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“Your mom got remarried?” I ask.
“Apparently so,” he mutters.
“Nice guy?”
“Mom seems to like him.”
“And you?” I ask.
He stares straight ahead with a sour expression. “He hates my guts, so I have mixed feelings.”
I nod, and we walk in silence until we reach the corner of the street.
“I’m headed that way,” he says and motions to his left. He nods goodbye and starts to walk away.
“You don’t have the money for the tuition, do you?” I ask.
Based on the conversation I just overheard, I already know the answer, so I guess I’m after confirmation with this.
He stops and slowly turns around. Lifts his chin, defiant as ever. In all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him ask for help.
“Seeing that they just scrapped all my financial aid, no,” he says. “I don’t.”
“John?” I ask.
I don’t know why I’m even asking. I of all people already know that answer.
This is a fucking mess.
Lake stares at me like I’ve gone insane.
“What about John? Last time I checked, he was dead, so unless your mom treated him like a pharaoh in ancient Egypt and threw some treasure into a tomb that I can go and raid, he’s as useless to me now as he was when he was alive.”
I look at him, trying to keep a neutral expression and not wince.
Oh, he’s dead all right.
Thing is, when wealthy people die, they tend to leave their family money and assets.
And John?
He put a bunch of money in a nice little trust and slapped my name on it. Mine. Instead of, you know, Lake’s. His actual son’s.
I don’t want his money. I never did. It was just sort of… thrust upon me without anybody asking if I was interested in it.
Not to mention that if anybody at all has a right to that money, it’s the person standing in front of me now.
If I tell him that, though, that punch in the face is for sure going to happen.
“What are you gonna do?” I ask.
He snorts and looks away for a moment before meeting my gaze again.
“I’m going to take the hint,” he says.
And with that cryptic remark, he’s gone.
LAKE
