Fat Louise (Biker Bitches 2)

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Concerned, she stared back and forth between her father and sister.

“We’re broke!” Bailey wailed.

Jane took a seat on the couch, although she didn’t try to comfort her sister.

“What happened?” Jane asked, startled by the change in her father’s finances.

“Bailey didn’t take Raul’s name off her accounts and emails. Raul has managed to steal almost every dime of my money. He gained access through her accounts.”

“Don’t blame me. I forgot. You should have reminded me.” Bailey, as always, deflected the blame to someone else.

“I didn’t realize anything was wrong until I bought our new house and the sale couldn’t go through, because there was a lack of funds,” their father continued, ignoring Bailey.

“I’m sorry.” Jane didn’t know what else to say. “What are you going to do?”

“The banks are trying to find a way to get my money back, but with Raul and the money both in Mexico, it’s going to be impossible. I’ll have to go back to work fulltime, obviously, and Bailey will have to find a job. I won’t be able to give you an allowance any longer, either.”

“That’s all right. I just gave it to Bailey and Mom, anyway. I’ve been supporting myself for years.”

“Why would you give it to Bailey? She had her own allowance, and your mother is more than able to get a job.”

“Bailey always spent her allowance before the middle of the month, and Mom doesn’t want to work. I guess now she’ll have to.” Jane dreaded telling her mother that piece of news.

“I can’t get a job. What would I do?” Bailey looked at her father frantically.

“Yes, you can, and you will. You have no choice; neither do I. I’ll be starting over from scratch, and I’m not young anymore. Thank God this house is paid for, or we would be homeless.”

“You wouldn’t be homeless. You could have stayed with me and Crazy Bitch.”

From his expression, Jane was sure he would rather be homeless.

“I’m not qualified for anything,” Bailey protested.

“Popeye’s is hiring, and they’ll train you,” Jane suggested.

Bailey stared at her angrily. “I wouldn’t work at a fast food restaurant.”

“Good luck finding something in Jamestown, then. It took me over a year to get hired at the hospital.”

“I’ll call some friends of mine. Maybe they’ll have some suggestions.” Bailey flounced out of the room, leaving Jane and her father alone.

“Is there anything I can do?” she offered.

“No, but thanks for offering instead of yelling at me.” Jane could only imagine her sister’s reaction when she had been told. “The only bright spot is that your stepmother’s not going to get the large settlement she thought she was out of our divorce.”

Jane felt bad for her father. Not knowing what else to do, she fixed them both lunch and sat talking with him until he told her he needed to make his own phone calls to work on getting his fulltime job back.

She went upstairs in search of her sister, finding her in her bedroom, sprawled on a chaise lounge. She was talking on her cell phone, which she hung up when she saw Jane enter the room.

“Next time, knock,” Bailey snapped.

Surprisingly, she didn’t look upset any longer; instead, she appeared to have been put in a better frame of mind by whomever she had been on the phone with.

“I want to talk to you.” Jane hesitated, but she wanted answers badly enough to put up with her sister’s caustic attitude.

“So talk.”

“Why did you act like you had slept with Cade that night at the hotel?”

Bailey gave an unconcerned shrug at being caught in the lie. “Because I knew you wanted him,” she said truthfully. “I knew you were about to make a fool of yourself over him, so I stopped you.”

“So you did it to save me from myself?” Jane said doubtfully.

“Of course. What other reason could there be?” Bailey stood, hugging Jane. “You’re my sister; it’s my job to watch out for you.”

“It wasn’t because you wanted him?” Jane had been around her sister too long to believe in her sincerity.

“Maybe I was a little attracted. He took my mind off Raul, but then he disappeared the next day, so it really doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”

“I guess not.” Jane couldn’t explain why she didn’t want Bailey to know Cade was in Jamestown, only that she didn’t.

“Good. No hard feelings?”

“Of course not,” Jane lied. She had learned a lesson about her sister: there was no length to the deception she would go to in order to get what she wanted. It was a lesson that couldn’t be unlearned.

She said goodbye to Bailey and headed back downstairs to see her father had finished making his calls.

Jane kissed him on his cheek as she was about to leave.

“Call me if you need me for anything.” She went to the door, hearing Killyama blowing her horn.