Page 45 of A Million To Fall

But not for long.

“So, you work here, too?” Archer asks, looking around like this place is beneath him. Never mind the fact that he was a regular here during high school. Even then he’d sneer at me.

I nod. “Clearly.” I hate how he gets under my skin.

Jake frowns. “Man, you have two jobs?”

“Three,” I say, softer.

His jaw drops. “Shit, where else?”

“Riverfront Sports Complex.”

Sounds fancier than it is, and judging by Archer’s response, they know it.

“The rec center?” Archer snorts softly. “That place is still open?”

“Still open.”

“Shit, Boss—” Jake starts, heaviness settling in his features.

“Listen—” I stop him. I don’t need pity. Especially not with Archer listening. “I’m actually about to clock out. My shift’s over.”

Archer smirks. “You going to the rec center now?”

I decide to ignore him, keeping my focus on Jake.

“I don’t want you to think I’m avoiding you guys, okay? I just work a lot. But I’m free Sunday evenings, so… if you’re around, maybe we can catch up.”

Jake nods. “Definitely.”

I don’t deserve his enthusiasm.

“Sweet. Okay, you guys have a good workout.”

I leave through the back, just like I used to, stepping onto the same cracked pavement, that damn door still sticking on the way out.

I came back to Stillwater the day after my twentieth birthday.

The day after finally getting to talk to Cassie and Bronx after over two years.

Bronx sounded so much older, telling me about soccer, and school, and their current foster parents. Cassie… she cried so hard I could barely understand her. She kept begging me to come get them. Her sobs, the pain in her voice—it broke me wide open. I hadn’t realized I was crying until I felt the tears spilling down my neck.

The first thing I did when I came back to Stillwater was pick them up and take them to the park. There, I told them the truth: that I live in my car, that I don’t have a place where they’d be safe. Not yet, at least. And then I promised I’d find a way to get them, making them promise me in turn to be patient. Give me a little bit of time to figure this out.

I wish I could say the lawyer I talked to that following week made me feel more optimistic about things, but the man just sat there in his pressed jacket and tie and told me—straight-faced—that it would cost me somewhere between ten and fifteen grand to fight for custody. That’s after I miraculously come up with five thousand dollars just to retain the guy.

I almost passed out when he said it.

But the truth is, no judge is going to give me custody of Cassie and Bronx if I don’t even have a place to live. So that’s the goal now: apartment first. Then custody.

My mom’s no help. She’s back in jail.

Eddie did eventually post her bail the first time, but she made it barely a month before she missed a court date and got picked up again. The arrest report says she offered an undercover cop a blowjob for fifty bucks.

I didn’t ask her to confirm.

I unlock my car, briefly glancing back through the gym window. Jake and Archer are loading another plate onto a bar while Pacey and Jonathan are messing around, shoving each other.