Page 49 of Sunburned

“What, and leave Lake Como?” He snorted. “They don’t trust me, but they’ve hired their own attorney and have insisted Cody come babysit me, like any of this is my fault.”

I refrained from pointing out that he’d failed to tell his parents Ian was dealing drugs out of the trailer on their property, not to mention making all kinds of modifications with his inventions.

He kicked a pebble into the water. “I can’t wait to go back to school next month.”

I looked up at the milky blue sky, wishing that that didn’t smart as much as it did. “We’re going to have to come up with some kind of deal with Ian,” I said. “The way things are going, I don’t know whether they’ll let my mom do another treatment after this, and we can’t just leave the program running indefinitely.”

Despite my protests, Tyson was skimming off the proceeds as well now, with the reasoning that if Ian was profiting, so would he.

“Shoulda let him burn,” he muttered again.

I checked my watch. “I have to get back. You wanna come over for dinner? Maybe stay the night?”

He grabbed my hips and pulled me in for a kiss. “I wish I could, but I told Cody I’d grab a bite with him after I drop off this money to Ian.”

“Where’s Ian staying now?” I asked.

“In a shitty apartment about ten minutes east of here.”

“Do you know how Andie’s doing?” I asked.

“I’m not exactly inquiring after his girlfriend’s health when I’m dropping off the money he’s blackmailing me for.”

I nodded, gripping the handlebars of my bike and releasing the kickstand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He nodded, mounting his bike, and we rode off in opposite directions.

—

That night, I lay in my bed tossing and turning, unable to sleep for my anxiety over what to do about Ian. Finally at around midnight, I texted Cody:

We’ve got to figure out what to do about Ian. This can’t go on forever.

It was late, but I knew Cody was a night owl, and I figured if he’d already fallen asleep, his ringer would be off. The three little dots appeared immediately, and he replied:

100. But how are you texting me right now

I stared at the phone. What was he talking about? I held down the text and gave it the question mark.

He texted back the monkey covering its ears emoji, followed by:

I can hear you guys

I sat up, feeling like someone had just dumped a bucket of cold water over my head, my thumbs flying over the keyboard:

R U fucking with me?

My stomach clenched as I hit Send. Had Tyson lied to me when he said that he and Cody were going to grab a bite tonight? After all his tender words about how much he cared for me, his claims that he was collecting money from the SADEP to pay for my education, his promises about our future…had he called some other girl to come over and satisfy his needs?

The three little dots appeared, and then disappeared. Then appeared again, and disappeared again.

Shit.

Finally the three dots appeared again, followed by the text that sent an ice pick through my heart:

I’m sorry.

I flipped on the bedside lamp and threw back the covers, blindly pulling on whatever clothes were on my floor. I grabbed my mom’s car keys from the top of my dresser, then reconsidered. Biking would cool me off. And if anything was going on, Tyson wouldn’t hear me pull up.

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