Page 7 of Throttle Therapy

Jenna knew the schools would never be able to completely stop something like that.But they could do a hell of a lot better than they did.It seemed some kids never got punished or whatever they did was just ‘kids being kids’, and they were never held responsible for their actions.Not by the school and not by the adults who were supposedly raising them.It was a recipe for disaster, but what could she do?

From where Jenna sat, all she could do was make sure Lacey was raised right.

She pulled into the quick stop and parked before picking up her wallet.

“Here, can you grab us a couple of cokes?”

“Sure.”Lacey took the card and released the latch on her door but stopped before pushing it open.“You want diet?”

“Not really but I should.Go ahead and get me diet.”

“Want anything else while I’m there?”

Jenna shook her head, Lacey got out and headed inside, pushing the car door closed without slamming it for a change.Jenna took another deep breath and let her cheeks puff out as she exhaled.

She could do this.People had been raising teenagers for eons.And a hundred years ago, hell, even fifty years ago, Jenna would have had kids of her own by now.They wouldn’t be as old as her sister, and ideally, she would have had a husband to help, but there were a lot of circumstances where she would be where she was now or close enough, and jobs were a lot harder to come by for women then.

No, she didn’t have it too bad, just harder than she would like but then, who didn’t have it harder than they wanted?She scrubbed her hands over her face and pushed her feeling sorry for herself out of her mind when her sister came out of the store.

They still had homework to get done and she had to figure out something for dinner.

“Hey, Lacey-Lou,” Jenna said as Lacey got back into the car, carefully placing the foam cups in the cup holders between them.“Thanks for going in.Any thoughts on what you want to do for dinner?”

“Ice cream?”

“Nice try, little bit.You know the rules.We can only have one ‘cheat’ meal a week, and that’s not until Saturday.”Jenna put the car in gear and backed out of the parking space.

“But it’s only two days away,” Lacey whined.

“True, but it’s still two days away.That will give you more time to figure out exactly what you want.As for dinner, you know the rules.Protein and a veggie.We can have more, but we need at least those.”

Lacey was quiet most of the way home.Jenna didn’t know if she was brooding about her day at school or thinking about dinner, and at the moment didn’t matter much, she was going to enjoy the moment.

Less than a half mile from their complex, Lacey spoke up.

“How about peanut butter and jelly?Peanut butter is both a protein and a vegetable, and jelly is a fruit.See?Healthy all the way around.”

Jenna shot her sister a look to see if she believed the line she was shoveling, or if she was just trying to get away with it.The innocent look Lacey wore told Jenna that Lacey knew what she was doing.

She opened her mouth to tell her no, and to think of something else, but changed her mind.Not only was it a reasonable dinner, once in a while, but it was something Lacey could make for herself.

“First, Peanut butter has protein, yes, but it’s a less than ideal source because it’s so high in fat.Second, peanuts are not vegetables.Third, have you got any idea how much sugar is in jelly?But I’ll allow it.You can put yours on bread or crackers, whichever you want.”She hoped they had saltines in the house.If not then they would have to make do with bread, or maybe the flour tortillas she knew were in the fridge.“Come on, let’s get that homework done so we can find something to watch.”She grabbed her wallet and the keys and headed inside.

Chapter Five

“Slowandsteady.Thisisn’t a race.It’s going to take a while, but you’ll get where you want to be.”

Roadkill stood to one side giving Allison instructions as she pulled down on the lat bar.He was careful not to watch her too closely, no matter how enticing she worked at being.

Allison was attractive enough, but she seemed to be looking for attention.She had picked up how to use the equipment easily enough, but she insisted she needed a spotter, and not just for the weights.She liked having one of the staff, always men, never the women, spot her, just in case she said.

Roadkill stood by, but let his mind drift.He hoped Jenna would be back today.She hadn’t had much time after filling out paper work, and he ached to see her again.

Thankfully, Hex had done as he’d requested and put Phantom on something else.He’d assigned Bobby Lee instead.The prospect did whatever Roadkill asked, jumping every time Roadkill called for him, as if he was afraid each time he was about to get his ass beat.

The enforcer didn’t really blame him for being jumpy.The prospect had made some mistakes in the past, mistakes that had almost ended up being devastating, but he hadn’t been malicious, only gullible, and stupid.He was learning and Roadkill had little doubt the prospect thought he’d been sent here so Roadkill could punish him in some way.That was one of the enforcer’s responsibilities.If it kept him jumping and doing what Roadkill needed done, then he’d let the kid believe it a while longer.Maybe another day or two, or maybe he’d have mercy on him this afternoon.

“How many times do I have to do this?”Allison asked, drawing his attention back to her.