Hold On (Page 18)

And last, a pinched look on her face that said the last time she’d been in a bar was never and she wished she could have kept it that way.

“Cheryl,” she said, and my name sounded forced out.

“Peg,” I replied, turning fully her way even though I did not freaking want to, and not only because I did not want to be talking to Peg, but because Merry was right…freaking…there. Once turned, I greeted all friendly, “Hey.”

She opened her massive purse, which looked like a diaper bag gone bad, and that was a feat since most of those things weren’t the height of fashion, not to mention it was an actual purse, not a diaper bag at all.

Then she pulled out the envelope Trent had with him yesterday and slapped it on the bar.

It took a lot, but I managed not to recoil from it like it was a rattler she’d wrangled out, pissing it off and setting it on a trajectory to strike me.

I also could actually feel Merry’s eyes honing in on that envelope in a way it was a wonder it didn’t burst into flames from the laser beam precision.

She kept her hand on the envelope as she spoke.

“Trent made a mistake and took this with him after you guys talked yesterday,” she declared. “I thought it was important to get it back to you straight away.”

“Peg—” I started but didn’t get any further.

“Also, just so you know, the arrangements he told you we were going to make for you and Ethan will start this week. We’ll be mailing the first check on Friday.”

I knew from her look and tone, which had always been friendly and now was not, that not only was Trent on her shit list for fucking up yesterday’s conversation, he’d shared what I’d said and she was not happy with me either.

She also wasn’t wasting any time putting her plan into motion.

That being they could share with a judge they’d scrimped, saved, and sacrificed to do right by me, but mostly Ethan, even after Trent had royally fucked things up, being a junkie loser who took off on his bitch and took her money with him.

I really wanted to tell her to go fuck herself. That all this shit was total bullshit, but her play, coming to me at my place of work when I couldn’t make a return play, was jacked.

I couldn’t do that. Too much was at stake. I had to be cool for Ethan but also because Merry was watching.

“Babe, I think it might be a good idea if we all found a time to sit down and talk,” I suggested.

She scooted the envelope closer to me, replying, “You’re at work, so I don’t want to take a lot of your time. I think Trent made things clear yesterday. Now, I need you to take this envelope, Cheryl. You know, so I know what’s in it is safe.”

“Maybe—” I began, but she scooted the envelope sharply another inch my way and cut me off.

“You’re at work and I have kids to get home to. If you’ll take this, I’ll know it’s good and I can get home to my family.”

Her words giving me no other choice, I reached out, and as I did, she quickly removed her hand so I could curl my fingers around the envelope and we’d not touch.

When I had it held safely in my hand, she nodded and declared, “We hope to see Ethan soon. Have a good day at work. See you.”

With that, she turned on her aerobics shoes and walked out.

I stared after her, belatedly regretting my play of the day before.

I got pissed, which meant Trent got pissed and tipped his hand, which meant Peggy got pissed, and I wasn’t sure Peg pissed was a good thing.

There was a reason Trent had come to heel. His kind of devotion to Peg could be won through reward or through punishment.

I was getting the sense right then it was punishment.

“You takin’ a payoff right in front of a cop?”

Merry’s voice, being Merry’s voice (meaning Merry was there and had seen that, then said what he said, even though I knew it was a joke), tipped me over an edge I’d been riding for a long fucking time. But that weekend it was sharper, so it didn’t take much for me to tip over.

Therefore I turned and snapped, “No it isn’t a fuckin’ payoff.”

Merry’s chin jerked down and his eyes narrowed.

“It was a joke, Cher,” he told me.

“It wasn’t a funny one,” I told him, pressing the envelope to my stomach.

He looked down to it and then up to me. “Who was that woman?”

“No one.”

At my answer, his ear dipped slowly to his shoulder before his head straightened and a look came over his face I’d never seen on him before.

But it was scary.

“What’s in the envelope, babe?” he asked, his tone forced to casual, which meant it wasn’t casual at all.

“Nothing,” I answered. “Listen, I gotta—”

“What’s in the envelope, Cher?”

“Nothing,” I repeated. “Now, goin’ back to what we were talk—”

He leaned an inch toward me and I was not a girl who was easily intimidated, but I had to admit, that inch was intimidating.

“What’d she give you? Who was that woman? Who is Trent? And what do they gotta do with Ethan?”

“Merry, straight up, this isn’t any of your business.”

That was when he leaned two inches toward me, and if one inch was intimidating, two was a threat.

This meant I should have known it was coming.

But knowing Merry, or thinking I did, thus thinking he wouldn’t have what he was going to give me in him, I had no clue.

“Made you come for me,” he whispered. “More than once. Straight up, Cher, it is. Who the fuck was that woman? Why is she passin’ off cash to you? And why’s it got you freaked way the fuck out?”