Stepbrother's Debt(10)

“Ah, yes, the two little sluts who love to fuck anything. We know about them.”

“I don’t want to do this,” she said.

He started walking beside her, which only served to annoy her.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m keeping an eye on you. It’s what Donnie wants me to do.”

“And you do whatever Donnie says?”

“Pretty much.”

She growled in frustration, trying to leave him several steps behind her. He didn’t slow down his pace, keeping up with her without breaking a sweat.

At first, she ignored him, but she just couldn’t be rude.

“Thank you,” she said.

Jake burst out laughing. “I wondered how long you’d take until you caved.”

“I don’t like being rude.”

“This situation is all new to you then?”

“You have no idea. One moment I’m sitting in our ratty apartment, worrying about when the bills were going to come in, and now, my mom is talking about this guy, and we’re living there.” She glanced down at her cell phone to see she had a couple of hours before she was at the diner for work.

“What happened to your father?”

“I don’t know. Mom told me he left one day while I was at school.” She shrugged. “It has been hard. I guess she’s moving on.”

“You don’t know anything about him or what happened?”

“No, nothing.” She tucked some hair behind her ear. “Why are you asking?”

“No reason. If your mother intends to marry Donnie’s dad, I just wondered how that worked with your father.”

She didn’t speak for the last of the way into the front of the house. One of the guards nodded toward Jake. Paige saw Donnie, Luiz, and Tonio waiting, and all three of them were leaning against the car he’d taken to school.

“I wouldn’t go in there if I was you,” Donnie said.

Ignoring them, she made her way into the house where she heard her mother in a state she really didn’t want to. She was begging and screaming for him to fuck her harder.

Rushing back out the door, she took a seat on the steps while the guys’ laughter drifted up. Holding her bag tight to her chest, she felt the sudden urge to cry.

“I did warn you.”

“No child should have to hear that kind of stuff.” The sounds were going to be forever burned on her eardrums. That was the kind of sound nightmares were made of.

“You’re going to have to get used to those kinds of sounds,” Donnie said.

She looked toward him. Opening her mouth to say something, she decided against it and just stared at the ground.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Nothing.” She gripped her bag tighter to herself, wishing for the time to pass.

Dad, where are you?

She didn’t want to give up hope. He was her only father. People who disappeared turned up eventually.

Twenty minutes later the door opened, and Donnie’s father came out the door. He didn’t look like he’d just been fucking her mother. Without waiting for permission, she ducked under his arm, going into the house.

Her mother was there, tucking her hair into a bun. “Honey, how was school?”

“Fine.” She headed toward the stairs.

“Paige, come and talk to me.”

She turned on the stairs, looking at her mother. There was a time she’d have sat with her mother, talking for hours at a time. The pristine person that stood in front of her was no longer her mother. “I’ve got stuff to do.”

Sharon tensed up but didn’t say anything as Paige walked upstairs.

****

Donnie hung out in his room with his friends, and they were all making plans for the night. His father had given him the order to keep working on Paige. When he walked in the door, he’d heard her turn down the opportunity to talk with her mother. She didn’t want to be around the woman who gave her birth.

“She doesn’t know her father is dead,” Jake said.

“How did you find that out?” Donnie grabbed four sodas out of his fridge, tossing them around the room.

“I talked to her about it. She didn’t have a fucking clue what her mother was doing. One moment it was the two of them, the next, it was the four of you. She’s shit scared of everything that’s going on.”

Donnie let out a sigh.

“She’s surprised me,” Luiz said.

“Why?”

“I’ve never known a girl to turn down the chance to be with you. Even you have to admit, she’s a bit of a mystery.” Luiz opened his soda, taking a sip.

Donnie couldn’t argue with Luiz’s assessment. Paige was a mystery to him. She didn’t expect anything from him, nor did she appear to want anything from him. “I don’t like it.”