Drama Momma (Surprisingly Perfect Sequel)

The Price of Silence

I was so focused on my ice cream cups, all ten that I ate, before I even realized where the heck we were going. The car took a bunch of twists and turns, then went over a familiar one-length bridge.

"Oh, it's the nature preserve! I love this place!" I said.

Destiny's mom would drive us here, since it was only like fifteen minutes away from our neighborhood. It was an isolated island with deer and lots of hiking trails. We'd sit on a picnic table by the water. I'd use the scenery as inspiration and draw while Destiny vented about her family or school drama. It was a great time.

The driver stopped the car and opened the door for us in the parking lot. There were a few other people around with their dogs or gearing up for a solo hike. As soon as I got out of the car, the driver closed the door and sped away.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and followed Jace to the waterside. Something about this didn't feel right. My favorite picnic table was empty. He sat down and told me to sit down across from him.

I wanted to send a text to Chase or Chrys, but I knew for a fact that my phone didn't have service all the way out here. Jace took off his sunglasses. He meant business.

"Look, if you took me out here to kill me or hurt me or whatever, good luck getting away with it," I said. "And it's not the police or Chase you should be worried about. Do you have any idea what my mom and sister will do to you? My mom especially?"

He rolled his eyes. "Would you cool it? God. Every one of you in your family has a short temper. Chill."

"Well it's kind of hard not to when we're dealing with somebody like you," I said. "So what do you want to bug me about, then?"

"Oh, I'm not here to bug. I'm here to ease the tension." He pulled out his wallet. "How much will it take for you to keep your mouth shut and not tell Chase about what I did to his condoms?"

"Why did you do that in the first place? How about you tell me that?"

"Because my hatred for my brother runs long and deep, girly. It's a story too long to get into. So, how much? I'll start with an offer of five hundred. Cash."

I watched as he started sifting through hundred dollar bills. What a moron. I wish he'd knew that I was going to keep this a secret from everyone anyway. Chase was really working hard to get on good terms with his brother, and it would be ruined if he found this out, as I said earlier.

Yes, I was sneaky, but I was also a great liar and a pro at keeping secrets. Bribes were also my specialty. I bet I could get enough from him to furnish my whole nursery! If anyone asked, I'd say it was a nice gift from Jace.

"You're gonna need to do better than that to shut these loose lips," I said.

Jace sighed. "I can go as high as a thousand."

"A pretty rich boy like Jace Hetcher definitely has more than that on him, especially if he's coming to negotiate something."

"That's all the cash I came with. But I also came with something else. Something I know you won't turn down." He reached into his pocket and placed a check on the table, which he slid across to me.

I picked it up, then flapped it a few times. It wasn't something like Monopoly money. It looked like a real, legitimate check. It had his mom's signature on the bottom and was made out to my mom.

"Five-hundred thousand?" I asked. "Stop playing."

"I asked the parents if I could borrow some money. Told them who to make the check out to you. That's a decent sized down payment on the six-bedroom house I know you need. I know your mom is looking." 

"I can't accept this. I'm not bringing my mom into this."

"You're not bringing her into anything. You're giving her a check. A check that will make her so happy. I know that's all you two want. You want your mom who worked for so long and so hard to have a big place to live for all her grand kids, don't you? Do you really want to take that away from her?"

My eyes fell to my lap, and I dug into the dirt under the table with my sneakers. "No."

"Then give her the check. Just promise you'll keep quiet about this."

"This is wrong, Jace. I mean, I know you know that and don't care but—"

"What if I offered you something other than cash?"

"You have my interest. What kind of thing are you talking? And if it's sex, there's no way in hell I'd cheat on Chase!"

"It involves sex, but not with you." He turned around and showed me the list of contacts on his phone. Olsanna's name was there. "Recognize anybody?"

"I'm not surprised. It makes perfect sense that someone like you, a tool, has someone like her, a hot spoiled bitch, on their phone. You banging her?"

"Quite a bit," he said with a smirk. "I know she likes to pick on you and your friend. Take the thousand, the check, then keep quiet. One text from me and Olsanna and her girls will leave you both alone."

"How do I know you'd actually do that?"

"Because my idiot parents promised that if I got another chick pregnant they're throwing me out. I don't do couch surfing or shitty apartments."

I leaned in a little. "Why didn't you just not poke a hole in the condom?"

"They found out after Chase told them you were pregnant and they said, 'holy shit, thank god it's not you again, Jacey-wacey! If it was yours again we'd be throwing you out for screwing up our image even more.'"

"They...k-know?" I could feel another panic attack coming on.

"Yeah. Chase blabbed to everyone," he said. "So, you gonna take my offer or not?"

I put the check in my pocket, along with the thousand dollars cash. I watched as he wrote out a text to Olsanna. He showed me that he sent the text when we were back in the car.

I thought it may have been a fake decoy, like one of his friends, but when I looked over his shoulder and saw the reply of anything for you bby with a kissy face, emoji, I knew it was really Olsanna.

I took the check out of my pocket and stared at it. Things were finally looking up for us.