The Proposition 2: The Ferro Family (The Proposition: The Ferro Family) Read Free

feel so defensive. I’m sure your place is fine.”
    Maggie’s quiet. She sighs as she turns down a side street and we start to navigate our way through a dilapidated neighborhood. The houses are scarred and sun-bleached with dead lawns, but the cars are tricked out and costly. Even though it’s late, people mill about, doing nothing. I glance at my door, wanting to lock it, but I don’t move. As we roll past groups of people, their eyes turn and watch us pass, before they go back to whatever they were doing.
    Maggie finally says, “It’s not much, but I think it’s worth it.”
    “You don’t have to defend your apartment to me, Maggie. I’m freakin’ homeless.” I look over at her and tip my head back into the seat. My words don’t comfort her, so I add, “Besides, I’m not the poster-child for morality either. You wouldn’t believe what I did tonight, what I’m going to do.” My voice trails off and I shake my head, thinking about Bryan’s lips. I’m horrified that I react the way I do—even to the memory.
    She laughs once, short. “Yeah, right. Hallie, you never do anything bad. Stupid, yes. Bad, no.”
    I stare out the window and look at nothing. The houses have given way to apartments that stretch up into the night sky. Their brick façade has seen better days. Many look empty, as if no one has lived there for years. My chest constricts and I squirm in my seat. My god, she lives here? Why didn’t she tell me? There are burned out cars, overturned trash bins, and rubble strewn everywhere. It looks like the street was ransacked and forgotten—just like Maggie.
    Spilt second decisions are the ones that change lives. I make mine and spit it out before I chicken out. “Bryan Ferro is blackmailing me. If I don’t sleep with him whenever he wants, he’s going to tell people that he’s the guy in the book and do whatever it takes to ruin me. He said he’d use everything he has against me and gave me an ultimatum.”
    Maggie’s big eyes turn toward me with her jaw dangling wide open. “Holy shit! When did this happen? How are you going to stop him?” She blinks at me and turns her eyes back to the road, even though I know she doesn’t want to.
    This is the part that makes me feel like crap. I’m not who she thinks I am. I don’t have a moral spine of steel. I can’t even look at her. “Tonight. I ended up doing the award show announcement with him, and then he found me at the banquet.” Say it . I try to make my mouth move to form the words, but they won’t come out.
    “No fucking way.” She pulls into a parking lot that looks like it was used as a n air force blast site and turns off her car. “Grab all your stuff and lock the door.” I do as she says and hurry behind her. “Keep your eyes to yourself and follow me up. Don’t talk to anyone.”
    We enter the side of one of those old brick buildings and take a few flights of stairs up to the fourth floor. By the time we reach her landing, I want to throw my remaining shoe out the window. I could, there’s no glass in the pane. I follow her through the door and down a long, poorly lit hallway. We stop at front of her door. While she fumbles for the key, the door across from her opens. A pale man with bleach-blonde hair in a wife-beater shirt and boxer shorts stands there and looks us over. I can feel his eyes on my back. He leans against the doorjamb and folds his arms over his chest.
    When he speaks, he sounds raspy, like he’s smoked a carton of cigarettes every day since he was two years old. “Brought me another one?”
    “No,” Maggie says sternly. She doesn’t turn around to look at the guy. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was afraid of him. I can’t take more stress tonight. My brain feels like it’s going to break in two before it shrivels up and dies. Maggie gets the key to turn but the door sticks. She kicks it once with her foot and it budges slightly. “Damn door,” she mutters.
    “What’s your name,