Deal With the Devil

1: My Pretty Thing (Revised)

"We're in deep shit, Cole."

"Baby—"

"No, no, don't you dare Baby me. You're an absolute idiot and you've gotten both of us into deep shit—we're more than knee-deep here. I shouldn't have to worry about my idiot boyfriend coming home, broken and bleeding because he decided to be so reckless, without even thinking about how it could affect himself, or his boyfriend." I snap, glaring daggers at Cole.

He sighs and shakes his head, pulling away slightly from the cold touch of the ice pack. "We needed money for rent, Isaac. What else was I supposed to do?"

I huff an infuriated laugh, throwing the ice pack onto the couch and shaking my head harshly. "This is the third time you've come home all fucked up, and this time is even worse. Why did you have to borrow money from him again? Haven't you ever seen a Lifetime movie, or read a book? Never take money from the sketchy dude, even if you can pay it back. I... I can't keep doing this, Cole. I'm scared."

Cole just rolls his eyes, which makes me feel like losing my absolute shit, and grabs the icepack and presses it to his already black-and-blue cheek and eye. "I know you want me to apologize, and you know what, sure, I can do that. But again, we needed the money, Babe."

My jaw clenches and my teeth grind so hard, I'm afraid they might break. "No. No, that's not how life works, Cole. You take extra shifts at work, pick up another job, or, hell, you don't spend most of the rent money on weed and alcohol. You decided to take the "easy" road, which lead to shady streets filled with shadows and danger at every corner, and now we're both going to have to deal with the consequences of your actions. If I'd known you spent most of the money, I would have—"

"You would've what? You would've gone down to the club and sold yourself like you used to before we got serious? Or would you have asked for even more hours at the diner, or at the cleaners, so that I'd be seeing you even less than I already do? It was last minute and there were no other options. I did what I had to, and I won't feel bad for it."

I swallow thickly at the small reminder of my past—a past that has me waking up with night terrors more often than not, and one that I don't like to be reminded of.

Sighing, I purse my lips and my eyes trail to the side. "We'll talk more about this tomorrow, okay? Right now, I'm already late to my shift at the cleaners."

♀♀

A week later, I feel a little less upset over the situation. Things are cooling down and there really isn't much I can do about the whole thing anyway—what's done is done and now I just have to keep saving up so we can pay the man back on time. Cole's a moron, but it doesn't have to impact our entire relationship.

"Hey, Rita! Last customer just walked out, are you sure you're okay to close alone? I don't mind waiting, even off the clock." I offer, making sure to speak loud enough so the older woman can hear me from wherever she is in the back.

"Oh dear, no, I can handle it. Can't believe it's closing time already—the days sure do go by faster now, don't they?"

I snort a laugh, giving her an uncertain look as I heft the last bin of dishes into the industrial-sized sink in the back. "I don't know about that, Rita. The day never seems to end for me."

She waves a cloth napkin at me in dismissal, rolling her eyes playfully. "That's because you work two full-time jobs and find things to do on the side as well. You poor thing, you never get a day off, do you?"

I give her wrinkled face a soft smile and give a short shrug of my shoulders. "I used to make sure I got at least one day off a week, but things are..." I trail off, scrubbing the dishes and placing them in the sink next to me filled with clean water. "Things are tighter, and I'd feel a lot better knowing I have some extra cash around, you know?"