?”
Jerry’s eyes light up. “No, but I’m going to get them to. And you’re going to help me.”
“I am? How am I going to do that?”
Things just went from bad to worse.
It’s not like I want my best friend to be in jail, but I was at least hoping Becca and I would have some time together before it was time to face the music – time for Jerry to get used to the idea and accept that we have something real, something special, something beyond a fleeting physical attraction.
“It was Trevor’s dad who stole the car,” Jerry says.
“Trevor? That son of a bitch who’s been harassing Becca?” I feel my chest tighten and pulse quicken.
“The same.” Jerry nods, clenching his jaw. “His dad’s not much better. He set me up to take the fall, but a guy in here says he knows where he stashed the money from the job and some of the tools too. You find that, you can get me out of here. But you gotta move fast before it’s gone. Understand?”
“Sure,” I reply quickly. “Just gimme the details.”
I listen as Jerry explains everything about where to find Trevor’s dad’s hideout and what I’m looking for. I take in all the information, but all I can think about the entire time is how this is going to affect Becca and me.
If Jerry really gets out in a week, he’s going to come home, and that means I’ll be out of the trailer. That means if I want to see her, she’ll have to sneak out and see me, and then I won’t just be seeing my best friend’s daughter, I’ll be sneaking around behind his back like some punk high school kid.
I stick around a while longer and then say goodbye to Jerry. I hop on my bike and leave the prison behind me, part of me wishing I’d never even come today.
Christ, I’m a terrible bastard. I go behind my friend’s back and fuck his daughter, and now I’m wishing I’d never even come to see him, because if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be stuck in this moral dilemma now about whether or not to help him get out of jail early.
But of course I’ve got to help him. Otherwise I’m the world’s biggest piece of shit, and I can’t just throw away all those years of friendship because I’m worried about how he’ll react when he finds out about Becca and me.
Although I have to confess, as I glance down at the address he gave me, the thought of deleting it from my phone and just heading back home is an attractive one.
10
Becca
Five days later…
I can’t stop pacing around the living room. At this rate, I’m going to wear a hole through the carpet and collapse the floor in. After Dax told me there was a chance Dad would be coming home early, my first reaction was to completely freak out.
“Early!?” I exclaimed. “But, but, but, but how? What are we going to tell him? He’s going to kill me! Kill us!”
Those were the first words out of my mouth. Not “That’s great!” or “Oh, I’m so happy!” or “Thank God!”
As soon as I was finished, I immediately felt like the world’s worst daughter. But I’ve seen my dad get mad before, and I was just so worried about what would happen between him and Dax when the truth came out.
So I made a decision, and that night after Dax and I made love, I told him that I would be the one to let my dad know about our relationship. It would soften the blow, I told him. Sure, maybe he would get angry, but he wouldn’t fly off the handle at me, and I could put things in perspective in a way that maybe Dax couldn’t.
“I’ve always been good at talking to him,” I told Dax. “Let me handle it.”
I could see by the look on his face that Dax wasn’t excited by the prospect, but he nodded.
“Okay,” he said. “If you say so.”
I should be filled with anger about what Trevor’s dad did – stealing a car and then framing my dad for the crime. I should be thrilled about how Dax came through for him, found the evidence that proved his innocence, got him out of jail, and sent Trevor’s father there in his place, but all I can think about is what I’m going to say when he gets home and he can see that I have something that I need to tell him.