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

sweet thing?” The guy is speaking to me. I turn and look over my shoulder , and our eyes meet. It sends a chill through me to see the way he’s leering at me. The guy is a rail, but he’s all muscle and right now he’s smiling at me, revealing a golden crown on his eyetooth.
    “Hi,” I say shyly, and tuck my hair behind my ear, attempting to avoid his gaze while not answering his question.
    Just as the guy’s mouth opens, Maggie kicks in the door. It flies open, she grabs my arm, and tugs. I follow, flying along after her as she yells over her shoulder, “I’ll bring you someone tomorrow, I swear. Goodnight, Vic.” She slams the door shut with her foot and looks shaken.
    Her apartment is about the same size as a short hallway. There’s a tiny window with a sheet stapled over it and no furniture. Some of Maggie’s clothes are thrown around the place, like she left in a hurry. If I lived here, I’d leave quickly, too. “Thanks for letting me stay with you.”
    “Yeah, no problem. It sucks, as in this is the worst place I’ve ever lived, but it’s shelter. I sleep here and then get the hell out. The rent isn’t horrible.” She offers a crooked smile, but it’s weak.
    I need her, and there’s a wall between us. She thinks that I’m perfect, but I’m not. I’ve done things that she doesn’t know about. The words are on my tongue and I roll them around in my mouth, trying to figure out how to say it as Maggie chatters, filling the air with her voice.
    A couple is fighting nearby, and the sound is growing louder. And by fighting, I don’t mean arguing. There are things hitting walls and crashing. Plaster rains down on us like snowflakes when something else crashes overhead. Maggie looks horrified as she pulls her murphy bed down from the wall. It takes up nearly the entire room. “You can sleep here. I’ll take the floor.”
    “No.”
    She smiles. “Don’t be silly, you’re my guest.” Choice words ring out from above us as an angry man hollers. It’s promptly followed by a high pitched scream. Maggie bites her nails the way she did when we were kids and looks around, as if she wishes she could torch the place.
    “I’m not making you sleep on the floor, but there’s something else that I need to tell you.” Maggie looks up at me from under her mass of red hair. I’m her only real friend, her only family—and she’s mine. God, what is she going to think of me when I tell her what I agreed to? I don’t think I’ll be able to stand it. My arms are still folded over my chest, with my hands nestled tightly into the crooks of my arms.
    “Hallie, what’s wrong?” Maggie stops making the bed and sits. She pats the spot next to her and I sit down.
    Staring straight ahead, I swallow hard and tell her. “I said yes.”
    “You said yes to what? Hallie, you’re not making sense, what are you talking about?”
    When I turn to look at her, I meet those big green eyes and feel afraid. My skin covers in goose bumps, but I can’t look away. “I told Bryan Ferro yes. I caved. He won and I lost.”
    “What?” S he’s livid, ready to fly out of her seat and defend me to the death.
    I place my hand on her lap to still her. “I went to his hotel room to tell him to suck it, but I changed my mind when I heard his voice. I thought that something was wrong and this was his crappy way of telling me. I knew him once, at least I thought I did. Then, when I was waiting for you outside, I—” my voice is shaking and I can no longer hide my horror, “some guy tried to steal my purse. Long story short, he got me behind the building and was going to hurt me. Bryan showed up and he…” I can’t say it. My perfect Bryan did something that was so unlike him, so horribly savage that I don’t know what to think. He protected me, but it still feels wrong.
    “Did he hurt you?” Maggie is furious, I can hear it in her voice. The way it’s too loud and her words are too staccato gives her away.
    “No, he