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Camden just wanted to shut me up. Him—and the people he represents?—if they don't get money, they'll go for me, and Willow, to make an example out of us.
"I don't have that kind of money lying around. I need time."
The man laughs. "Pretty thing like you? You can make the money."Bile rises in my throat as he takes a step closer. "I’ll even line up your clients if you'd like. You'd have the debt clear in no time. Two months, three tops."
He wants to pimp me out. Of course he does. "Get out of my apartment."
"No can do." He looks down at the towel low on his hips, and winks at me. "My clothes are in your roommate's room. She's a tigress, that one."
“Leave my friend alone.”
He hands me a card. There’s no name on it, just numbers.
Bank account details.
“Three days, Morgan. This is the last time you’ll see me. If we have to send someone else, it will be far less pleasant, Miss Brown."
He saunters off to Toni's room, whistling a cheerful tune, like he hasn't just threatened to destroy my life.
I’m screwed. If it was just me, I’d run, but they’d come after Willow next.
What can I do?
* * *
I stare at my phone, displaying my pitiful bank balance. Almost three months of savings, with little to no spending. Other than a handful of very cheap clothes, my addiction to coffee—mostly covered by my job—and my rent, I've put every penny I earned in there. There's just short of five thousand. I've never had that much money, but it's not even a tenth of what my mother owes this guy's gang.
My fucking mother.
She's had her lawyer call me at least a dozen times, requesting a visit. That's hilarious. She never cared whether she saw me before—unless she was there to ask me for money. I never gave her a cent, but I'm going to have to give everything I have to that asshole to protect Willow.
And then what? I'll still be down by forty-five thousand.
I know how it works with men like him. If he has to wait, he's going to charge me interest—and not the kind of interest I'd have to pay at a bank. I'll never get out of this whole. They'd suck me in like they did my mother.
I don't realize I'm crying until someone knocks at my door. "Hey, you're in?" Toni calls cheerfully. "I'm making pasta if you want some."
I can't blame her for letting a shark in our place. It was my fault for just assuming it was Damian visiting—and never checking the fact afterwards. I'd believed Camden had been the one making his way to the apartment, so I never followed up.
"I'm not very hungry. Thanks, Toni."
I should tell her about the guy, but I don't know where to start.
He's dangerous. Not in the sexy, stalkerish, overbearing way Camden can be. Seriously dangerous.
"Wait, Toni?" I drag myself to my feet and open my door. "Can you come in for a minute?"
I tell her everything about my mother's many vices, her association with the gang, her arrest, before wrapping up the story with "Damian's" threat. I'd much rather keep my life private, especially those shameful things relating to my mother—well, both of my parents—but her safety comes first.
"Toni? Well, say something." I half expect her to tell me to get out of the apartment.
My mother's mess is likely to put her and the other girls here in danger.I should get out of here. Except I don't have anywhere to go.
"Why, oh why, are all the guys decent in the bedroom psychos?" she asks, her eyebrows creased in frustration. "Seriously, it's like their ability towieldtheir dick is directly related to the crazy."
I laugh in relief and amusement. "I don't know, maybe the crazy is related to the testosterone level? Someone should do a survey."
"Definitely." She takes both of my hands as we laugh. "And I'm not about to judge you for your mother's actions. Hell, trust me, you don't want to know what my parents are up to."
