Page 171 of Dark Endures

He’s terrified.

It’s got to be the loan shark.

That’s the only thing that makes sense.

Why didn’t he say so, rather than leaving me to worry?

Waylon is pacing around the bench he told me to meet him at. “Mindy, you came.” He rushes over to hug me.

“Sorry, I was out of town, or I would have answered sooner. Mom got remarried.”

“Again?”

“I know, right? This one is richer than all the others combined.”

He shakes his head. “Do you think it will last?”

“Not even for a second. They’ve got six months tops.” I walk over to the bench and sit down. That nap that I almost got is now a far-off dream. “What’s wrong?”

“They gave me her bear. They went in my house and stole my daughters bear.” He lifts up one of his daughter’s teddy bears. “I couldn’t pay it all off. The contract still hasn’t paid out.I brought them money to extend it, but they said they were done with extensions. Then they handed me this bear. It’s her bear. She carries it with her everywhere. They’ll hurt her if I don’t give them the money. They’ll hurt my daughter if I don’t pay them back. But I have nothing to pay them with.”

What?

“I tried selling the business, but it doesn’t look good on paper. There wasn’t even a bite. What am I going to do? They’re going to hurt my baby girl.” He paces in front of me.

That’s why you don’t go to loan sharks. “How much do you owe him?”

“You can’t give me the money. No one can.”

I can’t. My account is probably at zero right now. But I can’t let my brother or his family get hurt. “How much is it to pay the guy off, so he’s out of your life forever?”

“It was half a million dollars, but now he says I owe him seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

Three-quarters of a million dollars. Winnie is going to go feral when I ask her for help.

“See, I told you. No one can help me.”

“I’ll get you the money.”

Waylon freezes. “What?”

“Make the arrangements. I’ll get you the money by the end of the day.” That should be plenty of time.

“How?”

By giving up all my pride and asking my friend for help. “Don’t worry. I’ll get it. But promise me this will never happen again. You won’t do anything this stupid.”

“If I could go back and change things, I would have just let the business go. Nothing is worth this. I promise, it’ll never happen again.”

He better be telling the truth. Everyone gets to do one truly ridiculous thing in their life. My brother needs to live through this mistake. “I’ll call you when I have the money.”

“Small bills. He said to bring it in small bills because they’re untraceable.”

It wasn’t like I thought the loan shark was going to accept a check. “Got it.” I stand up to walk away.

“Mindy.”

“Yeah.”

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