Page 5 of Hush (Fighting Fate)

“I have homework to do.”

“It can wait. This is more important.” He zipped up the bag and walked over to the stairs to stand in front of me, shoving a piece of paper into my hand. “Here’s the address you’ll be going to. You’ll have to catch the fifty-one to Forty-Seventh, then go the rest of the way on foot.”

“What? Why can’t I just drive?”

“You just can’t! Tell them Ken sent you – that Tom OD’d, and you’re his replacement.”

Alarm bells started ringing in my head. “Who OD’d? What are you talking about?”

“Just shut up and do as you’re told, you stupid bitch! If you fuck this up for me, I swear to God, you’ll regret it!” He thrust the bag at me, knocking me back a fraction.

I glanced up at him in alarm, pushing the bag back towards him. “This doesn’t feel right. I don’t want to do it.”

Ken’s eyes flashed with murderous rage. “You’ll do it alright, you little bitch, because if you don’t, your mother will be the one to pay for your mistake, and it will be a lot worse than what happened this morning!”

I felt the blood drain from my face. Oh God.

As if reading my mind, he smirked.

I felt sick. Every part of me screamed that this was bad. I’d never wanted to say no more in my whole life, but the thought of Mom cowering next to the bed was still so fresh in my mind, I just couldn’t. I swallowed hard.

He shoved the bag hard against my chest. “Now get going or you’ll miss the bus!”

When I didn’t move, he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me towards the door. Once it was open, he thrust me out onto the porch and slammed it shut behind me.

I started to shake as I stood there. I didn’t know what to do. I knew Ken’s threats weren’t idle. He’d definitely follow through with it and Mom would pay the price, but my head was screaming at me, telling me if I did this, it would be the biggest mistake of my life.

Seeing no choice before me but doing what Ken wanted, I shakily checked I still had my cellphone on me and started down the street.

As I walked, I kept reminding myself I was doing it for Mom, not Ken. Every time the anxiousness started to creep back in again, I placed a firm picture of Mom smiling on the screen of my mind to help me.

The second I arrived at the bus stop, it rolled to a stop beside me. As the door swung open, I tried to ignore the warning bells that were still ringing inside my head. I couldn’t help but feel like I was standing on a precipice, and the instant I stepped foot on that bus, my life was going to drastically change.

With that god awful pang of unease still churning in my stomach, I forced myself to step on.

Twenty minutes later, I got off where Ken had instructed and called up the address using my cell’s GPS. When I saw where I needed to go, I frowned. What the hell?! It was nowhere near Forty-Seventh. Why did he tell me to get off there?

Swearing under my breath, I tightened my grip on the bag’s handle and set off down the back street. The whole situation was making me sick. Something was seriously wrong with it.

The fact that Aaron hadn’t wanted to go was a major indicator, because I knew Ken would’ve offered him money to do it. He had to bribe the idiot to do everything - even take out the freaking trash.

And then there was the whole thing about this Tom person OD-ing. I had no idea what the hell that was about, but any sentence that included the phrase OD’d, couldn’t be about anything good.

A bag. A delivery. A Tom that had OD’d. A person would have to be pretty stupid to think it had nothing to do with drugs.

My breathing sped up. Could Ken be a drug dealer? He was definitely a lot of things that weren’t good, but a dealer? I wasn’t sure I could fit the image of him in that category, but what did I know of those underworld kind of things?

I shook my head as I crossed the street and started down the next block. I wasn’t sure how I felt about my stepfather being a supposed drug dealer. I guessed no different to how it felt with him being a wife beater. He was a douche either way. I didn’t know how he managed to have so many high profile connections, but then again, maybe they were his clients…

Looking at my cell, I turned down the next street, grumbling even more when I had to start navigating decaying piles of rubbish and what looked like dried up puddles of vomit. If he was thinking I’d ever do this for him again, he could forget it.

The image of Mom lying huddled on her bedroom floor flashed at me like a

neon sign and my heart instantly sank. Realization came at me like a slap to the face. Ken knew my Achilles heel. Of course I’d do it again. He knew I had no other option.

Stupid, freaking asshole of a man. God I hated him!

I kicked a rock that was lying on the footpath, watching it sail through the air before it smacked into a metal trash can with a loud clang. I looked around, hoping I hadn’t drawn too much attention to myself, but when I saw the number of the house in front of me, I realized I was a lot closer to the place than I’d thought.

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