Water World Warrior: A SciFi Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 1) Read Free Page B

to winning!"
    I closed my eyes in pain. Marlin always thought that he could get things without working. I hope I didn't encourage it, but maybe I did inadvertently.
    "Okay," I said, again, hoping I sounded calm.
    "I started to borrow money to play. I was so close, Ashlyn. I swear. I almost won tonight. I almost made it all back."
    I stared at him, my heart aching for him. Why did he do these things? He was always getting himself in trouble.
    "But I didn't. And my creditors came after me. When I couldn't pay, they beat me up."
    I sighed. Creditors. It was a euphemism for loan sharks.
    "Well, I don't think you deserved it, Marlin, but you did bring it on yourself," I said.
    "That's not all."
    "Not all?" I frowned. "How much do you owe? I'll pay it. But you have to promise not to do this again, Marlin."
    "That's the thing, Ashlyn." He was crying again now. "You can't pay it."
    "I can, Mar. Don't worry. I have a lot in savings. Enough to cover your debt."
    "You don't understand." Tears were running down his swollen face. "You don't have this kind of money, Ash. And there's no way of getting it."
    I felt my face fall.
    "How much do you owe, Marlin?" I was afraid of the answer now.
    "420,000 credits."
    I stepped backwards and sat down hard on the chair next to his desk. "No way," I said, terrified.
    "Yes, Ashlyn. I'm such a fuck up. I've brought this down on all of us."
    My blood ran cold. "What do you mean all of us?"
    "If I don't pay in two weeks, they're going to kill me, Ash. And all of you, too."
    He dissolved into sobs at this point, but I sat in shock. Could our lives be over? After how hard I had worked to keep us all together, taking care of the family?
    I sat there until he stopped crying, trying to stay calm and think. I had to find a way out of this. I would not let someone kill us all for some stupid gambling debts. I would figure out a way. I was supposed to be smart. There had to be a way to get the money, and I was going to find it.
    "Now what, Ashlyn?" he asked, and he sounded like a little boy — not like the man he was. He sounded the way he had when Mom had died, and he had asked me the same question. I answered him the same way I had way back then.
    "Don't worry, Marlin. We'll figure it out. As long as we stick together, we can get through anything."
    But this time, I was out of ideas.
----
    The next day, I walked down to the lake and pulled off my shirt. I was wearing a black sports bra and matching black panties. To anyone looking, I might as well be wearing a bikini. No one came here - it was my special place. When things got too much for me, I came here and swam. The water away took my distress.
    I climbed the rocks and stood at the top, then I launched myself out and away. There was a heart-stopping moment before I hit and then I felt the shock of the cold water. I swam quickly to the top and floated on the water, looking up at the clear blue sky.
    I wondered how things could have gotten out of hand so quickly. I had taken the day off of work. I visited every friend I had to beg them to lend me money. I had gone to an appointment at the bank to apply for a loan. I had gone to a real estate agent to find out how much the house was worth.
    I had even asked a rich professor to cover it for me.
    Even if they had all said yes (and none of them did), it wouldn't cover half of what we owed. I watched as a lone cloud scuttled across the sky as if being chased by the wind. The water didn't soothe me today the way it usually did.
    There was no way to raise that money. I slowly realized that we would have to run.
    If the movies were correct, you could never outrun those sorts of creditors. We'd have to leave the planet. I needed a plan. Sam could help me.
    I climbed out of the water and slipped my shirt and shorts back on over my soaking wet underwear and ran all the way to Sam's house. She wasn't working today. Then I stopped a few houses away as a thought occurred to me.
    What if the loan sharks were watching