He looked at me and sighed, “Yeah ok. If you ever want to come back, you let me know, there’s no waiting list for you, ok.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, “Right then, you bet $375 at 2 - 1 on the final, so that’s $1,125, and $500 for winning. So I owe you….. $1625,” he said, counting it out onto the side before handing it to me.

Wow, $1625 was more than I had when I came out of juvie, that’s freaking awesome! I shoved the money into my pocket and hissed through my teeth as my fingers brushed against the material, making them burn. Damn it, maybe I’d broken a finger or two as well.

“Right then, hospital kid?” Ray asked, looking me over slowly.

“Nah, it’s not too bad, I’ve had worse, there’s nothing serious.” I shrugged and pushed myself up out of the chair. I followed Ray to his car and rested my head back against the seat until we got back to my building.

“Please don’t do this again, Kid. I don’t want to see you hurt.” Ray said quietly.

“I won’t. Thanks for setting this up for me tonight Ray, and driving me and stuff.” I gave him a man-hug, clenching my jaw tight as he patted my back, hurting my ribs.

I climbed out of the truck and walked to my place, as soon as I was inside I leant against the door and squeezed my eyes shut. My ribs were killing me, every time I took a breath it hurt. My hands were burning, I looked down at my swollen, red knuckles and clenched them into fists, hissing as the pain got worse. I headed into the bathroom and ran the cold water, putting both of my hands under there, trying to cool them down.

There was nothing seriously wrong with me, just plenty of bruising and a couple of broken ribs, but they’d heal on their own. I swallowed a couple of painkillers and washed my face with the cold water. I headed back to my bedroom and stripped out of my t-shirt and jeans, trying to look in the broken mirror but I couldn’t see much. I could see I had a split lip and would probably have a wicked bruise on the side of my jaw and probably a black eye. I’d have to stay away from Ellie for a few days, I don’t want her thinking I was a thug or something.

I smiled as I climbed in my bed, I did it, and without going to Brett. I needed to find a better hiding place for my money, or maybe get one of those safes from downstairs.

I reached out my hand to grab the photo of Sophie from the side, but it wasn’t there, it must have fallen on the floor and I was just too exhausted to move to find it. By the time the pain killers kicked in enough to let me fall asleep, it was almost two in the morning.

Chapter 8

When I woke in the morning, I groaned, my whole body hurt and I didn’t want to move. My fingers were stiff, my chest and sides were throbbing, I felt like I’d been hit by a freight train. I pushed myself up, hissing through my teeth as a white hot pain shot up my back from where someone kneed me in the kidneys last night. I’d have to keep an eye on it and make sure I didn’t start pissing blood or anything.

I grabbed my cell phone to check the time, it was just past eight. I had nothing to do today, I wasn’t due at the scrap yard again until Thursday. The car was going through the auction tomorrow night so they will be able to make the decision on whether they wanted me to fix up their others.

Hopefully the state of my face wouldn’t put them off, that’s if I could still even fix a car with my fingers in the first place. I decided to call Ellie and see if she was still talking to me after getting her in trouble with that love bite, maybe her parents saw it or something.

It rang for a while and when she answered she was laughing her ass off. “Hey Stud,” she choked out around her giggles.

I smiled, “What’s so funny?” I asked, licking my split lip gently.

“Stacy put a ring on my phone for you, I didn’t realise, it made me laugh that’s all,” she admitted, still chuckling.

“Yeah? What is it?” I asked, laying back on my bed, loving the sound of her sexy voice.

“It’s nothing, I’ll take it off, it’s embarrassing,” she said quickly, I could just imagine the shade of pink her face was right now.

“Ok well, I just wanted to check make sure I wasn’t in the dog house for getting you in trouble with your parents.” She didn’t sound like she was too mad at me thankfully.

“It wasn’t my parents, Mark saw it and went off on one,” she grumbled, sounding annoyed about it.

“Went off on one? What does that mean? He didn’t hurt you or anything did he?” I asked, getting angry. If he’s hurt her I swear I’ll kill him.

“No, nothing like that. He just got angry about it, demanded I tell him who did it. Whatever, it’s ok, it’s none of his business anymore,” she said dismissively.

I smiled slightly, “Ok, well I said I’d make it up to you, so how about I take you out at the weekend?” I asked, mentally crossing my fingers that she’d say yes.

“Actually I was wondering if you wanted to meet me today, maybe? I have something for you,” she asked, hopefully.

Shit, I can’t see her today! I needed to at least give my face a few days, I would imagine I looked like death warmed up right now. I didn’t want her to take one look at me and think I was always fighting or anything. “Err…. actually Ellie, I’m not feeling too well today. It’s probably best that we don’t see each other for a few days, just in case I pass you my germs or anything,” I lied, praying she’d believe me.

“Yeah? What’s wrong?” she asked, sounding a little concerned.