Grabbing Hold (The Motorcycle Kid #1)

61. Decisions

Ryder was fighting an inner battle as he approached his mother, hands tightly clasped around the white envelope. There was still an air of helplessness about the woman, in the tremble of her fingers as they tapped away aimlessly on the keyboard, although she had seemed to calm down in the remarkably few minutes that had passed since she and Ryder had been reunited.

With a troubled heart, Ryder dropped the envelope on the bed, just within Eileen's reach.

"What's this?" asked his mother, looking up from the laptop in front of her.

"Just open it," said Ryder quietly. Shrugging off his strange behaviour, Eileen slipped the paper past the broken seal of the envelope while her son watched with bated breath.

Eileen's face paled in horror when her brain registered the words and figures in front of her.

"Ryder, what is this?" she immediately locked eyes with Ryder. "W-what did you do?"

The words loomed, cold and mocking, at least in Eileen's eyes, on the slip.

ACCOUNT HOLDER: MRS CHARLOTTE DANIEL

PAY TO THE ORDER OF: Ryder García (Joseph)
the sum of ten thousand dollars

$10,000

DATE: 23 Aug 2017
SIGNATURE: C. Daniel

"Ryder, you can't accept this," said Eileen frantically. "You have to give it back!"

"Why?" Ryder demanded, affronted. "Why should I? It was given to me!"

"For what? A couple hours a week at the bakery? What does she take you for, a charity case? We don't need her money, we don't need her pity! How could you take this?" Eileen's voice rose in volume.

"Mom, it's not pity-"

"Then what possible reason could Charlotte have for giving an unpredictable kid this kind of money with zero notice?"

"She cares about me! Is that so hard to believe?!"

"Who do you think you're raising your voice at, boy?"

If Ryder had been sympathetic before, it all went through the window, because he found himself getting angry. The kind of angry he hadn't felt in a while.

"I am a grown man, Mom. Don't talk to me like I'm some scared six year old."

"Ryder-"

"Why does it matter what motives Charlotte had, huh? Why does it matter that she's the one who gave me the money?!"

"You know what money did to this family, Ryder Joseph."

"It's García."

Eileen's eyes widened.

"I'm not going to stand here and let you throw my past back in my face, Mom. I earned my keep. I did an honest day's work for as long as I was working there. Never once did I ask for more than I got."

"I didn't say you didn't-"

"You didn't have to say anything! Yes, you're right, I do know what money did to us, okay? Jail time memories don't disappear overnight, Ma. But you wouldn't know that's like, would you?"

"Ryder-"

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that sometimes good things actually happen in life?"

"Because they don't, Ryder," Eileen insisted. "Anything good in this life has to be worked for. Being someone's charity case doesn't count."

"That's bullshit, and you know it, Ma."