I don’t know what I’ll do for money, but I’ll find a way. There was no way I would start the Sext Me line up again, so I’d have to find another way to get the money, even if I ended up with a mountain of student loan debt for the next few years.
“Don’t you dare,” Dad said in warning. He didn’t even raise his voice, but I froze. “If you say a word to Tina, you’ll lose your final year of college money again.”
“I’ll find a way to pay it,” I retorted without turning around.
He snorted. “Why don’t you think about how much money you’ll need? How long will it take you to raise all that money? Even if you could manage one semester, what about the next one? Even if you can take a loan, who says it’ll be easy to find a job to pay it back? Getting loans isn’t easy to begin with. If you think there are easier avenues than this, think again.”
I clenched my hands into tight fists and said nothing. Of course, I knew it wasn’t easy. Even if I opened the Sext Me option back up, I’d have to sleep with dozens of women before I had enough money to pay for my last semesters, and that made me pause. While I wanted to think I could manage, I knew the reality was I might have to put off that last semester. I really didn’t want to. I hated myself, I hated my father, and most of all, I hated life that had me over a barrel and was about to fuck me hard.
I sank into myself with disgust when we went back to the table. I didn’t say anything to Tina about Dad’s scheme. I felt like such a dick for it, and I couldn’t stay there much longer, so I didn’t even sit down. I smiled at her as normally as I could manage.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t feel well, and I’ve got some work to do at school. I need to go back to my dorm room. It was nice meeting you, Tina.”
I didn’t look at my dad again as I turned and hurried out of there.Chapter Eleven
SaraI saw Noah’s message while I was still in class, and it made me frown. We were supposed to meet up and do something, and I wondered what it was that made him so busy.
There was a quick lunch break before I had to go to another class. Only, my afternoon class was canceled, and I ended up with free time on my hands. I didn’t know what Noah was busy with, but maybe I could see him for just a little bit?
I was about to call him and ask, when my phone rang in my hands. It was Mom, and I smiled in pleasant surprise as I answered the call.
“Mom, hey!”
I realized it had been a while since I spoke to my mom, and felt a little ashamed of myself. Since it was just the two of us, we were pretty close, and before Noah and I started seeing each other regularly, I’d made sure to call her once a week, sometimes several times a week. She called me back just as much, but recently, I’d been busy.
She had her friends and a few things she did to keep her busy, but I knew she missed me just as much as I missed her.
“Hey, honey!” She said happily. “I’ve been dying to call you for a while now, but I wanted to wait until you had some time between classes. You can talk right now, right? You should have one more class today…”
Mom had my schedule, and probably had it better memorized than I did.
“I’m actually free right now,” I said. “My class got canceled. What’s up, Mom?”
Usually, she called in the morning or in the afternoon when I was guaranteed to be free. Not that it had been happening much recently.
“I wanted to let you know that I’m in the area,” she said, then laughed. “I wanted to surprise you with the visit, but I can't just show up at your school. You’ve been pretty busy recently with your friends, right? Or could there be a boyfriend?”
The shock hadn't worn off yet, so I completely ignored her teasing.
“Wait, Mom, where are you?”
She giggled. “I’m at a hotel not too far from your school. Do you want me to come over there? Or will you come to see me?”
“I’ll come see you,” I said quickly. “Let me know where?”
I wouldn’t mind her showing up at school, but the rumors about me had died down. If anyone I knew saw my mom, they’d just start up all over again.
She told me where to find her. I figured a taxi could get me there just fine, and I headed toward my dorm room.