Fighting a New World

16

"I'm waiting for someone."

"Go wait for them somewhere else."

"Why should I? It's not like you're going to do anything and I'm pretty comfortable right here." Another scowl forms on his face, he was obviously starting to get pissed off again but one of his friends lets out a laugh as he comes closer.

"Kid's got balls on him. Why not stick him in the warehouse until he gets scared off?"

"Great idea Barrett," the other one says as he joins his friend and his boss. "And then we'll get busted for all of it when he's scared off." Barrett frowns at that but his boss still stares at me with his scowl.

"Somebody throw him in a car and take him home," their boss said with a scowl.

"Wait, like our home?"

"No dumbass, his home."

"They'd call the cops on all of us if you did that," I say with a bored sigh. "Why do you think I'm out here?" The boss' jaw clenches at that. "I've dealt before though. I'm not leaving but I can a least work while I loiter."

"Nothing's better than free help," the serious one said with a guarded look but he continued to glare at me.

"I don't do kids," the boss said with another scowl as he turns back to the opening and begins to walk out. "If one of you want to baby sit him them go ahead but if not then knock him over the head and drag his ass somewhere else."

The other two only stared for a while longer, as if they were trying to figure out if it was worth the trouble.

"Do me a favor and bring me an extra hoodie and some shit down here," Barrett said with a frown. "I'll look after him for a while." The serious one only gives out a huff before he starts walking away but the second he's gone Barrett is smiling down at me.

"Jem likes you already. I'd stick around for a while longer if I were you."

Ryder's POV

It had taken nearly all week but I had finally done it. I found an insurance that would help my mom and took out bill of 3,000 a month down to only 1,000, which was still a lot of money but that was a lot more reasonable than I thought it was going to be.

Now all I had to do was find a job and try not to have a panic attack at it. That was easy enough.

"I want to try and find a job," I said almost as soon as I walked into Andrew's home office, making his eyes shoot up a bit in surprise.

"Well that's amazing. I take it your time with Patrick and your mom has been helping then?"

"It's been helping a lot but I still don't think I can take a full time job or something with a lot of people. Not yet at least."

"Well there are plenty of jobs like that. You used to read a lot before camp right?" I only nod. "What about working at a library or at a book store? I actually know the woman who owns the one in town. I can get you started by Monday if you want."

That honestly didn't seem like an overly bad job but would it pay enough?

"What would the hours be like and what's their hourly?"

"It would be no more than 20 hours a week and it pays 12.50 an hour right off the bat. I know that's not an overly livable wage but you end up having the same wage as Callum, he just works more than you."

"That would only be less than three hours a day though. It's almost stupid to get dressed and go to work for only three hours," I point out with a frown.

"She already has one other girl working with her, she's also from camp, you may even know her. You and her would end up alternating days. So you would work Monday for 6 hours and then she would work Tuesday for 6 hours. You would both only end up working 3 days a week since the store is closed on Sundays."

That actually didn't sound like an overly terrible idea. I mean sure, 6 hours a day wasn't ideal and I'm sure there will be days when that will be too much peopling for me but it was better than 6 hours every day. And it's not like I really had any other option; I need this money or the insurance will drop me.

"I guess go ahead and tell her that I'll take the job." Andrew's smile grew at that as he wrote down a note from himself.

"Anything else you want to talk about today? Have you taken everyone to see your mom yet?"

"Not yet. I know Liam and Jax will take it well but Callum will keep feeling bad and getting weird like he did when I first came to camp."

"Does Jax even know about her?"

"He knows that she was sick but I don't know if he knows she's still alive." He hummed at that.

"Do you even want them to meet her? Before you left camp you've been talking about how you can't wait for them to meet her and now that you all have the chance to, you won't let them."

"Not really," I say with a small shrug. "It almost feels like rubbing it in. Like 'hey everyone, come look at my mom even though all of you don't have one that actually cares about you'.

"So it doesn't have to do with the fact that you are trying to keep them from getting hurt too if something happens?"

It was times like this when I hated Andrew. He was right of course but it still made me mad.

I mean I've known for a while that she probably wasn't going to make it. I knew that before I was even shipped off to camp. I've accepted it, especially now that I've seen her condition first hand. But my boyfriends haven't and I knew them all to well.

If I took them to meet her, Liam and Callum were going to get attached even is she couldn't talk or give any sign that she was listening. Then she would die and they would be crushed. Why not same them that pain?

"Why let them get hurt if they don't have to be?"

"They'll be hurt regardless of if they knew her or not. They love you, so if you get hurt, they'll hurt simply because you are."

His words were comforting but I was stuck on one word in particular.

Love.

I knew Callum and Liam loved me and I knew I loved them but Jax and Carter were the problem here.

Did they love me? I mean yea Jax and Carter were amazing. If I told them I didn't like something, they worked on it. If something was bothering me, they often fought each other so they could help me with it. It's possible that they loved me.

But did I love them? I liked them a lot, that wasn't a secret. But love and like were so different.

I don't think I loved them. Not yet at least.

I think I easily could soon.

Last updated June 29, 2021