Page 6 of Swamp Princess
“Well, I’m sure you got your money's worth. You can leave now.” I stand my ground, seething.
“Not so fast, firefly. Where is your little fuck boy anyway?” He looks around and behind me, noticing Blaise is not with me.
“Don’t worry about it.” I snap, getting more irritated and trying to keep my temper reigned in so I don’t piss him off.
Vince moves closer to me and I freeze. I don’t know what he thinks he is going to do but I don’t want him touching me. “Actually, Brin. I didn’t get my payment.” He pulls on my backpack and pulls me closer. I slap his hands away, and his mouth turns down. “I should let you talk to your mother, and then come back out to me.” He releases me and when he pulls away, I see the cocky smirk on his face.
I storm past him to the trailer and into it where my mother is sitting on the disgusting blue couch, and on the table in front of her, is perfectly aligned white lines of coke.
“Mom?” I step in aware that in this moment she could lose her temper, but I need to know what Vince said about payment. She doesn’t seem to hear me the first time that I call out to her, so I try again. “Mom?” My voice is a little stronger this time and her head lifts and her blood shot eyes meet mine as she lowers her head and presses one nostril closed and snorts a line up her nose.
“About time you got here you little...” She sneezes and I see the snot that flies onto her hand and the little bit of blood as she tries to wipe it up.
“Mom?” I step forward cautiously, she can be violent when she is on drugs. “What does Vince want in return for that?” I point toward the shit on the table.
Her smile freezes my blood, but her words make my world fall out. “You bitch. I gave him you. Always walking around here like your shit doesn't stink, hanging with Blaise acting like you are better than me because you don’t do drugs. I got news for you. You’re a swamp bitch like the rest of us, and soon enough you would have ended up in one of the fours bed, I'm just helping you out.”
I back up. She wouldn’t do this to me, would she? “Please tell me you’re joking?” I stare at her until she starts to laugh. I back up and go outside to a waiting Vince.
“Shall we go to my place, Brin?” He opens the car door and waits for me to climb in like my mom selling me is the most normal thing that he's ever encountered.
“You really think I'm going to get in that car with you just because of what my mother said?” I plant my feet firmly in the ground and cross my arms knowing that with Vince, I can't show any type of weakness or he will use it to extort me.
“Actually, if you want your mother to live, I do think you should get in the car.” Again, he motions for me to get in the car and I take a step back.
I tried to think quickly to get out of this or at least hold him off a little bit. I ran a dozen scenarios through my head and finally settled on the one that may work. “Vince, I just turned sixteen, and you're twenty-one years old. It is illegal.”
“You really think that I don't know what you're trying to do? I have every cop in this city on my payroll.” Almost like an afterthought he adds, “well, most of the cops in the city. Not a single cop would dare arrest me. you don't know how long I've waited for you, and now your mother's giving me full permission to be with her daughter. I bet you if I went in there, she would sign off on a marriage license too.”
“No.” That is the only thing that comes out of my mouth, a marriage license which means I would be legally bound to Vince. That is not something I ever want to be.
“Oh, firefly, you have no choice, but since I came up with this idea, I think marriage is more suited to a girl like you. I'm going to get some paperwork in order and I'm going to give you the rest of this school year to come to your senses or I'm going to put a bullet between your mother's eyes while I make you watch.”
“I'm not marrying you, Vince.”
“You will, given that once I murder your mother, I'll come for Blaise.” That effectively shuts my mouth and he knows it by the smirk on his face. “Enjoy your tenth-grade year, firefly because you're coming with me the day school gets out.”
I feel like everything is closing in on me and I take a step back. I knew my mother would do some crazy shit but I never thought that she would sell me to one of the biggest drug dealers in South Warren. If he told me that he would just murder my mom, I might have left it alone because at this point, she doesn't deserve my kindness even if I do still love her. However, knowing that he would hurt Blaise is something that I can't look away from and he knows that. Everyone seems to know what my feelings are for him except for him.
“Why do you want me? I'm just a swamp girl.” my voice sounds resigned even to my own ears.
Vince moves closer to me and again, pulls me closer but this time, using the waistband of my jeans. “You're not just a swamp girl and you know that, not like the other skanks here. You’re the diamond in the rough and I'm going to take you.” Vince nodded his head at his gangbanger who rushed to open his door for him. He slides in and takes one more look at me. “I mean it, firefly. By summer, you're going to be mine.” The door closes, leaving me standing, looking at a tinted window. I know he still has his eyes on me because I can feel the way they drag along my body.
I need to figure a way out of this. I don't know how but I will never be Vince’s. Once Blaise comes home from football I'm going to talk to him and hopefully, together, we can resolve this. He's going to be just as shocked as me that my mother would do something like this. Speaking of my mother, I turn around and I storm back into the trailer.
Just sitting on the couch like she expected my temper tantrum and she eyes me lazily. “How could you, mom? How could you sell your own child for some coke?”
Her nonchalant shrug tells me she doesn't really care what I have to say on the matter. She did what she did and she doesn't feel like she needs to tell me anything. I stand and beg for her to give me some type of answer, instead, she leans down and finishes off the last white line.
I go to turn around to leave and grab an overnight bag. Tonight's one of the nights that Blaise’ dad works overnight. Once everything is thrown in my bag and I’m about to leave, I take one last look at her. “Please, tell me why.”
“Because you think you're better than me, and you ain't nothing. It’s time you learned your place, girl.” Her brown eyes are so full of hate and anger that it makes me stop breathing for a moment. I didn't think she would ever look at me like that, and I don't even know what I did to provoke her.
“Goodbye, mom.” I'm not coming back to this trailer at all. I'm gonna stay with Blaise until I'm supposed to leave for Skystead Prep. I know Blaise doesn't like the way his father talks to me, but I would rather deal with him than I would my own mother right now. It's only a week and as long as I keep an eye out for the package, my mother won't be able to sell that for some more coke.
Chapter Four
“You’re going to have to get out eventually,” Blaise chuckles. My nerves are setting in and I feel sick to my stomach. All of these rich preps pulling up with their Mercedes, Rolls Royces, and other fancy cars. Even though I have the same uniform on, I know I will stick out like a sore thumb. Hell, even sitting in the Mustang is drawing unwanted attention. “Or you could let me find a nice spot and fuck you in that uniform. You look hella fine.”
