Mercer took my free hand in hers and squeezed. “No. You saved your own life. Don’t forget that. I know you think Huck Snyder is the answer to all your problems, but you made it this far without him or the support of anyone else. You are strong, and you are capable. Never let anyone convince you differently.” Keeping my hand in hers, she stood and tugged on the limb. “Enough for today. You aren’t going to come up with a solution pouting on the front steps. Let’s order a pizza and watch Netflix.”
I got up and followed my only friend inside the eclectic store. She was right that I wasn’t going to come up with a solution to get through to Huck by pouting and bemoaning everything that went wrong in my life. I had made it this far on my own, even though the choices I’d made to get this far had been more than slightly questionable.
I just didn’t know how much more fight I had inside of me. I felt empty and drained. At least I had until I was face-to-face with Huck. When I met those glittering gold eyes of his, I finally felt alive again. I felt something inside of me, bubbling and trembling with tentative hope. He’d been a dangerous influence when I was young and stupid. He was something so much more than dangerous now that I was older and stupider than I had been.
I knew he wasn’t going to be open to listen to anything I had to say, so all I could do was keep my fingers crossed that my plan to plead my case with Mr. Peters had worked. There weren’t many people Huck and his boys respected, but the older landlord was one of them.
The last advocate I’d had was Huck. I never thought I’d need someone to advocate for me to him.
Huck
“I’ll move out. And the boys will follow.”
I faced Mr. Peters defiantly across his ornate dining room table, giving him a look that had quelled many men before him. Only, I forgot the old man was a veteran, had been married and divorced three times, and raised three daughters. All of whom were incredibly successful and powerful women. The old man didn’t scare easily, and a threat from some punk college kid wasn’t even going to get him to bat an eyelash.
“Move out then.” My landlord looked at me over the rim of his coffee mug, and if I didn’t know better, I would’ve sworn he was hiding a smile. The grouchy old man had never cracked a smile in all the years I’d rented from him. He was more of the scowling-while-barking-orders type. “But keep in mind, the semester is starting soon, and I’ll have to immediately rent the place out. You’ll also be responsible for paying to break your current lease.” He arched a fuzzy gray eyebrow in my direction. “That’s a whole year’s worth of rent since you just renewed, on top of the five-hundred-dollar fee. Even if you somehow manage to come up with your portion, I doubt the other boys will. Harlen is on a scholarship, if memory serves me.”
He set his mug down on the table and leaned forward. I didn’t want to be intimidated, but I was. I looked up to very few people, and Mr. Peters was at the top of the list. The old man was one of the few adults who’d ever given me a chance without making me jump through a million hoops to prove myself first. This was the first time we’d ever really clashed.
Of course, it had to be because of Ollie.
“And if you do come up with the money to get out of the lease, do you think finding a place to rent if you plan on staying with Vernon will be easy? He’s still got a while before he turns eighteen. No one will ignore that he’s a minor, and even if they consider renting to you without him on the lease, they’re going to ask questions. Do you want to put the kid through all that just because you don’t want a female roommate?”
I growled in frustration and pounded the side of my fist on the tabletop. He was right, and it grated that he knew me well enough to know there was no way in hell I would ever abandon Vernon. The kid had almost cost us the Victorian when Harlen