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“It is always about the money,” he booms and his grip gets even tighter.
Honestly, I don’t think I can take this pain now. I think I need to ask him to ease up a bit.
But I never get the chance because he continues, his eyes wild now, “Listen Poe, you can’t do this, okay? You can’t do this to me right now. I need you to go with me. I fucking need you.”
My heart breaks further and I reach up to clutch his t-shirt. “God, Jimmy, I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry but I can’t. I really can’t. I have to stay here. I have to. For him and —”
“Fuck him,” he booms again. “All right? Fuck your fucking guardian. Fuck that fucking loser. You —”
“Hey!” I shake him. “Don’t call him a loser. He’s not a loser.”
“What?”
“And don’t talk about him like that. Ever,” I growl — first time in front of him — and give him another shake for good measure.
He looks at me, confused, and I understand that.
He knows about my own hatred for my guardian. Which I regret now.
God do I regret it.
But no one calls him a loser. Even I didn’t call him that back when I hated him with every fiber of my being.
I hate that word.
I hated it when Cynthia called him that and I hate it even more now that I know all the things he has been through.
So no, no one and absolutely no one gets to trash talk my guardian. Even the guy I love.
I won’t tolerate it.
Jimmy shakes his head. “Whatever. I don’t even care. Look…” He takes a deep but shaky breath. “You have to understand, Poe. You have to fucking understand and come with me.”
“But I told you —”
“Holy fuck. Shit.” He throws his head back and looks up to the ceiling, all agitated. Then, coming back to look at me, he says, “All right. Listen. You have to listen carefully.”
I wait for him to go on but he keeps looking at me with both wild and serious eyes as if waiting for something. So I tell him, “I’m listening.”
He takes another deep, shaky breath. “Big Jack is going to kill me for this, okay? But I want you to know.”
“Who’s Big Jack?”
He shakes his head again and leans down further. “There’s a plan, all right? A big plan, and it involves you coming with me.”
“What?”
Another breath. “Look, there’s no tour.” My eyes go wide and he goes on, “There never was any tour. The whole plan was to get you to go with us and then…” Yet another breath. “And then ask your guardian for your money. And not just the partial trust fund. All of it.”
He finishes with yes, another breath.
Meanwhile I’m not breathing at all. Meanwhile I’m frozen.
And shocked. And so fucking confused.
“What?” I ask, gripping his t-shirt tightly. “W-why would… Why would he give you the money?”
He leans down further. “Because we were gonna make it look like you got kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped.”
His eyes get wilder with excitement. “Yeah. A fake kidnapping. And look, it’s a win-win.”
“Win-win.”
“Yeah.” He smiles his usual charming smile but right now it looks more manic than I’ve ever seen it. “You were gonna get out of your guardian’s control. That’s what you’ve always talked about, right? Getting out of his control and being free. And if we get all the money right now, you wouldn’t even have to see him after this. And yes, I’ll need a little bit of that money myself but it’s a very small amount. And once the band takes off, I’m gonna pay you back.”
“Why do you need the money?”
He grimaces. “I owe some people. Long story. But Big Jack had been getting impatient. I told him that I’d give him the money soon. I knew you were gonna get out of school and get the money anyway in a few weeks, but the fucker put a date on it and when he found out that you were my friend, he came up with this whole brilliant plan. Of you quitting school now and going on the fake tour with me.” He grimaces again. “Full disclosure though, he might have jacked up the loan. For the plan, you see. So we might have to give him more than what I owe him in the first place. But I figured you wouldn’t mind because you’re finally going to be free.”
Free.
He’s the second person to say that to me tonight.
And like Mo, he’s not wrong.
“So then who’s Erica?” I ask, my voice all calm and low.
“She works for Big Jack. He sent her to keep an eye on me.” He rolls his eyes. “Like I need to be kept on a leash. I know what I’m doing.”
“And Big Jack is a mob boss?” I ask with the same voice.
