Caught In The Middle

JEALOUS MUCH

She would call Marcus and ask for the money from him, she would tell him everything and he would rescue her. One thing I knew for a fact was that Marcus loved me with all his heart and would do anything for me. But I had too much pride to ask him for it. Thank goodness schools were getting closed and in a week for spring break and then I would be able to give this situation all my attention.

I settled on deciding that it was best to let Marcus know what was going on, he would know what to do. In a way whoever was threatening my mother had to submit to Marcus since he was the boss of all crooks.

I don’t know when I fell asleep that night, because the last time I was awake my pillow was drenched with tears and I couldn’t stop crying. The next morning I literally had to drag myself to the bathroom and to the kitchen for breakfast and then waited for Marcus. My mom was already gone probably still stressed, which was why I had to speak to Marcus about this and fix it.

“Hey baby” he greeted as I ran to him and hugged him tight

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell, me it’s that Chloe girl again” he said and I shook my head, tears threatening to spill out

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he let go and noticed the bags under my eyes and the redness of my eyes

“I will tell you about it, can we go to your place. I don’t think I want to go to school today” I said. The last thing I wanted was to make up a lie to Arianna about why I was crying the whole night and why I could answer the phone yesterday when she called me.

“Anything for you, I had a meeting but I will just cancel it or ask Piet to take care of it. We can just stay at home until you feel better ok?” he asked. This caring side of him just made me want to break down and cry further. I nodded and we got into the car and headed to his place.

“So are you going to tell me what’s eating you?” he asked as we sat in the living room watching TV. My head was safely on his chest and he was playing with my hair

“Well it’s my mum” I started as I sat up

“She and my father owed some people some money and although my dad passed away two years back she is still struggling to pay them” I said as I fought hard to keep the tears from falling from my eyes like the Niagara Falls

“Oh so that’s why you got a job from Phil” he said and I nodded

“But the money I make there is not even close enough to pay them back, and they have given us a week to pay it all back” I said

“How much do you owe them?” he asked

“$150,000” I said in shame

“That’s ok I will settle it for you” he said simple and I shook my head

“That’s not why I’m telling you this” I cleared my throat “Am telling you so that you can help me find these people” I said

“And then what will you do when you find them darling?’ he asked sarcastically

“Well, I will talk to them and try to convince them to give us more time to pay them” I said

“I know people like that, if you do that you will never finish paying them off” he said

“Well am not going to let you pay off my dad’s debt” I protested and he laughed

“Darling you think I would take my money and pay a greedy bastard after they have threatened you. They should’ve known better” he said and I saw the evil in his eyes return which made me tremble

“so what will you do” I asked

“I will set a trap and catch them. Then I will squash them like the bugs they are” he said tightening his fist

“But they are not bugs” I protested and he ignored me, clearly he was set on his path. After a few moments of an awkward silence I finally spoke

“Well if you decide to do anything, I demand to be a part of it because this is my life” I demanded and he kissed my forehead

“Of course sweetheart’ he said but for some reason I wasn’t convinced.

We spent the whole afternoon chilling at his place and he even cooked for me. Marcus went all out to make me feel better but in all honesty being with him was enough to brighten my mood.  We started planning of how he was going to be able to find the men that had been threatening my mom and how I could help. At the end of it all I had to admit that there was little I could do because these were probably professionals and I was just a high school student. But thank goodness for summer break, because that meant I would have more time in my hands to deal with this whole mess.

“So after we are done with this, you will have to stop working for Phil” he said as we got into the car when it was time to take me home.

“What? No way I love my job and besides I made Arianna join me in working there, she will never forgive me if I quit” I said

“But I don’t like you working there, it’s too much attention on you and I don’t want to kill anyone for looking at you funny” he said and I chuckled but immediately stopped when I realised he wasn’t joking.

“Are you serious, anyway speaking of work...I am working tomorrow” I said

“Will you look at my luck, tomorrow just so happens to be the day that I have back to back meeting at the restaurant” he said with a smile

“You are lying...anyway we can’t show anyone that anything is happening between us. Uncle Phil warned me against you” I said

“Oh he did...” he said gripping the steering wheel tighter clearly upset that people thought he was a danger to me.

Which he was...

“Are you seriously angry right now” I asked

“No, I just hate meddlers” he said

“I understand all that, but he has every right to. I literally begged him for that job and he felt responsible that I had to be serving you that night and that I even had an encounter with you. So you will behave tomorrow ok, I am not asking you...” I said attempting to exercise my authority

“Fine...whatever you say but I will not sit back if anyone and I mean anyone misbehaves with you” he said and I knew he meant it

“What if someone misbehaves with you?” I asked “you know you are an eye catcher and I think Kim has the biggest crush on you, so what must I do when the ladies throw themselves at you?”

“Are you jealous love?” he asked laughing

“Not yet, but I will be” I warned

“I will make sure to ask Antonio to keep Kim away from me, just so that she doesn’t drool and besides I will trade my booth for an open table where you can clearly see me” he said and I felt better but realised that meant he would stare me the whole time.