he helped me unload the groceries. In fact, he remained silent while I made chicken salad sandwiches and cut up fresh cantaloupe.
I plopped the plate in front of him when I was done. “Eat.”
“Thank Sis.” He proceeded to stuff his mouth.
I’d barely finished half of my sandwich before a loud belch erupted on the other side of the table.
“That was the best cooking I’ve had in a while.”
I shrugged, pushing my plate toward him. “It’s just a sandwich. Do you want the rest of mine?”
Without hesitation he took the sandwich and polished it off in a few bites. While I was happy to see him at least eat something besides the junk he probably lived off of for god knows how long, I knew this was the calm before the storm.
I was always a proponent of ripping the bandage off to get over any inflicted pain. “Why did you come to see me after all this time, Adam? What do you want?”
He gave me that lopsided grin that he used since he was a baby to get what he wanted. It usually worked, but I was so over his shit that I was unmoved. “Do I need a reason to come visit my big sister?”
“Well, since you’re not offering to pay back the money you stole from me, then I’m guessing you’re here for another reason. Look, my day is already garbage on top of an extra crappy couple months. I need for you to tell me what you came here for and don’t lie to me. At the very least, you owe me the truth.”
Again he gives me that grin, but at this point, I’m so tired I can’t deal with this right now. “Sis…come on….”
Without a word, I stood up and turned my back on him. Was this the moment when I’d cut him out of my life forever? The lump in my chest told that it just might be.
Maybe he sensed it too because the chair squeaked across the kitchen floor signaling that he had stood up as well.
“Look, Frankie. I’m in trouble. Big trouble. I…I owe some guys a lot of money, and if I don’t pay them back, they’re going to hurt me. Well…actually that’s an understatement. They’re going to kill me. Look, I fucked up, and I know I don’t deserve your help, but I want to get better. I swear. I just need to pay them to get them off my back. I swear I’ll clean up my act. I promise.”
How many times had I heard that before? More times I could count.
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you got involved with whomever you’re in trouble.” I turned to face him. “But just for shits and giggles, how much money do you owe this time?”
He ran his fingers through his hair in a frustrated gesture. “50.”
“50 dollars? You couldn’t scrounge up 50 dollars on your own?”
He shook his head. “No, Sis, 50 grand.”
I was so over his lies and everything he put me through over the years. Because I wanted to believe him, I’d give in him every single time, and he’d get what he wanted. Only for me to see him spiral even further. “50 grand? So, the money you already stole from me wasn’t enough? As I already told you, I’m all tapped out. And to be quite honest, Adam, even if I had that money to give to you, I find it hard to believe that you won’t end up smoking or snorting it away.”
His knee bounced up and down in a rapid motion as he began to tap his foot against the floor, a sign that he was really nervous about something. Maybe he really was serious this time because usually when he lied, it was with a straight face. He was definitely agitated about something. “They said they’d hurt me if I didn’t get them the money… They’re serious sis. These people don’t play.”
Before I realize what he was doing, he stood up and lifted his shirt to reveal a large jagged scar that went from his left nipple to his navel. The wound looked fresh and poorly stitched as if he’d gone to some back-alley doctor to get patched up.
I gasped in horror. “What have you done?”
Chapter Two
Nick
“I don’t know what I’m going to do all alone in this big house. With Kenny gone…. Well, I mean you have visited me as much as you’ve been able to considering you have that big important