“I just thought that you might actually listen if you can hear my voice.”
“Not if you’re going to say the same thing to me over and over again.”
“How can you be so heartless, Noah? How can you treat me like this?”
“Give it up, Hayley, I am not giving you money.”
“I don’t think you understand what trouble I’m in, Noah, seriously,” she whines pitifully. “I need money.”
“I don’t care what trouble you have gotten yourself into, Hayley. I’m too busy looking after your son.”
“Alex, what if they go after Alex to get to me?”
I roll my eyes. “No one will go after Alex because no one in your life knows that he exists.”
“But… they can find out, can’t they?”
“Who is they?”
“Bad people. Gambling people. The sort of people I shouldn’t be mixed up with.”
“The sort of people you walked out on your family to b
e with?”
She’s silent for far too long. I’ve hit a place where it hurts… at least, I think it hurts. I don’t know. She might just be trying to find a new angle to go at me with but I don’t have time for this.
“Hayley, I am at work right now, you know, the thing that most people do for money? I don’t have time to deal with your nonsense.”
“Noah, I know that you have made lots of money from your gym. You’re one of the richest men in Las Vegas, and Vegas is a city of money. You aren’t helping me out to be spiteful, nothing more.”
“I’m not being spiteful, I just refuse to bail you out again. I’ve done it too many times already. You aren’t my responsibility anymore, you made damn sure of that. So, no, I won’t give you any money. Alex deserves it and you don’t.”
“But they said they will make me pay. What if they make you pay?”
“It’s your issue though, not mine.”
“Why are you being an asshole? This isn’t you.”
“It’s me now. Especially when it comes to you,”
I get a string of expletives back, all sweetness gone, but I don’t care. I cut her off without a second thought. It feels good to hang up there, to be done with her… for good. Hopefully this time, she will get the hint and that will be the end of it. I don’t ever want to hear from her again. Me and Alex are much better off.
4
Mia
“I would like to draw thee hundred and eighty dollars from my account.”
“Sure thing, sir.” I force a bright smile on my face, even though I don’t mean it. “Here we are.”
“I’m paying for my wedding, see. Finally making an honest woman out of my lady.”
“You are?” For some reason, my smile becomes even thinner. Probably because I know what’s coming next.
“Yes, I sure am. What was your wedding like?”
I wave my ring free finger at him. “No wedding for me.”