Page 39 of Unsaid Things

“That’s right. Happy birthday, Abs.”

“Don’t call me that.”

His smirk turned into a grin. He liked that he was getting to her. She needed to rein in her reactions to him, quit giving anything away. She’d grown used to being free with her thoughts and feelings living with Megan, then with Lance. Her friends and boyfriend didn’t try to use her feelings to manipulate her. Aaron would. It had been a while since she’d had to adopt this carefully controlled facade to try to stay on even footing.

“Aw, come on, Abs. I’m your big brother. I was the first one to ever call you that.”

He sounded so proud of that fact. She let out a deep sigh. “Seriously, Aaron, can we just cut the crap? Why are you here?”

He looked down and cleared his throat, taking his hat off and running a hand over his short blond hair. “Uh, well, I need some money.”

“So you came to me?”

He shrugged and looked at her. “Your boy gave me a couple hundred last time. Figured you were a good place to start.”

“Why?” Abby made sure to hide her surprise at the amount Lance had given him. She hadn’t realized he’d had so much on him.

“Because he’d give you money if you asked, not me.”

She clenched her jaw at that and shook her head. “No. Why do you need money?”

“Oh, ah, well …” He looked away again, licking his lips. “I owe money to some guys.”

“For what?”

He looked her over, trying to gauge her response. “Well, I put some money on a game last week. Seemed like a sure thing, easy way to get some cash, but I lost it.”

“Why don’t you get a job?”

Swallowing hard, he shook his head. “I don’t have time to wait for a job to come through. These guys’ll hurt me if they don’t get their money. Soon.”

“How soon?”

“Next week”

Shit. This was bad. “Is that why you left Arizona?”

His eyes darted around, and he nodded.

“But the money you need from me is for the guys up here. Not down there.” He didn’t respond, but she took that as confirmation. “Why not just leave again?”

No response.

“Ah, I see. You don’t even have enough money for that.” She paused and studied him. His eyes had turned pleading, his habitual smirk gone now. He was desperate. “If I give you money, are you going to actually pay these guys? Or are you just going to take off again?”

He rubbed his palms on his thighs. “So you’ll help me?”

“I didn’t say that. Just asking a question.”

No answer. No surprise there. She figured he hadn’t decided yet if he’d stay or go either.

“How much?” When he maintained his silence, she let out a frustrated sigh. “How can I give you any money if you won’t tell me how much you need?”

“Four thousand dollars.”

She huffed out a laugh. “You think thatI,” she pointed to the center of her chest, “have four thousand dollars just lying around to give you?” She did, actually. There was about that much left from her student loan disbursement. She had it earmarked to pay for rent and utilities for the semester. She used what she made teaching the language labs to cover food and fun money. Lance had gotten angry with her for insisting on getting the disbursement since he could’ve covered their rent and utilities easily, and she wouldn’t have had to take on as much debt. But she had a hard time letting Lance pay for her stuff. What if he left? Then she wouldn’t have any money or a way to pay for rent. But could she part with that money, that security, for the sake of her brother? She didn’t know.

He shrugged. “Well, not really. I kind of figured you could ask your boyfriend. I thought he might have that available. He gave me the money before without even flinching.”

---